Matt Holliday to A's

[Ennder]

I would imagine Devine is their new closer, not Ziegler. As amazing as the streak was for Ziegler, Devine was a much better pitcher and had a 0.59 ERA.

[GAME05]

It's sometimes tricky to extrapolate road splits for Rockies hitters as indicative of what they would do not playing any games at Coors. It's likely that when one plays a lot of games at altitude it takes an adjustment every time you go on the road. Now he should become more accustomed to hitting at a normal altitude. I suspect Holliday may not put up the staggering numbers he did as a Rockie, but he's a plenty dangerous hitter in any park.

i was racking my brain to think of a Colorado player who didn't have a giant dropoff after he left Colorado. Maybe I was thinking too much Mike Hampton or a certain someone not to be named. Larry Walker was the best player I could think of, and he immediately seems like a similar hitter to Holliday. His BA and OBP took a dive that trade year, but that first and last full season in St. Louis, accepting some decline for age and park factors, and he had a pretty similar year to his last full one in Colorado. There's no doubt Holliday is a great hitter however you slice it, so now i'm thinking he should have a pretty fine year in Oakland.

[TooLiveBrew]

Holliday's career SLG is nearly 200 points better at home (.645) than on the road (.455). I don't think there's much in there that relates to how he'll adjust. I think he's yet another hitter made to look like a superfreak by playing half his games at Coors. Don't get me wrong -- I think he's a fine hitter. But a .280/.348/.455/.803 road line is pretty comparable to Cameron's career road split (.258/.345/.471). I think that's the type of player the A's are getting, but Holliday makes more contact & K's less, where Cam BBs more & K's more. Plus, Holliday isn't close to being the same caliber of defender.

[joepepsi]

Holliday's minor league numbers don't give much hope he's a big slugger. He didn't play much in AAA, and his two seasons in AA produced OPS's of .759 and .705. Career minor league OPS is .776. Corey Hart road and home numbers are also similar to Holliday's road splits. Holliday takes a few more walks and hits fewer home runs.