Big Unit retires; Holliday stays in St. Louis

Two big announcements from the baseball world were made today, one sort of expected, one, not so much.

Matt Holliday announced on the Doug Gottlieb show on ESPN Radio that he was staying in St. Louis to play for the Cardinals. The deal Holliday will ink is presumably worth 7 years, $120 million. Holliday's agant, Scott Boras, confirmed that the guaranteed portion of the new deal is $17 million per year and includes a no-trade clause. All Holliday has to do is pass a physical and the deal will be finalized.

It's come to the point that I'm never amazed that players choose to stay in St. Louis. Actually, I'm surprised players choose to leave St. Louis. I cannot recall any current or former player speaking negative words about the city or the organization. The Cardinals fanbase is among the most loyal in baseball. I've been to St. Louis to catch a game and even if you're there to root against the Cards, they still treat you with respect. Sure, they jab at your team, but if that can be done with a level of class, it's only in St. Louis.

With Holliday choosing to stay in St. Louis, the Cards will have the best 3-4 punch in the National League, if not in all of baseball, combining Holliday with Albert Pujols. Only Mark Teixeira and ARod can give these guys a run at that, and I still prefer Pujols and Holliday. Better batting average just for starters.

The only question this raises is now that Holliday has been given the biggest contract in Cards history, will Pujols get his contract re-worked? After all, Albert does have a bit of hardware.

Speaking of hardware, San Francisco Giants pitcher Randy Johnson has 5 Cy Young Awards, and on Tuesday, the "Big Unit" announced his retirement. Johnson spent 22 seasons in the majors with six teams. Along with the multiple Cy Young's, Johnson is second, behind Nolan Ryan, on the all time strikeouts list. He also posted 303 wins during his carrer. He was also a 10 time All Star and a World Series MVP in 2001 with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

I'm not really sure if baseball will have another lefty that was as dominating as Johnson. Johan Santana of the New York Mets does come to mind, but with the way starting pitchers are used these days, it would be hard pressed for Sanata to approach Johnson's numbers. Cy Young's? Maybe, but that might be all.

I think of three things when I think of Randy Johnson. I think of his World Series performance in 2001 where he shared the MVP with Curt Schilling (a scary 1-2). In probably one of the most bizarre plays ever seen, I think of an exhibition game in 2001 when Johnson was throwing a fastball and it struck a dove. Even more bizarre is who the Diamondbacks were playing that day, the San Francisco Giants. And who can ever forget the 1993 All Star Game when Johnson, as a Mariner, faced the Phillies' John Kruk.

Until recently, Johnson had never been considered a media darling. Instead, Johnson chose to do his talking on the mound.

And could he ever talk.