ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Cardinals remain in talks with the lead representative for free agent leftfielder Matt Holliday, focusing on a long-term deal that may allow them to hold down the package’s average value.

General manager John Mozeliak and agent Scott Boras recently revisited the framework of the Cardinals’ lengthy proposal first tendered last Wednesday.
Though both parties refuse to discuss details, the deal is believed to be worth around $15 million-$16 million a season for up to eight years, making it the most lucrative ever offered by the Cardinals.
Mozeliak declined to discuss the state of negotiations Monday afternoon, insisting he wasn’t inclined to give out any “play-by-play” accounts. Mozeliak did confirm renewed contact with Boras.
Holliday is “still a player we like very much and hope to retain,” Mozeliak said.
Increasingly impatient to reach a resolution, sources familiar with talks believe it possible Holliday could reach a verdict before Christmas.
The proposal exceeds the average value of the seven-year, $100 million extension the Cardinals and first baseman Albert Pujols negotiated in February 2003. However, the Cardinals’ bid does not meet the average annual of a deal that the Colorado Rockies offered — and Holliday rejected — in 2008. Aside from the 6› years that have passed since Pujols’ signing, Holliday is available as a free agent. Pujols’ signed his deal after his third major-league season, allowing the club to avoid three years of arbitration while guaranteeing Pujols four additional seasons and including a club option for 2011.
Boras has attached Holliday’s market value to first baseman Mark Teixeira, who signed an eight-year, $180 million deal as a free agent last winter. Teixeira also is a Boras client.
The Cardinals steadfastly refuse to enter that neighborhood; hence, a seeming impasse. Though classifying a continuation of talks as encouraging, a source familiar with the process denied significant movement in the past several days.
The agent makes the case that Holliday has been a more productive player than Teixeira in the last three years. Holliday has compiled scored 36 more runs and also run up higher on-base and slugging percentages in the span. Teixeira has narrowly outpaced Holliday in RBI (336-334) in that time.
Indeed, Holliday and Pujols are the only players to amass a .300 batting average with a .500 slugging percentage in each of the past four seasons.
Holliday, Pujols and New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez are the only players to achieve a .900 on-base-plus-slugging percentage each of the last four seasons.
Boras’ presentation to the Cardinals noted that with Holliday, the team experienced a 5 percent increase in attendance in its final 34 home games, jumping from 40,466 to 42,392.
Late Monday night, Boras declined to characterize talks.
Timing for Holliday’s decision has been connected to another free agent leftfielder, Jason Bay. Apparently no longer likely to return to the Boston Red Sox, Bay appears pointed toward the New York Mets. The Red Sox have countered by heavily pursuing former Gold Glove center fielder Mike Cameron. Boras insists Holliday’s decision is independent of when Bay moves.
The Yankees potentially represent the most dangerous variable to the Cardinals.
Previously insistent that they are not interested in entering bidding for Holliday, they could be enticed to enter at the eleventh hour.
Unimpressed by the Cardinals’ initial offer, Boras may be open to an opt-out within the contract. He included just such a clause in the Texas Rangers’ 10-year, $252 million deal for Alex Rodriguez. Traded to the New York Yankees in 2004, Rodriguez exercised the opt-out clause following the 2007 season, eventually re-signing with the New York Yankees. Boras is also seeking full no-trade protection for Holliday, which would maximize an opt-out’s leverage.