The MLB season started late this year due to the World Baseball Classic and that means less games were played during April than normal. There was no noticeable reduction in the number of great moments though, nor in the amount of news stories.Â
Holliday homers to happiness
Matt Holliday nearly went through April without hitting a home run for the Oakland A’s. It would have capped a disappointing opening month in any season, but he is a free agent at the year’s end and every act could impact the contract offers he receives.
He finally connected on the final day of the month, launching a solo shot off the Rangers’ Jason Jennings, and belted another the following day. A’s fans are hoping this is the start of the ‘real’ Matt Holliday showing himself in the Green and Gold, mindful that he will be playing in different colours soon, possibly later this season.
Scott Boras, Holliday’s agent, will dominate yet another offseason while negotiating a lucrative deal for the outfielder. He has become a villain in some fans’ eyes for getting his clients the best deals, but surely that is exactly what those clients are paying him for. He is a master at exploiting bargaining positions, to the extent that some teams avoid dealing with him if possible.
However, Boras was helpless when the Rockies decided to trade Holliday with one year left on his contract. In particular, he had no say in which team Holliday would be traded to. His destination proved that conclusively: Oakland would have been a long way down his list if he had been able to wield any influence.
The move to Oakland was everything that Boras wouldn’t have wanted for Holliday in his walk year. He has gone from a hitter’s haven to a pitcher’s park, changed leagues for the first time – bringing new pitchers, new outfields and tougher competition, joined a team that struggled in 2008 and an organization that lives in relative obscurity compared to many others.
Yet Boras knows better than most that any situation can be turned into a positive. An impressive season with Oakland would boost Holliday’s stock much more than another supposedly Coors Field-enhanced campaign in Colorado. Teeing-off on American League pitchers is the best way to convince the two AL East super-spenders that they need to add him to their lineups. The current left fielders for the Red Sox and the Yankees, Jason Bay and Johnny Damon, are both out of contract at the end of this season don’t forget, although Boston may sign Bay to an extension.
A mid-season trade to a playoff hopeful is also likely based on the A’s General Manager Billy Beane’s reputation for wheeling and dealing. Such a move would be perfect if it leads to ‘Matt being Manny’, pushing a team into the postseason and adding at least one more organization into the offseason bidding process.
So there is potential for Holliday to turn his 2009 season into an antidote to the falling free agent market of the recent offseason. He needs to start hitting though and, judging by his most recent performances, that’s exactly what he’s about to do.
The ‘walk year’ effect
It was fitting that Holliday hit his first home run against Texas. They are hoping the incentive of deals for 2010 will spur on Kevin Millwood and Vicente Padilla to great seasons in 2009. Millwood will earn $12m next year if he pitches 180 innings (or the Rangers can pick up the option regardless), while Padilla needs to improve quickly if he wants to convince the Rangers to pick up his $12m option.
Former Ranger Gary Matthews Junior is also a good example of how important a walk year can be to a player’s bank balance.Â
His 2006 season looked completely out of line with his previous performances in the Majors, but it came at exactly the right time. The Angels gave him a five-year/$50 million contract as a result and, as many suspected, he hasn’t justified that investment. Matthews came into this season as the Angels’ fifth outfielder and he’s only playing now because Vladimir Guerrero is on the disabled list.Â
Strength in depth is normally a positive attribute for a ballclub, but not when it comes at such a high price.
MLB.com gets better and better
MLB.com’s multimedia products have taken on extra importance to British fans this year because of the free-to-air TV coverage disappearing. Their popularity with baseball fans around the world was revealed this week as the site reported record-breaking figures for number of subscribers (over 400,000) and video streams delivered (127.2 million) during the first three weeks of the season.
MLB.com has just added yet another product to their collection by launching a Gameday Premium service. This builds on the excellent standard service with scouting information (batter/pitcher tendencies, hot and cold zones etc), video clips and the ability to listen to Gameday Audio feeds in synch with the ‘3D pitch-by-pitch visualization’. Â
The latter will be a key selling point for Gameday Audio subscribers who have tried in the past, with little success, to match the radio feeds with the Gameday graphics.  They are not completely in synch, with the audio normally being one or two pitches ahead. However they are close enough to make the combination work effectively. Current MLB.TV/MLB.tv Premium subscribers get Gameday Premium for free, Gameday Audio subscribers can upgrade for $5 (£3.36) and it’s $20 (£13.40) on its own. Definitely worth taking a look at.
