4:08pm: Holland has a “significant” tear in his UCL, according to manager Ned Yost (via McCullough). Tommy John surgery is the likely course of action. Yost now believes Holland tore the ligament last August, meaning he pitched last September and the postseason as well as all of 2015 with a tear in the ligament. The Royals asked Holland to get his elbow checked out multiple times this season, McCullough adds, but he declined each time until last month.
3:55pm: Holland tells reporters, including McCullough (Twitter links) that an MRI taken earlier this month revealed ligament damage. He has, in fact, been battling discomfort since last August but did not want to undergo an MRI previously, as his desire was instead to pitch through the pain.
3:47pm: The Royals announced today that closer Greg Holland has been shut down for the season. Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star reports that Dr. Neal ElAttrache will examine Holland’s elbow next week (Twitter links). Per McCullough, the possibility of Tommy John surgery is looming, but nothing will be known until next week.
Holland was recently removed from the closer’s role in favor of Wade Davis. The formerly dominant closer has seen his velocity dramatically decrease recently and has posted a dismal 5.50 ERA on 24 hits and 11 walks in 18 second-half innings. His decline and subsequent loss for the postseason is a huge blow to the Royals, who reached Game 7 of the World Series in 2014 based largely on the dominant performances of Holland, Davis and Kelvin Herrera. Holland’s departure from the bullpen mix makes GM Dayton Moore’s signing of Ryan Madson look like that much more of a coup, as the former Phillies closer has rebounded decisively after a three-year absence due to injury; Madson has a brilliant 2.31 ERA with 8.3 K/9 against just 1.9 BB/9 in 58 1/3 innings this season.
The injury to Holland will put the Royals in a precarious position this winter. Always a team on a tight budget, there were questions last winter about Kansas City’s ability to pay both Holland and Davis at relatively premium rates. Holland took home an $8.25MM salary via the arbitration process, and he’ll be arb-eligible for the third and final time this winter. That means that Holland, who recently hired Scott Boras as his new agent, could be in line for a salary near or in excess of $10MM in spite of his second half struggles.
In the event that Holland requires Tommy John surgery, he’d be an easy call to non-tender, although that would be a disappointing way to end the Royals tenure of such a key organizational figure. The real dilemma, however, will be what to do with Holland in the event that he does not require Tommy John or any form of major surgery. One would imagine that his trade value is down due to underperformance, salary and, now, injury. The Royals could roll the dice and tender him a contract, but this year’s $112MM payroll is a club record. For a team that typically has operated with a sub-$100MM payroll, paying a potentially damaged relief pitcher $10MM+ is a dicey proposal, so the prospect of a non-tender for Holland has to be considered even in the event that major surgery isn’t required.
As a Royals fan, its sad to see this happen to a guy so critical to the Royals success in 2013-14, and I can’t see anyway Holland is tendered a contract for 2016. That said, when you look at Hollands playoff numbers from last year (11 IP, 0.82 ERA, 7 Saves, 15 K’s) and this season’s first half (26.2 IP, 2.70 ERA, 19 Saves, 31 K’s) you have to either be impressed that he pitched as well as he did with the injury or wonder if the elbow discomfort magnified after the All-Star Break this year.
Another interesting not is Holland switching to Scott Boras as his agent weeks ago. You wonder if the decision to pitch through this injury was influenced by his previous agent/agency and how Boras navigates his client through this. Luke Hochevar got a 2 year/$10 million deal after missing 2014, so I still think Holland can get at least a 1 year deal in 2017 or a two year deal for a lower AAV this off-season after he is non-tendered.
Sad to hear but a real trooper, guess he’ll be joining the Giants and the rest of the non playoff teams on their couches this year.
royals should non tender holland and trade for kimbrell.
If they were worried about being able to keep both Holland and Davis as expensive relievers, surely adding a reliever via trade that would be more expensive than either of them would be a mistake. That is unless the Padres eat money in the deal, which would of course necessitate an even greater package of prospects from the Royals. I don’t see it happening.
That’s the kind of brash decision that KC has been good to avoid for some time. They have a good enough ‘pen to be able to take this kind of blow, and I wouldn’t doubt they have someone down on the farm (not unlike Finnegan in 2014) that could help. SD would want the kind of package that really good dent the team for the future.
As a Braves fan, this is really sad to hear. It also makes me grateful that we sold high on Kimbrel, knowing how fragile they are.
Boras is his new agent + significant tear & ten million final year through arbitration = non tender.
He just may be the “next” Ryan Madson type of free agent. Good luck in your future endeavors Mr. Holland.
Really unfortunate this is the end of the Herrera, Davis and Holland trio. I really wanted to see those three together for one last postseason run.
If non-tendered, he could still get a 4 year/30M deal even with TJ included.
It’s scary that with how “bad” he’s been this year, he was still been better than any Oakland reliever.
No way a team’s guaranteeing him four years within a couple months of Tommy John surgery. There’s a significant success rate, sure, but there are still plenty of guys who don’t come back within a year, don’t come back as strong or just don’t come back at all. Even Holland’s own teammates — Madson and Hochevar — serve as examples. Madson had TJ heading into 2012 and didn’t pitch again until this season. Hochevar has been good, not great, since returning. Eric O’Flaherty got two years from Oakland in the 2013-14 offseason and has been mostly a mess.
The thing I can’t get past here is Holland indicating his elbow has bothered him since last August. Considering how he did not look at all like his 2014 self throughout most of 2015, what in the world were they doing not having an MRI until recently? Even if you don’t want the MRI out of some kind of denial, what ranking member of upper management would simply accept “no, I don’t want to have an MRI” from a guy your team’s success hinged upon? If I’m management I’d step in and say, “you’re not pitching again until this gets looked at” and force the player’s hand. Let him cry to his agent.
He’s just that good that even with a torn UCL his numbers weren’t bad enough to raise concerns for 12 months.
While Holland’s numbers were not that bad, he clearly wasn’t looking like he did the previous year as early as May of 2015. When he started walking guys around Memorial Day and his control wasn’t as sharp I’m rather confident that the coaching staff realized something wasn’t right. It’s not like the concerns just came to the forefront.
Royals Management: Dude, something’s clearly wrong. You should really get that checked out.
Holland: Naaaaaah
Another TJ injury… This epidemic continues while MLB has no cure….