According to Jon Heyman at SI, outfielder Matt Holliday has been traded to Oakland, with players to be named later Colorado bound. Holliday will be a free agent after next season.

Rumors and wild speculation say Huston Street, Carlos Gonzalez, and Greg Smith are the players to be named later, but the confirmation is as of yet to become later.

I know Holliday’s name has come up amongst fans as far as an outfield option for the Mets, but considering he’ll be a loaner it seems hard to justify giving up what little bargaining chips the Mets have for him. His numbers are nice, despite a drop in the long ball, and one simply can’t ignore the field day the Post and News would have with his name everytime he did something. Headlines like ‘Mets Take A Holliday” pretty much write themselves. And if you write for the Post, just know I already copywrited that.

FOXSports Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the Cardinals have made an offer for prized Rockies OF Matt Holliday. The offer includes OFs Ryan Ludwick and Skip Schumaker, and pitching prospect Mitchell Boggs.

Ludwick had by far the best season of his career, hitting .299 with 37 homers and 113 RBI in 2008.

Rosenthal thinks the Cards may want to “re-think” this offer. I, on the other hand, think this would be a steal for the Cards. If Ludwick ever comes near 37 and 113 again, then I’d be the one with the egg on my face, but I just don’t see a journeyman like Ludwick having another great season like that.

SI.com’s Jon Heyman just reported on WFAN that the Philidelphia Phillies are the most aggressive team in the hunt for Colorado Rockies All-Star OF Matt Holliday. Heyman did mentioned that the Mets are keeping tabs on the Holliday situation but they are way behind the pack of teams interested.

The Rockies surely would be interested in Phillies centerfielder Shane Victorino, but it isn’t known whether Philadelphia would consider moving him. The Phillies have several other well-regarded young players, including catcher Lou Marson, shortstop Jason Donald and pitcher Carlos Carrasco. Sources indicate that the Phillies have enough good young players to be able to do a deal for Holliday if the sides can agree.

I would love to see Holliday in NY. But with this being his walk year I would have to see what the Mets might have to part with first. Wow, Philly huh?! This is not good.

Over at SI.com, Jon Heyman reports that Rockies outfielder Matt Holliday made a surprise appearance at the GM Winter Meetings. Rockies GM Dan O’Dowd has made it clear that Holliday can be had this offseason, but he will need a top flight young pitcher than is under contract for the next few seasons.

Holliday, 28, hit .321 with 25 homers and 88 RBI, one year after mashing 36 homers and 137 RBI in 2007.

As you can see, Holliday’s numbers dipped quite a bit in ‘08, but nonetheless I’d love it if the Mets were able to swing a deal for him, as he is a pure hitter who will thrive in Citi, hitting wise. Defensively? Eh, that’s another story.

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports writes that the Phillies had been discussing a deal with the Rockies for both Matt Holliday and Brian Fuentes, but conversations “reached a standstill”.

Dan Graziano of the Star Ledger reports that the Mets might be interested in the Oakland A’s closer Huston Street.

Graziano notes that the Mets had interest even before Billy Wagner’s shoulder issue came up. Street could set up for Wagner in the same sense as the Jesse Orosco-Roger McDowell lefty/righty closer combo from the 1986 World Series championship team. He could also be an emergency closer if Wagner’s issues prove to be serious. There are reportedly three other teams interested in Street as well.

Graziano writes that the Mets had a scout at last night’s White Sox-Rangers game to watch Texas, possibly with interest in additional bullpen arms.

Graziano also reports that the Mets inquired about Matt Holliday but quickly backed off when the Rockies asked for both Carlos Beltran and Fernando Martinez in return.

It’s nearly time for the All-Star Game and all the festivities that entails. With balloting ending on Wednesday and the All-Star Selection Show Sunday on TBS, the All-Star starting rosters are all but decided. MLB.com provides NL updates and AL updates.

In the NL, only the shortstop and last outfield positions are uncertain. Since the game’s at an American League park, an extra outfielder could just become the designated hitter. With the AL, there’s a few races within 200,000 and 300,000 votes (first base, second base, catcher), but the only really close race is for the last outfield spot.

Now, one might think. Well, it seems as if the voting mass has become more enlightened. Hanley Ramirez of the Florida Marlins is actually leading the shortstop popular vote! I respectfully disagree. I personally think that the voters will gravitate around the player name bandied around from the previous months. Many named Ramirez not only the best NL East shortstop but also the best player in the National League.

Ramirez is one of the best offensive players in the game, but it’s not like he’s so off-the-board great that nobody bears any comparison. Jose Reyes is having a quality season, so why isn’t he even challenging for the position? Reyes barely even registers on the NL shortstop leaderboard, placing fifth behind Ramirez, Miguel Tejada (who has very similar stats to Reyes except Reyes has way more steals), Ryan Theriot (who only has a good average), and Jimmy Rollins (a man whose injury-shortened season has produced a mere .264 average and just six homers).

It’s all about perception. The Mets are terribly mediocre this season, so none of their individual players could possibly have All-Star years. Theriot is on the Cubs, the best team in the NL, so surely he must be better than Reyes. Rollins was the MVP last year, so 2008 performance be damned, let’s vote for him.

Being a silly person who takes these things seriously, the Ken Griffey Jr. pity vote irks me. He’s batting .234 with nine homers, and he’s sure to keep at least one more deserving 2008 NL outfielder out of the mix. Despite the Rockies having an apparent national coming-out party last October, Matt Holliday will probably be that guy that manager Clint Hurdle has to appoint because he wasn’t voted in. Holliday is batting .333 with a .415 OBP, impressive even in a league with Chipper Jones. Unfortunately, those real statistics aren’t enough to combat the tremendous Cubs’ bandwagon voting that has taken over the National League polls like the Mets’ voting did in 2006. Carlos Lee’s clubbing bat will also have to be appointed if he’s to play in the Midsummer Classic.

At least the NL voting is somewhat close. The AL starters are sickening. It seems like the team has been the same for years; the names change, but the uniforms don’t. With the exception of catcher, where Joe Mauer is trying to fend off Jason Varitek in the voting, every infield position is manned by a player from New York or Boston. By the way, Mauer (batting .323) and Varitek (batting .225) aren’t even close statistically! At least Josh Hamilton has accumulated over 2,000,000 votes, as it finally seems his inspiring story has been told enough for his popularity to rise. It’s still sickening, though, to see Robinson Cano have a year like he’s having and still amass over 1,000,000 votes because he’s a Yankee.

Should we take the voting out of the fans’ hands? Not to sound like Ebenezer Scrooge, but yes. They make too many mistakes too often, and since the managers have to correct their errors, it has led to their being too many positions on the All-Star team, thus watering down the achievement.

Just some of the aspects of how All-Star voting works are baffling. Obviously, the big markets have the advantage, like viewers don’t see enough of New York, Boston, and Chicago on ESPN every week. For some reason, you get all these votes. I honestly don’t know why. I guess, if you vote more, that makes you more devoted? And who knows why All-Star voting is opened so early, just so you can vote for one guy in May and see them go into a big slump by July. At least “The Final Vote” combats some of this, educating the ballotstuffers on five guys they overlooked who are better than Derek Jeter this season.

Jon Heyman on SI.com writes of the influence Scott Boras wields in the amateur draft and how the Mets are expected to continue to follow slotting rules. Omar Minaya states the Mets “will look at it on a case-by-case basis”

Lower-ranking Mets officials continue to believe that the team is more likely than not to continue to stick to the slots, even if it costs them a chance to grab one of the best hard-hitting first baseman they seek (the Mets also covet a catcher). After Alvarez, University of Miami lefthanded-hitting first baseman Yonder Alonso is said by one scout to seek $8 million with the backing of his adviser Brian Peters. Other big-hitting first basemen include switch-hitting Justin Smoak of South Carolina, Dysktra and Arizona State’s Brett Wallace, another lefthanded hitter.

Heyman also writes that a team looking to trade for Matt Holliday will need to start with giving up two of their best young players in return.

Ryan Howard and the Philadelphia Phillies are far apart in their arbitration talks. The Phillies offered Howard $7 million while Howard is seeking $10, the biggest gap among the 48 players who exchanged proposals with their teams.

Aaron Heilman avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year $1.2-million contract.

Pedro Feliciano, Ryan Church, Endy Chavez, Oliver Perez and Jorge Sosa have exchanged offers with the Mets and have filed for arbitration.

Notable players who did reach an agreement with their teams are Matt Holiday, Miguel Cabrera, Justin Morneau, Carlos Pena, and Scott Kazmir. Holiday was the only player to strike a multi-year deal, $23 million over two years.

Here is the breakdown of the top four finishers for the National League MVP race. Rollins was announced as the winner.

2007 Season Statistics

* - Denotes Gold Glove winner in 2007

It was just announced that Jimmy Rollins won the National League MVP, MLB.com reports.

David Wright finished in fourth place, behind Prince Fielder, and received no first place votes.

Rollins was listed first on 16 0f 32 ballots, second on seven, third on four, fourth on four and fifth on one for a total of 353 points. Matt Holliday came in second place, his breakdown was 11 first-place votes, 18 seconds, one third, one fourth and one sixth for 336 points.

Rollins became the first player in history to collect at least 200 hits, 25 homers, 15 triples and 25 steals in a season. Overall, the switch-hitter batted .296, with 38 doubles, 20 triples, 30 homers, 94 RBIs, 41 stolen bases, 212 hits and 139 runs scored.

Holliday won the league’s batting and RBI titles and was major reason why the Rockies shot into the postseason at the final stretch of the season for the first time since 1995. During the Rockies 15-1, Holliday batted .442 with five homers and 17 RBIs.

Holliday’s final line was .340, with 50 doubles, 36 homers, 137 RBIs, 216 hits and 120 runs scored. He led the league in hits, total bases, doubles and extra-base hits.

Matt Holliday is a candidate for this years National League MVP award, after leading the league in batting (.340), RBI (137), hits (216), doubles (50), total bases (386) and extra-base hits (92). He was third in slugging percentage (.607), fourth in homers (36) and seventh in on-base percentage (.405).

Holliday earned $4.4 million this year and his projected salary for 2008 is $8.7 million via the arbitration process. He is not eligable for Free Agency until 2009. The Rockies are considering offering him a four-year contract worth about $60 million.

The Rocky Mountain News reports that Holliday doesn’t think four years will be enough for him to sign an extension.

“I’m not sure how it’s all going to unfold, but obviously I’m honored by the thought of them wanting to sign me to a multiyear deal,” Holliday said. “And four years is a little short for me, for what my personal preference would be. If I was going to sign a (multiyear) contract now, I’d want it to be longer.”