Holy Holliday! Slugger homers in final salute

ST. LOUIS — Having informed Matt Holliday earlier this week that organization is unlikely to exercise his $17 million option for 2017, general manager John Mozeliak announced that the Cardinals would activate Holliday from the disabled list on Friday in order to give the veteran outfielder an opportunity to salute the fans with one final appearance.

Holliday got his chance in the seventh inning of the Cardinals’ opener against the Pirates on Friday night. A visibly emotional Holliday stepped to the plate amid a rousing ovation, and on reliever Zach Phillips’ third pitch, he blasted his 20th homer, a solo shot to right-center, to give the Cards a 6-0 lead and send the Busch Stadium crowd and the Cards’ dugout into a frenzy.

Holliday has been with the organization since 2009, when he was acquired in a Trade Deadline deal with the A’s. He went on to sign a seven-year extension that offseason worth $120 million. It included the ’17 club option, as well as a $1 million buyout.

After averaging 147 games played over the first five years of that deal, Holliday has had his last two seasons interrupted by injury. This one came to a halt on Aug. 11, when a pitch from the Cubs’ Mike Montgomery fractured his right thumb. Holliday underwent surgery in hopes of making a late-season return, but the healing has been slow.

When it became evident that Holliday would not be healthy enough to make any substantial contributions down the stretch, he reached out to Mozeliak to see what decision the organization had made regarding his future in St. Louis.

“To honor my relationship with Matt, I thought it was better to be candid with him rather than just say, ‘We’ll decide that when the offseason comes,'” Mozeliak said. “In his case, I feel he’s earned the type of respect and had the type of career here that he had …

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