This pro baseball player is willing to go anywhere — except Oakland
Outfielder Matt Holliday just signed a one-year, $13 million deal with the New York Yankees, which isn't all that unusual -- until you look at the details.
As baseball contracts often do, Holliday's includes a no-trade clause, meaning the Yankees can't trade Holliday without his consent. But Holliday has a very, very, specific no-trade clause in his new deal.
His request? Don't trade him to the Oakland A's.
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That's right, of MLB's 30 teams, Holliday wants to steer clear of Oakland, where he served a short stint in 2009.
No-trade clauses aren't uncommon. The Yankees just inked closer Aroldis Champan to a monster five-year, $86 million deal, which includes a no-trade clause to West Coast teams -- Chapman doesn't want to be far from his family in Florida.
But Holliday's one-team no-trade clause is oddly specific.
It's not totally clear why Holliday wants to avoid Oakland, but it might have something to do with how the club treated him. Holliday played just 93 games for the A's before they fell out of playoff contention and shipped him off to St. Louis in July.
Oakland's stadium — with tons of space in foul territory — isn't very kind to hitters either. It ranks No. 22 out of the 30 ballparks for scoring runs, according to ESPN.
Holliday hit .286 for the A's in 2009, not a bad figure by any means, but a far cry from the .321, .340 and .326 batting averages he put up in Colorado the three years prior.
With the Golden State Warriors and Oakland Raiders both dominating their respective leagues, it's actually a great time to be in Oakland. That is, unless you're a baseball player.
The A's finished dead last in the American League West the last two years. Holliday's no-trade clause might actually be a pretty good idea.
