Trading Tuesday

To kick off the first Trading Tuesday segment, I had this great idea to compare the two Matt Holliday trades. Well unfortunately Fangraphs beat me to the punch. I need not talk about it because I agree with everything they say:

In the end, it’s hard to say if Oakland came out on the winning end of the two Holliday deals or not. In the long run, though, my gut says that they did.

That essentially sums it up. Brett Wallace will likely be a better player than Carlos Gonzalez, but we can't just forget how good Street has been. A dominant closer on a team fighting for the playoffs is a very valuable thing.

In Colorado in ‘09, batters are hitting just .195 against the 25-year-old right-hander, which is the lowest batting-average-against that Street has posted since his rookie year in ‘05 (.194 average). His strikeout rate is up to 10.20 K/9, while his walk rate is back down to 2.13 BB/9. Street’s line-drive rate is also down about three percent. His fastball is almost 2 mph harder than it was in 2007-08.

I'd also like to point out how for the Cardinals, Brett Wallace might not have been able to stick at 3rd. If that's the case you know he can't move to 1st, and being a short and stocky guy I don't think he'd make a great outfielder. So, in a vacuum maybe they gave up too much for Holliday but fortunately we don't live in vacuums. Wallace's career value will likely be more than 2 months of Matt Holliday, but if Holliday is the difference between making the playoffs or not, is Wallace > Playoff Revenue + Supplemental Draft Picks? Tough question but I don't think the Cardinals are going to regret their answer.