It's finally official: the St. Louis Cardinals have retained All-Star outfielder Matt Holliday.

Holliday and the club announced today that they've agreed to terms for a 7-year/$120 million contract that will keep the sweet-swinging slugger in St. Louis through 2016.

The deal comes complete with a no-trade clause and a vesting option for 2017 that will kick in if he finishes in the top 10 for the 2016 National League MVP voting.

It's hard to believe, but the 2007 trade that sent Miguel Tejada to the Astros and brought Luke Scott, Mike Costanzo, Matt Albers to the Orioles, was mostly about Troy Patton.

The 24-year old lefthander was a footnote of the deal due to the fact that he was forced to end his 2007 season early because of a torn labrum.

He was an early 30's (in age) slugger, traded several times during the early part of his career until a team in the NL Central finally gave him the opportunity to play full time. At this point, he began to produce big offensive numbers.

The New York Yankees are arguably the MLB organization of the year; 27-time World Champions, 103 regular season wins, and an unobstructed run to the World Series.

You ask, how can the TinCaps of Fort Wayne, the Midwest League affiliate of the San Diego Padres, top the evil empire ?

EDITOR

So today, as the Jets try to win their way into the playoffs and as I continue to try to think of new ways to evaluate the Mets and the blog, I started to think about the off season in baseball, and the lack of action that has taken place previously, and of course, the first person I blame is Omar Minaya.

The 1920s was one of the worst decades in the history of Major League Baseball for starting pitcher stats.  It is the worst, except for the 1890s, 1930s, and 2000s (now). 

It’s especially interesting because it followed one of the best decades in history for starting pitcher numbers—the 1910s.

The new year is finally here, and with the stroke of midnight on Dec. 31, 2009, the year 2010 was brought in with the usual fanfare and celebration.

Article first found at Boston Sox Journalism .

The original article is found at Boston Sox Journalism , the newest site dedicated to Red Sox journalism at it's finest.