If it served his client, Boras would favorably compare his player/client to Pol Pot, Glen Beck, Bjork, Miles Davis, Timothy McVeigh and/or Jeffrey Loria. Whatever gets the most zeros on the end of that contract will do just fine.

BTW, I am fine with all of that. My hope is that GM's are smart enough to realize what they are looking at and that they are getting played; history shows I am foolish for thinking that.

Exhibit A, Gary Matthews Jr.

"F" you, Bill Stoneman....

I think teams would do very well to see that Holliday is essentially Teixeira's equal.

11 of 20 GMs, scouts and other baseball officials preferred Holliday to Bay head-to-head.

That's not much of an edge, is it? That basically makes it a tossup.

How is Holliday Teixeria's equal? If you believe in the AL/NL split, Teix has proved he can handle and thrive against AL's pitching, while Holliday struggled with the A's. If you believe in defense, Teix's reputation is that he's an elite 1B over an average Holliday. If you believe in intangibles, Teixeria's an 'it' guy, while Holliday isn't considered one.

If you believe in intangibles, Teixeria's an 'it' guy, while Holliday isn't considered one.

He did a good job being an "it" guy for Colorado's run in '07. Basically put the team on his back.

How is Holliday Teixeria's equal?

Probably in that whole being equally valuable way.

If you believe in the AL/NL split, Teix has proved he can handle and thrive against AL's pitching, while Holliday struggled with the A's.

Sure, there's an AL/NL split, but it's not a massive chasm. Anyway, 400 PAs of 120 OPS+ is probably a stretch to call a struggle, especially if you see that he hit .240/.288/.360 in his first 80 PAs, then hit .299/.400/.480 over his next 320 before being traded.

If you believe in defense, Teix's reputation is that he's an elite 1B over an average Holliday.

If you believe in defense, why would you believe in 'reputation' over the metrics that show that Teixeira is probably around a +4 projected defender at 1B and Holliday is around a +4 projected defender in LF?

If you believe in intangibles, Teixeria's an 'it' guy, while Holliday isn't considered one.

Pass.

Holliday's a year older than Teixeira was in his free agent year, but he looks like he's very similar in value if you use the numbers and not stuff like reputation and intangibles.

I probably wouldn't go more than 6 yrs/$100M for him though.

If you believe in defense, why would you believe in 'reputation' over the metrics that show that Teixeira is probably around a +4 projected defender at 1B and Holliday is around a +4 projected defender in LF?

Because if teams are going to pay for 'defense' they're going do more based on rep and scouting then they are going to base it on the defensive metrics that is going to be pounded into them that defense measured currently can't really be relied to measure defense season to season accurately because its a small sample size issue, and also how LF's are being used recently. When you have teams putting guys like Scotty Pods, Juan Pierre, and Randy Winn in the corner spots, the expectation for offense for an outfielder is going to be lowered, while a 1st baseman's offense is supposed to be elite. Holliday's in a catch-22, defense is supposedly being taken into account, but the GMs aren't going to take his defensive metrics seriously. And yes, that damn crotch shot he took in game 2 of the NLDS is going to be on GM's minds.

I probably wouldn't go more than 6 yrs/$100M for him though.

But you would for Texieria?

Boras is also projecting that Holliday's modest numbers down the stretch + will inspire teammates to make up for those shortcomings in 2010. That's an intangible right there.......

I probably wouldn't go more than 6 yrs/$100M for him though.

OK, but his marginal revenue to the Yankees is probably more than it is to you

If you believe in intangibles, Teixeria's an 'it' guy, while Holliday isn't considered one.

Did you just watch the World Series? Tex batted .136 with an OPS of .614. If the Yanks had lost, he would be the new A Rod. (Who am I kidding, the media would still blame A Rod)

Because if teams are going to pay for 'defense' they're going do more based on rep and scouting then they are going to base it on the defensive metrics that is going to be pounded into them that defense measured currently can't really be relied to measure defense season to season accurately because its a small sample size issue, and also how LF's are being used recently.

Do you have evidence of this? Is there some reason to think that no team that is in on Holliday uses objective data as part of their defensive evaluation? Also, if you are doing a good defensive projection, you're incorporating multiple years of data, which means SSS should be less of a concern. With Holliday and Teixeira, that means you have numbers in different leagues, in different ballparks, and behind different pitching staffs which should help correct for at least some of the mitigating factors that can skew defensive performance statistically.

Holliday's in a catch-22, defense is supposedly being taken into account, but the GMs aren't going to take his defensive metrics seriously.

Again, what's your evidence on this?

But you would for Texieria?

Well, you're buying one less season of Holliday's peak if you sign him from 30 on compared to signing Teixeira from 29 on. I also think the market has had more options for corner OF than it has had for 1B the last two seasons, which makes Teixeira the beneficiary of positional scarcity. We saw that with Bobby Abreu in 2008.

If Teixeira were a free agent in 2010, I probably wouldn't go more than 7 years for him if I could help it, with a higher per annum I suppose. I have a tough time seeing a justification that Teixeira would be 1.5 wins better per season than Holliday, which is what he'd probably have to be to get to his $22M annual average compared to the $17M that 6yr/$100M to Holliday equals. Maybe Holliday should be closer to 6yrs/$120M?

OK, but his marginal revenue to the Yankees is probably more than it is to you

True. Until baseball implements its hard cap, the Yankees are going to constantly use their financial advantage over me to buy the pennant and it's pretty damn annoying.