Once one of the best closers in baseball, former Kansas City Royal Greg Holland, was forced to sit out the entire 2016 season rehabbing from an injury. Now that he’s ready to pitch again, what teams look like the best places for the right hander to land?
Once one of the premier relief pitchers in the MLB, Greg Holland has had a quick fall from grace. After posting sub-1.50 ERA’s in 2013 and 2014, the former 10th round pick hit a roadblock in 2015, when he finished the season with a 3.83 ERA and a career-low 9.9 strikeouts per nine innings. Many pointed to the fact that Holland was dealing with arm problems two years ago and eventually had to be shut down in September of 2015 because of Tommy John Surgery.
His rehab lasted through the entire 2016 regular season with the 30 year-old not throwing a single pitch all year. However, that doesn’t mean that Holland’s free agent prospects are all too dim.
He recently threw a live side session for scouts and many left with interest in the right hander. According to multiple reports, Holland was sitting at 88-91 mph and was showing increased velocity as the showcase went on. Granted he was not throwing as hard as he once did when he was an all-star, but teams hope that he can build on this through the offseason and get close to where he was a few years ago.
There is a fairly long list of teams that could be in the market for the former Royals closer, with Scott Boras, Holland’s agent, forecasting that the relief pitcher would be open to a two-year deal with incentives.
Every interested team offers different situations with some hoping to land a closer if they can’t get an upper-tier free agent closer like Aroldis Chapman, Kenley Jansen or Mark Melancon. There are also opportunities for Holland to ease back into that role in more of a 7th or 8th inning capacity.
It’s said that you can’t have too much pitching and adding a pitcher with Holland’s track record would be something that intrigues plenty of clubs, even if he is coming off major surgery. With that said, let’s dive into what spots look the most intriguing for the once dominant closer.