Game top priority for Holliday

Wins, not future contract, focus for Rockies All-Star

Tracy Ringolsby, Rocky Mountain News

Published April 13, 2007 at midnight

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PHOENIX - Rockies outfielder Matt Holliday can't understand all the fuss about his contract situation.

The numbers on his mind don't have dollar signs.

It's about wins and losses, and right now, it's not a winning battle for the Rockies.

They arrive at Chase Field tonight to open a three-game series against Arizona having lost four of six on their opening trip. They have fallen to 4-5 overall. And the offense has been offensive, which eats at Holliday because he knows he is a big part of what makes the Rockies explode.

"Once the season starts, I don't think about anything more than the next day's game," Holliday said. "My day is full enough with that."

Holliday has emerged as an All-Star in the middle of the Rockies lineup, a so-called late bloomer who had decent numbers in the minor leagues but blossomed in the majors, where he has hit for higher average, driven in more runs and unloaded more home runs than he did at the minor league level.

He also has become a constant topic of conversation among Rockies fans, who wonder what the future might hold, particularly in light of the fact that before last year, Holliday changed agents, parting ways with family friend Jot Hartley and hiring Scott Boras, considered the most hard line of hard-line agents.

The day that became public the debates began over how long Holliday would remain with the Rockies, who are in the midst of a homegrown building plan.

Holliday would seem a likely corner piece, but there have been no serious talks about a long- term deal to tie him up.

Both sides seem to be in a wait- and-see attitude, the Rockies' decision most likely coming down to who is coming behind Holliday when push comes to shove and how well Holliday evolves defensively, as well as offensively.

Holliday understands, even if the fans don't.

"There are two years after this season before I can even be a free agent, so I think it's a little premature to speculate," he said. "I have no complaints about anything about the way this organization has treated me. I am grateful for the opportunity they have given me to play pro baseball. They have stood behind me several times."

Holliday was a seventh-round draft choice out of high school. Other teams were scared away because he was considered one of the top three high school quarterbacks in the country and had a full scholarship to Oklahoma State, where his father was the baseball coach.

But the Rockies came up with a $842,000 package to sign Holliday, the most given a seventh-round draft choice.

And when the University of Miami and University of Tennessee tried to lure him in spring 2001, the Rockies again stepped up.

Even though Holliday still was at Single-A, the Rockies gave him a six-year deal that guaranteed him a minimum of $700,000 but also had an opt-out clause that allowed him to use arbitration leverage to negotiate a $4.4 million salary for this year instead of the $500,000 he was guaranteed.

"There were times when I thought I should do something else, but at the end of the day, I felt I had put in this time and wanted to see it out," Holliday said of the flirtations with football. "I felt I had the talent to play baseball and didn't want this time period to be wasted years in my life. There were flashes even when I wasn't in the big leagues that made me feel I could make it here."

Now it's a question of where his big-league journey will eventually carry him.

Holliday said his first choice would be Colorado, and Boras, whose reputation is shopping clients for the highest price available, said he doesn't see any reason Holliday has to part ways with the Rockies.

"Matt's situation reminds me of Greg Maddux with Atlanta (after his first contract) and Bernie Williams with the Yankees," Boras said. "There is going to have to be a time when a decision is made by the club as to what it wants to do. And then the decision is made by Matt.

"Bernie went year by year with the Yankees. He was renewed three times (after failing to agree to a deal). He had acrimonious contract situations with the Yankees, but that was the business side and you have to separate that. He wanted to be a Yankee and he was a Yankee.

"Same with Greg after his first contract in Atlanta. There was more money elsewhere, but he liked the environment in Atlanta. The key for me is making sure the client is comfortable."

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