Holliday Is Willing To Be Generous To Help Retain Pujols

Photo courtesy of Zimbio.com

Matt Holliday knows that Albert Pujols is important to the St. Louis Cardinals.

He also knows that Albert Pujols deserves to be paid handsomely. 

"Obviously he's an unbelievable player and deserves every dollar that he gets," Holliday said. "I'm a big supporter, and I think that he's the best player in baseball. But at the same time, we've got to be able to have a good team around him, and I think he knows that. So I just hope that they can work something out."

But Friday morning on the Mike and Mike show, Holliday showed just how dedicated to winning he is. 

Holliday said he would be willing to wait to receive his huge paycheck for a couple more seasons if it meant getting a long term contract with Albert Pujols.

"I deferred $2 million a year for the whole contract," Holliday told Doug Gottlieb on the show, "and I would be willing, if they came to me and said, 'Hey, this is what it's going to take to get Albert done, would you do it again or do more?' Scott [Boras, Holliday's agent,] probably wouldn't like me to stay that, but if that's what it took, I would be willing to do that."

Doing so also shows how smart he is.

Fans in St. Louis will eat this up and Holliday, despite being ridiculed for not being "clutch" enough in 2010, just might have won the hearts of Cardinals fans everywhere. 

Everyone loves generosity.  Especially if that generosity leads to the Cardinals signing Albert Pujols.