Matt Holliday plays outfield for the St. Louis Cardinals. He is among the best position players in baseball, posting a WAR at 5.0 or above in each of the last five seasons. Even in his injury plagued 2011, he managed to hit the 5.0 mark exactly. He gets on base, hits for power, fields his position well and even runs decently. Basically, Matt Holliday is the type of player teams want to acquire.

Holliday is interesting, however, because he demonstrates how a team can get a lot of value from a player without spending a lot of money. The Rockies did not rush Holliday to the majors, waiting until he was 24 to bring him to the show. They did sign him to a long-term contract two years earlier, however, to show their commitment to him. Holliday’s peak came at the expected age, his 27 and 28 year old seasons being his best. In his five season with Colorado, he generated $90 million in value for $15 million. The Rockies then traded him away for younger, good players and let other teams pay for past performance and his declining years. Luckily for the Cardinals, the decline has been slow, and Matt continues to produce value over the price of his contract.