Derek Holland Out Until Midseason Due to Knee Surgery
A fall at his home and subsequent surgery could keep Derek Holland out until midseason.
Jim Cowsert-USA TODAY Sports
Texas Rangers starting pitcher Derek Holland won’t be gracing the pitching mound for a while…
Rangers LHP Derek Holland damages left knee in fall at home. Surgery today. Out until possibly mid-season.
— Gerry Fraley (@gfraley) January 10, 2014
The surgery performed was to repair torn cartilage.
This deals a severe blow to the Rangers rotation. Last season, Holland provided the Rangers with 33 started and pitched 213 innings. That kind of reliability is not easily replaced. Holland was 10-9 with a 3.42 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP.
Fraley also tweets that losing Holland for the first half of the season does not mean they will go after a “big ticket” pitcher. Yes, you have figured out that it was a reference to Masahiro Tanaka. Bill Baer of Hardball Talk surmises that the most likely fill-in could be Robbie Ross. Even though Ross has never started a MLB game, he started 68 of 69 games in his three seasons in the minor leagues.
Ross’ minor league record was 26-20 with a 2.88 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP.