Matt Holliday: Buy or sell? Or are you holding him, like a plush bear?
Matt Holliday went 3-for-5 with a homer on Sunday. He then went 3-for-3 with another bomb on Monday, and he was 2-for-4 on Tuesday night.
All three of those games were in Colorado.
Holliday is now hitting .340/.426/.578 for the season, but he's been just a little bit better at home. At Coors Field, he's Earth's greatest hitter: .371/.446/.672. Elsewhere, he's merely very good: .301/.400/.459.
The split was almost identical last year, as Holliday had a 1.157 OPS at home and an .860 OPS on the road.
This information would have no fantasy impact whatsoever under normal circumstances. It's not like you're benching Matt Holliday during road trips. He's still extremely useful, even if he's more like Bobby Abreu than Mickey Mantle.
However, the present circumstances are not normal. Holliday has been the subject of persistent trade rumors -- ridiculous rumors, in some instances. A few of the suggested deals sound like fantasy trades, like Holliday for Carlos Beltran, or Holliday for Howie Kendrick and Ervin Santana.
The Rocky Mountain News reports that Holliday has "drawn interest from St. Louis, Tampa Bay, the Angels, Dodgers and Kansas City." (If you think Evans loves him some Billy Butler now, just imagine if that kid was dealt to Colorado). In the best-case scenario, Holliday's fantasy value will still take a modest hit if he's dealt by the Rockies. And then every fantasy site will quickly post a "Holliday Trade Spin" column telling you so.
You're not going to be able to sell-high after a trade, not unless you find an irrational fan of whichever team adds Holliday...who, just for the record, might not actually get dealt.
So here's my question: Are you shopping Holliday now, as a preemptive strike? Or do the trade possibilities seem so remote that you're holding on? Or are you taking advantage of panicked sellers?
As was the case with the Kinsler post, the intention here is for a discussion to follow. VanSpleef will moderate the debate.
