Holiday pleads his case to stay with Rockies

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The Colorado Rockies have just a handful of home games remaining in a lost season. Outfielder Matt Holliday might have that many remaining in his Rockies career.Holliday says he hasn't given it a lot of thought but acknowledges there will be some emotional detritus if that's how it works out."It's the only organization I've ever been a part of," he said before Monday night's 11-5 loss to San Diego. "Ten or 11 years, and five in the big leagues. A lot of my teammates are some of my best friends in the world. So, yeah, if something were to happen, there'd be some emotions as far as teammates and last year's team, mainly, and all we were able to do last year."The Rocks took a shot last spring at signing Holliday to a multiyear deal that would cover at least his first four years of free agency in the neighborhood of $18 million to $20 million per. Holliday and his agent, Scott Boras, turned it down.From the organization's point of view, that indicated Holliday was headed for the open market at the end of next season. In the business of baseball, that makes this offseason the best time to get maximum value for him in trade.But Holliday strenuously denies he has made a decision to test the market. To the contrary, he suggests the Rocks are determining that outcome by the nature of their offer."I'd like to stay here and be part of this and play here a long time, but there are things as a player that are important to me, and if those aren't part of whatever their offer is or ends up being, maybe I will test the market," he said."But to say that I don't want to be here and that I'm headed to the open market to get the most money I can get is extremely inaccurate."Nevertheless, if the Rocks have offered what they can afford and he's turned it down, what other conclusion can they draw?Holliday looked me in the eye, his face betraying a certain frustration at his inability to be understood on this."How many years is their bottom line?" he asked. "Yeah, if you look at it as just something on a piece of paper, as black and white, you would say, 'How could anybody ever turn that down?' Or, 'Why is that not enough?' But that's not all that goes into this."The offer doesn't even have to be market value. But half of the years that I could get on the open market, to me, is not in the same ballpark."Holliday sees Miguel Cabrera sign an eight-year, $153 million deal with Detroit. He saw Mark Teixeira, also a Boras client, turn down an eight-year, $140 million offer from Atlanta. He thinks accepting a contract half as long is too much of a hometown discount. Nor is that the only issue."What about when they won't give you a no-trade clause, and the first chance that comes up where they want to trade you, they can just trade you?" he asked."The advantage of being a free agent and having a long-term deal is the security of staying in one place, right? So you can raise your family and be a part of the community. So what happens when in Year 2 it looks like I'm making too much money and they want to rebuild and they trade me. So now how am I looking?"Those are all things that go into it. If you get a chance to entertain offers of six or seven years with a no-trade clause, you have a chance to live a normal life for six or seven years in one city, where you can raise your family and not worry about picking up and moving."So to take four years with no no-trade clause? To where if all of a sudden the organization wants to go in a different direction, you're out? Where's the loyalty then?"The Rocks, of course, look to the locker next to Holliday's and see the nine-year extension they gave Todd Helton at 27, with two years still to run on his existing deal. At 35, Helton has back issues and his numbers have declined precipitously. The Rocks still owe him at least $56.9 million.There's a lot of room between the nine-year deal they gave Helton and the four years Holliday says they offered him. To listen to Holliday, a six- or seven-year offer with a no-trade clause just might get a deal done."Bottom line for me is, if we can't get close and they trade me, I'd be OK with that," he said. "But to say that I don't want to be here is inaccurate, and to say that I feel like I have to test the free agent market is not accurate."Either way, a long-term deal now looks like a long shot.(Contact Dave Krieger of the Rocky Mountain News at kriegerd(at)rockymountainnews.com.)