St. Louis Cardinals: Matt Holliday working out at first base

According to Jon Heyman and CBS Sports, Matt Holliday is working out at first base on his own in Jupiter. Does this change the St. Louis Cardinals plans or just some offseason fun?

Say it ain’t so, Matt Holliday? Are you kidding us or is this first base training a legit reason to suppose John Mozeliak is making under the table moves this winter? Via Jon Heyman, Holliday is doing drills at first this month on his own. I personally find it hard to believe that it is on his own. I think a phone call was made between boss and employee with a proposal brought up. Extend your team in St. Louis even more by moving to first base. Or help a brother out at Christmas and allow the team to sign a free agent left fielder.

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It’s no secret the Cards need offensive assistance in this lineup. The current roster is weakening at a time where the division is strengthening so sitting down wouldn’t be a wise idea. Holliday to first base at the age of 36(which he will be before spring training) isn’t an easy transition but one must understand that first base is a lot less taxing of a position for an older ballplayer. Lance Berkman made that switch at the end of his career. Many others as well. Holliday got severely hurt playing left field in 2015. First base requires less movement and ground to cover for a limited defensive player. There is more back movement at first but not much more than the bending and twisting in the outfield.

One of the benefits of moving Holliday to first base is that a free agent outfielder like Alex Gordon or Yoenis Cespedes primarily cover left field and have won gold gloves there. You’d sacrifice a little defense at first in order to bolster your offense. With the exception of a trade for Carlos Gonzalez, all the remaining outfielders on the market have spent the majority of the past three seasons in left field.

I was told over the summer that a Holliday move to first base was as likely as him appearing in The Avengers sequels. It was beer league softball rated and unlikely in the majors. Derrick Goold(too many times to link up) repeatedly shot down the idea in his chats, columns and tweets. This new development is very interesting and if it is team aided, it’s a wise move. If it is Holliday originated, it is even better.

Matt Holliday moving to first base could lengthen his career in the National League and could help his ballclub. Is he possibly doing it for fun and this could be a non factor in Mo’s free agent talks? Most likely, but that doesn’t make it intriguing and something to follow. For my money, I still see Stephen Piscotty opening 2016 at first base and hopefully a free agent acquisition behind him in the outfield.

That doesn’t make the Holliday workouts at first uneventful news. For a slow Friday in MLB Hot Stove, it’s an interesting situation. Stay tuned for more updates.