Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch talked to Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. about the team's huge acquisition of left fielder Matt Holliday. DeWitt implied that he hopes to sign Holliday to an extension: "We're not looking at this as a one-year deal, I assure you."
Strauss notes that the Cardinals did recently convince a Scott Boras client to forgo free agency, when Kyle Lohse signed a four-year, $41MM extension in September of last year. But keep in mind that while Lohse did not reach free agency, he still did not sign for a penny below market value. (Look at the fate of Randy Wolf, who signed in February for $5MM plus incentives).
Also, past history suggests Holliday might not be looking to squeeze out every last dollar. The slugger signed a two-year extension in January of '08 for $23MM when he probably could have made more money going to arbitration two more times.
