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Sox offered Holliday $85 million, not $82.5

An interesting story in the Boston Herald this morning:

It claims that the Red Sox actually offered Matt Holliday $85 million, not the $82.5 million that was originally reported. That makes their offer at least $5 million more than the one the Cardinals have on the table. Possibly as much as $7 million more.

Why did the Sox shift gears so quickly and sign John Lackey instead? Well, they apparently were of the belief that entering serious negotiations with Holliday's agent, Scott Boras, would be long, painful and they would screw up the team's other off-season plans by monopolizing their attention.

That sounds familiar.

One thing the Red Sox were not willing to offer that Holliday's camp demanded was a full no-trade clause. But who are they going to be able to trade Holliday to if they decided to get rid of him? The Yankees? That's not going to happen anyway...

The Herald story said besides the no-trade clause that Boras may require a sixth guaranteed year before he is ready to get serious.

Click here to read the story.