Matt Holliday

Free agency is finally here, less than a week before Thanksgiving. And the signings may not come so quick, either. Baseball's powers are still arguing about the state of the game's economics, whether teams are losing money or still making it big and just how much loot the small-market teams are receiving in revenue-sharing and central-fund monies to boost them (some agents cite articles saying it's up to $60 million while MLB folks say it isn't that much).  

"I think of all the heartache that's in the world," Selig said. "We live in this environment. We don't live in a bubble. And so, I think the clubs in some areas have been hit a lot harder than others." Major League Baseball's average attendance dropped 6.7 percent last season from an average of 32,528 in 2008 to an average of 30,350.

Revenues as a whole were flat at best and I think there's still a lot of people, and obviously we're still focused on our fans, that are still struggling   -Arturo Moreno

 

Thanks to some spotty cell phone reception Thursday morning, Tim Lincecum received word of his second straight Cy Young Award while standing on the roof of his house. "I didn't have real good service where I was at, so I (stepped out) the window onto the roof of my house, just to get better reception" to take the call, the Giants right-hander said. Considering the lofty company he's joined, it was an appropriate location to get the news.

I don't say this tongue-in-cheek, but where do we go from here?   -Brian Sabean

 

The doors open wide on Thursday night. It remains to be seen how rapidly the traffic will flow through them. Free agency officially gets under way at 11 p.m. CT on Thursday, allowing teams to begin discussing contract terms with free agents throughout the Majors.

If we're not able to address left field with a Holliday, then we're going to look to have to add some veteran offensive presence   -John Mozeliak

 

The prize of this year's Major League Baseball free agent crop, is All-Star outfielder Matt Holliday. Holliday began the '09 season with the Oakland A's and as the summer evolved it was clear that Holliday was not suited to the American League, plain and simple. Many players who go from the NL to the AL tend to struggle...and Holliday is a prime example.  

1. I'm not sure why the Cardinals are downgrading Jason Bay as an alternative to Matt Holliday . Look, I think Bay will probably stay in Boston.  

Manfred says Boras is lying when he portrays the sport's finances in glowing terms. Boras says Manfred is biased because he works for the owners. The real story is much deeper.

Just like when he does a player negotiation he lies about the numbers in order to get the price up, now he's taken that to the macro-economic level and lying about industry numbers in order to get player (contract) numbers up   -Rob Manfred

 

Here's a rundown of Wednesday's biggest Hot Stove news, rumors and rumblings. Halladay greetings in NYC? The rich could get a lot richer, according to SI.com's latest report of the Yankees having talked to the Blue Jays about the availability of ace Roy Halladay.

The Twins and Brewers are both on the radar for me   -Jarrod Washburn

 

Matt Holliday and Jason Bay are Nordstrom. Everyone else is Nordstrom Rack. "I think everyone sees there's separation after the first two," Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said. Holliday and Bay figure to sift through offers for weeks.

I think everyone sees there's separation after the first two   -John Mozeliak