St. Louis Cardinals Strongly Pursuing Matt Holliday

The St. Louis Cardinals smell blood in the water. The Chicago Cubs have lost five of their last six and the Milwaukee Brewers’ pitching staff will likely fall apart at some point if they do not get some help.

Right now, St. Louis is half a game back of the Brewers for first place in the NL Central and half a game back of the San Fransisco Giants for the NL Wild Card spot.

As usual, their offense is being lead by the magnificent Albert Pujols. Pujols leads the team in every major offensive category, with a .328 batting average, 28 home runs, 74 RBIs, and a .450 OBP. However, unlike last season, Pujols is not getting help from the rest of his line-up. Last season before the All-Star Break, outfielder Rick Ankiel was hitting .270 with 20 jacks and 50 RBIs. This season, his production has dropped off dramatically, as he is batting .237 with just five homers and 20 RBIs. The same can be said about Ryan Ludwick, who hit .289 with 21 homers and 65 RBIs pre-ASB last season and finished the year out with a .299 average, 37 home runs, and 113 RBIs. His numbers for this season: .225/11/38.

One outfielder who has at least held his own as a rookie has been Colby Rasmus.  His stats aren’t mind blowing (.266/7/28), but as a 22-year old and the top prospect in your organization, he needs time to grow.

So without the production from the outfield which the Cardinals need to contend for the top spot in the division, the St. Louis front office has looked to Oakland Athletics outfielder Matt Holliday as a possible fit for a second half run.

According to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals are looking to offer Ryan Ludwick, an unnamed prospect and one of their young relievers, Jason Motte, Kyle McClellan, or Chris Perez.

Holliday would clearly be a rent-a-player unless the small market Cardinals expect to give him an extension at the end of this season – which would be ludicrous when Pujols has a chance to leave in the coming years, all funds need to go to him – but that is alright when all you are giving up is a 30-year old outfielder (Ludwick) and just one of your prized young relief arms.

Matt has not had the greatest year in Oakland, but he is in a tougher league and has stated he isn’t happy where he is. Still, his .278 average, eight homers and 39 RBIs would be great protection for Pujols, especially since Holliday will be leaving the horrific hitters park that is the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

Put Holliday behind Pujols, expect Ankiel to turn it around and watch Rasmus step his game up a notch and you have a very solid offense with two .300-hitters (Skip Schumaker) and three power bats. Not to mention ha pitching staff lead by two ace-caliber pitchers in Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter.