A baseball official told ESPN.com's Jayson Stark that agent Scott Boras strong-armed the Cardinals during negotiations regarding outfielder Matt Holliday. Holliday got a seven-year, $119 million deal with St. Louis. "I don't understand the Cardinals," said the official. "Everybody knew there was nobody else there when they were at $16 [million a year] for six [years]. But Scott kept asking for $17 [million a year] for seven, and they just did it. So obviously, he just wore them down." Holliday's deferred money places the present-day value of his contract at only about $16.2 million per year, but the same official asked a very valid question: "If they did this for Holliday does [Albert] Pujols settle for less than the A-Rod deal now?"