he is believed to like the Dodgers, Angels and Mets, perhaps in that order.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/w ... ay.market/

Fox Sports’ Jon Paul Morosi says Matt Holliday will end up with either the Yankees, the Red Sox or the Angels, and that the Angels are interested. * He also concludes that the Curtis Granderson rumors will only help one of those teams drive down Holliday’s price:

“All three GMs can tell Boras that they are also shopping in a trade market that suddenly includes Detroit’s Curtis Granderson, who has played left field in the past and would probably be willing to do so again.

“A robust trade market could harm Boras’ leverage, but he will be in command again if Bay, represented by Joe Urbon, signs before Holliday.”

If the Angels do sign Holliday, it will either mean payroll is going to go up or that someone — Mike Napoli? Juan Rivera? Maicer Izturis? — will be traded.

I earlier ranked Holliday the most helpful free agent available to the Angels, despite what many consider an unsuccessful stint in the AL last year. It’s true that his April was a disaster — a .622 OPS and zero home runs through his first 17 games with the A’s. After that, though, he hit .300/.400/.480 in the 75 games before he was traded to the Cardinals. The defensive metric UZR loves him in left field, averaging 10 runs above average there over the past three seasons. He’s been one of the 15 most valuable everyday players in each of the past three seasons, by Wins Above Replacement. He’s still only 29, younger than Bay, Figgins and the other top free agent hitters.

But if they Angels sign him — and especially if they can’t shed payroll elsewhere — we should probably assume (for now, at least) that they won’t have money to sign anybody else. That leaves a core of:

C. Napoli/Mathis

1B. Morales

2B. Kendrick/Izturis

SS. Aybar

3B. Wood

LF. Holliday

CF. Hunter

RF. Rivera

DH. Abreu

SP: Weaver, Santana, Kazmir, Saunders, Bell/Palmer/O’Sullivan

RP: Everybody returns

The outfield defense is better, the infield defense a bit worse. More power, less speed. A slightly weaker rotation than the Angels had for much of the year, but a worse rotation than they had in October.

Almost certainly, that’s a team that wins 90+ games and makes October. But do you think it’s better or worse than the 2009 unit? And, is it good enough to make you feel confident the Angels can win three rounds in the postseason?

*Worth noting that Holliday is represented by Scott Boras, which will make some skeptical of any reports of teams’ interest.

http://fromthedugout.freedomblogging.co ... day/40739/