The long No. 5 jersey hanging in the small spring training locker is now the green and gold of the Oakland A's instead of black and purple of the Colorado Rockies.
"Sweet uniforms," Matt Holliday said Monday, asked for his sartorial verdict. "There's probably not one uniform in the league I'd complain about."
For a player who spent his entire professional career -- more than a decade's worth -- in the Rockies organization, the cord has finally been cut.
As in most divorces, there is disappointment and hurt on both sides. Holliday does not try to hide his.
When I asked if he had anything to say to his many Colorado fans, this was his reply:
"Obviously, I'm very grateful for the way they treated me. I think as a family we were, I'll say a little bit heartbroken that we had to leave Colorado.
"If I'm not going to play there, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for us to live there in the offseason, just because of the weather. I have a lot of admiration for the people of Colorado, the way they treated us. A lot of my friends live there; not just baseball people, people we met at our church. So it's hard when you've been somewhere and you're comfortable and you're treated so well, to try to move along and do something else. But it's part of the game; it's part of the business. But I'm very grateful for the way we were treated in Colorado."
Holliday made a lot of memories during his five seasons with the Rockies. The longest game ever played to determine a baseball playoff berth, the night of Oct. 1, 2007, was as memorable as any sporting event I've covered. It ended with Holliday lying on the ground at home plate, dazed and bloodied, having scored the winning run. Or not.
It was the beginning of a legend, now cut short -- at least, for Colorado.
Why did it have to end? I'm still not sure. So I asked him this:
"What would you say to a fan who says, '$72 million for four years is a lot. That should be enough.'?"
"I would say I agree with them, that that is a lot of money," Holliday replied evenly. "But I think people have to, before they make a judgment on somebody, you have to walk in their shoes.
"For me, it's about stability with my family, and it's not money-wise. I want to live in a place where we can put my son in school for six, seven, eight years and not have to worry about taking him out of school if we get traded or moved. Four years with no no-trade clause was not necessarily that situation.
"And when it was put on the table, it was non-negotiable, 48 hours to make a decision. That just wasn't something that I was ready to do."
I mentioned that I had it on pretty good authority the Rocks would have given him a four-year no-trade clause -- which would have gotten him to the 5-and-10 player's no-trade protection -- if it would have sealed the deal.
"He said it was non-negotiable," Holliday said of Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd. The emotion came back into his face. Then he shook his head. "I don't want to get into it. What's happened, happened."
The one part of the breakup the two sides will never agree about was Holliday's decision to hire Scott Boras as his agent. From the Rocks' point of view, it was tantamount to a declaration of free agency. They were determined not to be manipulated into negotiating against themselves, a favorite Boras tactic.
Although many observers considered a trade inevitable once Holliday turned down the Rocks' offer last spring, he said he did not.
"I thought there might be some more conversation about an extension, but you never know what's going to happen," he said. "Honestly, at the end of last year, I didn't know. But I wasn't sure I was going to be traded."
Was he disappointed the Rocks did not come at him again?
"Disappointed? I was a little bit surprised, but I wouldn't say I was disappointed," he replied. "I didn't have a ton of expectation of what would happen, but I was a little surprised that there wasn't at least another effort. But that's the way it goes."
Oakland, with financial limits similar to Colorado's, is not expected to sign him long-term either, meaning he'll probably be looking at another new jersey this time next year, if not before. I asked if the continuing uncertainty wears on him.
"No, I think its part of the deal," he said. "It's part of the job. Obviously, there's a lot of positives of being a baseball player and there's going to be a few negatives. And the uncertainty and moving your family around is definitely part of the negatives to it, but I wouldn't trade this job for the world."
(Contact Dave Krieger of the Rocky Mountain News at kriegerd(at)RockyMountainNews.com.)
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