Left-handed pitcher Derek Holland will be opting out of his minor league deal with the Red Sox, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive.
MLBTR reported yesterday that the new collective bargaining agreement contains a provision whereby any Article XX(B) free agent — that is, a player with at least six years of service time who finished the prior season on a big league roster or injured list — who signs a minor league contract will have three uniform opt-out dates in his contract, so long as that minor league deal is signed 10 days prior to Opening Day. Those opt-out dates are five days before the start of the regular season, May 1 and June 1.
That report identified 12 players who fit this criteria and have the ability to opt out today, with Holland being one of them. The negotiations of that CBA led to a delayed and shortened spring training, which perhaps played a role in the fact that these dozen players didn’t exercise their first opt-out opportunity before Opening Day. Holland essentially laid out this logic when not exercising his first opt-out back in early April, saying “I’ve only been able to showcase two innings” as his reason for sticking with the club. Now that the minor league season has been going for close to a month, it’s possible that this is the first of many opt-outs today, as any of those listed players that are healthy could reasonably try to find a better opportunity with another club.
Now 35, Holland has appeared in each of the past 13 MLB seasons. A starting pitcher for most of his career, he’s transitioned into an innings-eater out of the bullpen in recent years. Last year, he threw 49 2/3 innings for the Tigers with a 5.07 ERA, with a 22.7% strikeout rate, 8.9% walk rate and 45.4% ground ball rate, with all of those being close to league average. Through 9 1/3 innings with Triple-A Worcester this year, he has a 5.79 ERA, striking out ten batters but walking six of them. The path to a job with the big league club isn’t smooth right now, as they has five healthy starters, with Garrett Whitlock recently bumping Tanner Houck into a piggyback/long relief role in the bullpen. Rosters are also shrinking after today’s game, with a 14-pitcher maximum taking effect. Boston currently has 15 hurlers on the active roster, meaning they will have to squeeze someone out.
Guy has not do much at all in the minors… he had his chance
Anyone in the market for a 5.00+ ERA long lefty out of the pen? Step right up, folks!
Cincinnati Reds on line 1.
Cincinnati Reds on line 1, hilarious! They really are stinkin’ up the diamond this year.
Better than Pivetta’s ERA.
To be fair he did pull the Jays twice in a row… but yeah, not too good so far.
Dude’s just not that good.
Pirates could use a post prime starter/innings eater.
They had him two years ago and pitched to an ERA of almost 7.00 in 12 games. Never know though they could always bring him back
who are the other eleven players identified?
I think there was a whole article about that posted yesterday.
8 ER in 11 innings is not what this team needs right now with an already shakey bullpen. Would have liked to see them keep Schreiber up though
Exactly, Kyle had two jacks yesterday.
Bostonbob – he typed Schreiber the side arming right handed pitcher not Schwarber the left handed hitting outfielder the Red Sox should have re-signed.
Dude sucks
Saying a professional sucks is a bit of a stretch considering how far you’ve made it in life
that’s assuming OP isn’t fairly successful at their career, which isn’t proven.
It’s obviously Josh Naylor
I think we should take context into account. When someone says someone sucks, it can be assumed that they are still better than us.
Otherwise, every player, no matter how they perform, qualifies as “great”. The worst ML pitcher is likely better than 99.999% of us.
Joe – lol….true of every player in the MLB
Perfect fit for the Reds.
It may be time to hang it up.
“Boston currently has 15 hurlers on the active roster, meaning they will have to squeeze someone out.“
And many of them have been hurling. Which has made me want to hurl. So far the season lays in chunks on the ground. Where’s Stanley Spadowski to clean it all up?
It hurts to have to squeeze one out, but a great relief when it’s over
And many of them have been hurling. Which has made me want to hurl.
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Our pitching has been sensational. We are #2 in ERA+.
We’re tied for last in OPS+. 2 HRs in the last 12 games.
Pitching has been fine. The peripherals suggest we won’t maintain our current pitching success, but right now, it is definitely not a problem.
Pitching’s job is to hold the other team to less runs than your team scores. On that end, they haven’t succeeded. But I agree, they have done well statistically. And I especially agree, the bats have been putrid. That better not continue or they’re in for a long season.
whyhayzee5 hours ago
Pitching’s job is to hold the other team to less runs than your team scores.
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One has nothing to with the other, If you win a game 16-14, it doesn’t mean you pitched well, just because you held the team to “only” 14 runs.
Cutter Crawford out his era is like 12.00
Crawford should have been sent down and Schreiber should have been kept around a little while longer
He probably wants to play with a Major League organization.
In Korea!
He would be awful there too
He probably retire and play on twitch all day or sign with the reds or tigers.
Yea, Holland’s best bet is another minor league deal with a bad team that lacks rotation depth. He’s the kind of guy who’ll get called up after the trade deadline when his team trades anyone of value. I could see him going back to Detroit with Pineda, Chafin and Wily Peralta qualifying as deadline chips. They don’t have a ton of lefty relievers who they can replace Chafin with, and while they have young starters who could step in for Pineda, it’s likely that they’ll want to keep them on an innings limit.
His last good year was in 2018 with the Giants.. As was with Derek Rodriguez, Ty Black, Albert Suarez and Chris Stratton. Except for Strattons move to the bullpen the guys have been searching ever since. Holland season was terrible the year before. I dont know who the Giants pitching coach was then, but I used to think it was pitching coaches like Dave Duncan and Ray Searage who could make washed out pitchers “regain their form”. Now I wonder if it’s certain guys know a few more tricks up their Gaylord Perry sleeves than others. The Twins staff was lights out in 2019. Then took a step back after all the sticky talk. Now seemed to put it back together. A few relievers on that squad had pretty good season out of nowhere. Think one was Wisler? I dunno
You can’t say enough about how Bloom has stocked this team with viable arms for the bullpen and starting rotation. It’s a cornucopia of talent!! hahaha
To be fair, he’s done an equally bad job providing a Right Fielder, a real 3B, a true center fielder who can lead off, steal bases and hit for power and doesn’t have a lifetime average of .241!!
I’m now seeing the vision of sustainable performance that Bloom promised!!! Didn’t he say it was sustainable winning? Shoot I can’t remember his catch phrase for how great this team is going to be.
I wanted him out in January of 2020. Everyone said give him 3 years. That would be right after the season, right? Seems like an eternity after watching crap baseball since he took over. I just hope the next guy tosses all the dumpster diver acquisitions and actually fills the team with viable, talented players not KMART quality players. It started with Perez and the beat goes on. ONE all-star in three years. 50 losers. Over 25 of which have been shown the door. Failing miserably just isn’t strong enough for me when talking about both Bloom and Cora. I guess we are being punished for having 15 good years!!