Tigers Trying to Take a Holliday?

There probably isn't much chance that the Tigers will get Roy Halladay.  But substitute a couple of vowels, and you get the guy Detroit could be interested in.  Is Dave Dombrowski going to make a run at outfielder Matt Holliday?

The San Jose Mercury News mentioned that the Tigers "are known to have at least a degree of interest."  Jason Beck says there have been "internal discussions" about Holliday.  But it comes down to what Oakland wants in return, of course.  At the very least, Billy Beane will want the equivalent of the two compensatory first-round picks the A's would get if/when Holliday signed with another team as a free agent.

Dave Cameron at Fangraphs believes Holliday is a complete ballplayer worth whatever price a playoff contender would have to pay to get him.  After a rough April in which he hit .240/.288/.360, Holliday has re-ignited in July with an OPS of .946 to raise his batting line to .287/.379/.453 with 11 homers and 54 RBIs.    

Ultimately, however, the Tigers might not have (or be willing to part with) what it would take to convince Oakland to make a deal.  Jon Paul Morosi reports (via his FOXSports.com colleague, Ken Rosenthal) that the A's gave a list of prospects to the Tigers, but Detroit appears to be balking at the names included. 

The deal-breaker could be Casey Crosby, who's probably considered the organization's best pitching prospect.  After missing almost all of last season recovering from Tommy John surgery, Crosby has a 7-3 record and 2.99 ERA in 19 starts with West Michigan, notching 94 strikeouts and 42 walks in 81.1 innings.