The Colorado Rockies have dealt their biggest card. LF Matt Holliday is headed to Oakland in exchange for OF Carlos Gonzalez, RP Huston Street and SP Greg Smith. This is a deal that will work out for both teams in the long run. If Holliday is able to lead the Athletics to the playoffs and they are able to resign him, the deal works out in their favor. If the A’s are out of contention by July 10th, then they can deal Matt to a team in need of a bat in return for stud prospects. So its a win-win for Billy Bean, with the playoff run being more important. The 2-time Silver Slugger hit .321 in 2008, with 25 HRs and 88 RBIs.
The Rockies get 3 young stars out of this deal. Carlos Gonzalez is a player to build a franchise around, and should develop into a full time starter during Spring Training. In his time in the majors last year Carlos hit .242 with 4 homers and 26 RBIs. Huston Street was nothing less than a shutdown closer just a year or two ago. But, after a few poor performances and blown saves, he lost the job to upcoming set-up man Brad Ziegler. The UT graduate has put up 94 saves(18 in 2008) in his career thus far. He could make his way back to his shutdown closer role, or, the Rockies could shop him around for even younger bats. Greg Smith is an undrafted free agent that made developing a strikeout pitch his focus of the 2008 season. He did find some success there, but was unable to show it in the Win-Loss column. Greg might be able to notch the 4th or 5th spot in a rocky Rockies rotation, pun intended.
Due to the magnitude of Matt Hollidays‘ value and the bright future of Carlos Gonzalez this trade may end up being the biggest of the off-season. Unless Jake Peavy finds his way out of San Diego, that is.
