CHICAGO — Free agency officially began Tuesday inside the O’Hare Hilton.

Emerging from an hour-long sit-down with Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak, the agent for free agent left fielder Matt Holliday christened the franchise the USS Moneybags.
When asked about a mid-market franchise’s capacity to remain competitive after retaining a franchise player with a payroll-rattling long-term deal, agent Scott Boras sneered at the premise.
“I don’t know what a mid-market franchise is. That’s like a midsize aircraft carrier,” Boras said. “They all have the potential to have an economic bomb. If you’re drawing 3.3 million fans and you’re averaging $50 a fan coming in, I just don’t know that mid-market term. I’m trying to think if that’s part of the laissez-faire system. I don’t know.”
The Cardinals drew 3.34 million fans in 2009, third in the National League only to the Los Angeles Dodgers and the defending world champion Philadelphia Phillies.
Boras’ implication was clear: If the Cardinals hope to retain Holliday, whom they acquired in a July trade, they should be prepared to swim in the deep end of the pool.
“You’re always looking for an owner who is committed to winning,” Boras said. “When you’re talking about these long-term contracts, you don’t want to get stuck in a place where you can’t win annually. I think that’s an important part for a free agent who is a franchise player. You really want to make sure the owner is not only committed today but committed long-term.”
The Cardinals did not tender an offer for Holliday on Tuesday. Mozeliak called the meeting productive but gave no time line for when the club may show its financial hand.
With teams able to begin bidding on free agents other than their own Nov. 20, Mozeliak said the Cardinals’ next conversation with Boras regarding Holliday could be “closer to the (December) winter meetings than next week.”
Said Boras: “We understand the Cardinals are interested in him and we also understand Matt had a very favorable time in St. Louis.”
Boras also cuts the Cardinals no slack in their ability to compete for his clients. Rather than fixate on their relatively small media market, he notes that they rank among the top third in the game in revenue.
Reminded of the three-player package the Cardinals sent to the Oakland A’s in return for his client, Boras insisted such a deal does not automatically translate to a long-term commitment.
“When you trade for a player, there could be a number of directions a franchise is taking. You could be trying to win for the moment. There are those who are trying to win long term. I think it’s unfair to put a kind of tag on that one way or the other,” he said. “Now that the season’s over, it’s a situation where it’s certainly a new appraisal of how you look at a player and what the reasons are you would retain them.
“Obviously, the investment and a commitment are different than when you’re trying to acquire a player for three months.”
Boras called Holliday one of “less than 30 franchise players” in the game and measured him favorably against another client, first baseman Mark Teixeira, who received an eight-year, $180 million contract from the New York Yankees last winter. Holliday hit .353 with 13 home runs and 55 RBIs in 63 games for the Cardinals and has driven in at least 109 runs in three of the last four seasons.
“I’m not here to put ceilings on players,” Boras replied when asked to project Holliday’s market. “But certainly, I think the comparison of the type players they are and the impact they bring is there for the two of them.”
Boras and his lieutenants worked the airport hotel all day. During their afternoon meeting, Mozeliak expressed interest in several Boras clients, including free agent outfielder Xavier Nady.
New York Mets general manager Omar Minaya also met Tuesday with Boras and conveyed interest in Holliday as well as Cardinals free agent outfielder Rick Ankiel.
The Los Angeles Angels and San Francisco Giants are also expected to contend for Holliday, though Yankees general manager Brian Cashman insisted “it’s not necessarily an accurate assumption” the newly crowned world champions would contend for Holliday.
Cashman cited the club’s lavish spending last offseason and shortstop Derek Jeter’s approaching free agency as factors.
“In free agency, if you’ve got five teams, that’s a big number,” Boras said. “For these type players (such as Holliday) there are always 10, 15 teams that come to you to kick the tires. In the end, they are going to make decisions that (remove) them from the situation. Or the general manager is going to find out the owner is really not going to that level in the marketplace. In the end it usually boils down to a small group.”
Boras typically keeps his leading client on the market well into the offseason. Holliday is expected to follow that blueprint. Boras referred to November as “greeting card month” within the process.
“There are invitations. There are checking points. There is certainly a methodology for what every franchise does,” he said. “But right now there is the exhaustion of what I call ’the pliable market.”’
Boras reminded a media cluster how the Yankees were rewarded for their signing of Teixeira with a 27th world championship.
Holliday, Boras noted, has already shown himself an elite player by leading the Colorado Rockies on an unlikely World Series run in 2007. The Cardinals were 39-25 and reached their first postseason since 2006 after acquiring Holliday this summer.
“Matt’s already served the example. The ’get around Matt Holliday, can he lead a team to the promised land and a league championship?’ — been there, done it,” Boras said.