Yanks, Halos not players for Holliday?

Let’s be honest. At this time of the year, you really can’t totally trust what an organization is saying regarding what free agents they’ll be going after, who they are going to target via trade, and so on.

But it can’t be totally dismissed, either, and if a couple recent reports are true, we might be able to count out the Yankees and Angels as pursuers of Matt Holliday.

ESPN’s Buster Olney recenty tweeted that the Yankees are not interested in Holliday. Olney says they will stay involved to keep other bidders honest, but corner outfield is not a priority for them. They are said to be interested in retaining both Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui.

Angels GM Tony Reagins told the LA Times that their focus is not on Holliday.

“He’s a talented player,” Reagins said of Holliday. “But our focus is not on him right now.”

That comment certainly doesn’t mean the Angels won’t go after Holliday, as it’s not a surprise that their focus at the moment is to re-sign both Chone Figgins and John Lackey. If both Figgins and Lackey are brought back, or maybe just one of them, you could likely count out the Halos as suitors for Holliday.

So which teams are the Cardinals’ biggest competition for Holliday?

The Mets have already met with Scott Boras regarding Holliday, and they appear to be serious players. The Red Sox would like to re-sign Jason Bay, but if they don’t, you can bet they will go hard after Holliday. The Giants are also rumored to be interested, but with so much money already tied to Barry Zito and Aaron Rowand and with Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain needing extensions at some point, they might not have the cash to land him.

As far as the Cardinals go, owner Bill DeWitt was recently a guest on Bernie Miklasz’s ESPN 101.1 show and admitted that if a big-market franchise went all-out to sign Holliday, they would have no chance to bring him back. This is not exactly shocking news. I can’t imagine the Cardinals will be able to go much over $100 million for him.

Tags: Matt Holliday