Holliday to St Louis / Parra Factor

Matt Holliday has been traded to the St Louis Cardinals.

Crap. At this point can the Brewers even keep up with the Cards or the Cubs...or the Astros for that matter? Holliday and Lugo could be the needed shot in the arm for them. Although Holliday only has 11 HR's he is starting to heat up. Not to mention this:

SI.COM-
Holliday's career numbers at the Cardinals' home park: .385 AVG, .872 SLG, 1.350 OPS (highest at any park, min. 10 games).

Melvin....what's your move now?
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Yes indeed, the Braves come to town for a weekend show down with it's old hometown. After a good ol' fashion butt kicking from Houston, I would expect to see the Braves ready to play tonight.

The underlying story is Manny Parra starting tonight. I would anticipate scouts from the Blue Jays to be in attendance. If Parra throws well, thus making it 3 straight-solid starts since being recalled from AAA-Nashville, I would guess that the Halladay rumors would explode.

Milwaukee is nipping at the heels of Philly in the quest for Doc Halladay. The Brewers certainly have the ingredients, as does Philly. Recent rumors involve:
- Parra, Gamel, and Escobar
-Parra & Gamel
-Parra, Hardy, and Gamel
-Parra, Hardy, and one or two "players to be named" from the ranks of A or AA.

Personally, I have to side with the latter if I were to choose. Anything else is over-compensating. JJ Hardy has the potential, but Milwaukee only gets to witness it in isolated bursts through out the season. Most notably last year in the playoffs where he was the ONLY Brewer to crank out some hits. This should not be forgotten.
Parra would be the toughest to see go. He has promise of being a #2 or #3 hurler in the rotation. His mental toughness is suspect, but he's young and should grow out of it.

Doc Halladay has been given a number of chances to voice any sort of displeasure with the idea of being traded to the Brewers. GM Riccardi has been rumored to have a list of teams that Doc would/would-not play for. As with any rumor, it's probably bs. But, he's not stupid and you can't tell me he's not excited to see who has a crush on him.

The serious contenders, from what I know, are Philly, Milwaukee, and LA. The Dodgers could surprise us all and swoop in with their solid corps of prospects at the minor league level. Possibly even throwing in a Furcal, which would be tough with his new contract.

Philly could also offer up rising-stars JA Happ and Kyle Drabeck, both of whom sound quite appealing.

Only time will tell.