Aye, but at the time, it was myopic to complain about Holliday making $16 million per year because unless something big happened with the U.S. economy to deflate salaries, Holliday was going to wind up being underpaid early into the contract. When Holliday signed the deal, Pujols was still asking for around $25 million. The Howard contract blew that to pieces. Paying for the stadium seems to be the popular guess.