Hamels, who turned 39 last month, is obviously the highest-profile of the bunch. One of the top pitchers in the game during his peak with the Phillies, Hamels is a four-time All-Star and former World Series MVP. He was an exemplar of durability throughout his peak, starting 30+ games each season from 2008-16. Hamels missed a bit of time with the 2017 Rangers and 2019 Cubs but still topped 140 innings in both years, with a 32-start showing sandwiched in between.

Unfortunately, the veteran southpaw has had virtually nothing go his way the past few seasons. Signed to a one-year deal by the Braves in 2020, Hamels was limited to just one appearance by shoulder issues. He lingered in free agency until August of the following season, when he caught on with the Dodgers on a $1MM contract. Hamels’ first comeback attempt was derailed within weeks by renewed shoulder discomfort, and he returned to the open market over the 2021-22 offseason.

The 15-year MLB veteran required surgery on his shoulder and didn’t sign for 2022. While initial reports last offseason suggested he could factor into the mix by the end of the summer, he eventually turned his attention to the upcoming season. Throughout the process, Hamels has maintained interest in a comeback, even as he told the Associated Press last month he’s also undergone operations on his right knee and left foot. It seems he’s now healthy enough to get back on a mound, where clubs will evaluate whether his current form warrants a minor league contract.

Holland also has over a decade of MLB experience. The 36-year-old has played for six different clubs over a 13-year big league career. He had some success as a starter early on with the Rangers and committed to a full-time bullpen role in 2019. The southpaw soaked up plenty of innings out of the ’pen for the Giants, Cubs, Pirates and Tigers from 2019-21 but allowed nearly six earned runs per nine altogether in that stretch. He spent last season in Triple-A in the Red Sox and Blue Jays organizations, combining for a 5.77 ERA with a 22.8% strikeout rate in 39 innings at the top minor league level. Released by Toronto around the All-Star Break, he didn’t pitch during the season’s second half.

Crick has the most recent big league experience of the group. The 30-year-old righty has pitched in the majors in each of the last six seasons, including 14 outings with the White Sox last year. His final outing came in mid-June, though, as he was placed on the injured list with inflammation in his throwing elbow. He hit minor league free agency at season’s end once Chicago ran through waivers. Crick had a couple excellent seasons to start his career with the Giants and Pirates in 2017-18; he owns a 4.47 ERA in exactly 100 big league outings since the beginning of the 2019 campaign.

Holland didn’t get a big league crack in Boston, and he’ll try to pitch his way onto the MLB roster in Toronto. If he eventually earns a call, it’d be the 14th consecutive year in which he reaches the majors. Holland spent the bulk of that time as a starter, but he’s moved to relief more or less full-time going back to 2019. Holland has just a 5.98 ERA in 174 2/3 innings over the last three years, but he’s held left-handed hitters to a paltry .211/.281/.294 line over 226 plate appearances.

Last season, Holland made 39 outings and tossed 49 2/3 frames of 5.07 ERA ball with the Tigers. He signed a minors deal with the Red Sox in mid-March and forwent his first opt-out opportunity at the start of the regular season. Assigned to Triple-A Worcester, he allowed nine runs in 11 1/3 innings. Holland punched out 13 batters but also issued seven walks in that stretch. He was one of a handful of veterans afforded a May 1 opt-out right by the collective bargaining agreement, and he triggered that provision. Boston elected to release him rather than add him to the major league roster.

The Jays already have a fair bit of left-handed bullpen depth, so Holland could have his work cut out for him getting back to the big leagues. Tim Mayza is locked in as the primary lefty set-up man, while offseason signee Andrew Vasquez is in the majors. Tayler Saucedo and Ryan Borucki are each on the injured list, but the latter has progressed to throwing live batting practice sessions. Borucki is out of minor league option years, meaning the Jays will have to keep him on the active roster when he returns or take him off the 40-man entirely.

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.

As the MLBPA announced at the onset of the most recent offseason, there were 188 players who became Article XX(B) free agents. The majority of those players signed Major League contracts. A handful retired, and some have yet to sign a contract at all. There were still more than two dozen players who signed minor league contracts, however, which makes them subject to the new uniform opt-out dates. Several of those players — Marwin Gonzalez, Matt Moore and Wily Peralta, to name a few — have already had their contracts selected to the Major League roster. Others signed their minor league deal after March 28, meaning they’re not covered under the uniform opt-out provision.

By my count, there are a dozen players who qualified as Article XX(B) free agents, signed minor league deals on or before March 28, and remain with those organizations but not on the 40-man roster. Each of the following veterans, then, will have the opportunity to become a free agent Sunday if they’re not called up to the current organization’s big league roster:

• Tyler Clippard, RHP, Nationals: The 37-year-old Clippard had a strong 2019 season in Cleveland and pitched brilliantly with Minnesota in 2020. His 2021 campaign with the D-backs was solid but truncated by a strained capsule in his right shoulder. He missed nearly four months to begin the year but pitched to a 3.20 ERA in 25 1/3 innings upon activation — albeit with subpar strikeout and walk rates (19.8% and 9.9%, respectively). He’s had a rough go in Triple-A Rochester so far, yielding seven runs on six hits and a whopping 11 walks in 8 1/3 innings. He’s also picked up a dozen strikeouts.
• Austin Romine, C, Angels: Romine is 2-for-15 with a pair of singles so far in Triple-A Salt Lake. He’s never provided much with the bat, but the longtime Yankees backup is regarded as a quality defender and receiver. He spent the 2021 season with the Cubs but only logged 62 plate appearances thanks to a sprained left wrist that landed him on the 60-day injured list for a significant portion of the season. Romine hit .217/.242/.300 when healthy last year and is a lifetime .238/.277/.358 hitter in 1313 Major League plate appearances.
• Billy Hamilton, CF, Mariners: At 31 years old, the former top prospect is what he is now: an elite defender and baserunner who’s never been able to get on base consistently enough to capitalize on his 80-grade speed. Hamilton slashed .220/.242/.378 in 135 plate appearances with the White Sox last season and is out to a 7-for-32 start with one walk and 11 strikeouts so far with the Mariners’ top affiliate. Hamilton has four seasons of 55-plus stolen bases under his belt, but he also has a career .293 OBP  that’s gotten even worse (.269) over the past three seasons (524 plaste appearances).
• Blake Parker, RHP, Cardinals: Parker, 36, has yielded three runs in 7 1/3 Triple-A frames but is brandishing a far more impressive 11-to-1 K/BB ratio. He split the past two seasons between Philadelphia and Cleveland, pitching to a combined 3.02 ERA with a 24.4% strikeout rate against a 9.1% walk rate. Parker has had an up-and-down career since debuting with the Cubs as a 27-year-old rookie in 2012, but the cumulative results are solid. He carries a career 3.47 ERA with 34 saves and 47 holds. When Parker’s splitter is working well, he can be a very effective late-inning option.
• Derek Holland, LHP, Red Sox: The veteran southpaw has provided innings, but not necessarily at quality since transitioning into a bullpen role in 2019. Last season he appeared in 39 games for the Tigers, tossing 49 2/3 innings with a 5.07 ERA/3.96 FIP. Holland’s time with Triple-A Worcester hasn’t been smooth, as he has a 5.79 ERA and six walks over 9 1/3 innings.
• Steven Souza Jr., OF, Mariners: Due to an ugly knee injury and some struggles at the plate, Souza hasn’t been a truly productive big leaguer since 2017. Looking to revive his career with the Mariners, Souza has hit .200/.383/.333 over 60 PA with Triple-A Tacoma.
• Kevin Pillar, OF, Dodgers: This season marks Pillar’s first taste of Triple-A ball since 2014, and the veteran outfielder is overmatching pitchers to the tune of a .313/.415/.627 slash line over 82 plate appearances. One would imagine this performance will earn Pillar a look in Los Angeles or perhaps another team if the Dodgers don’t select his contract. Pillar’s minor league deal guarantees him a $2.5MM salary if he receives a big league call-up, which could be a factor for a Dodgers club that may be trying to stay under the third tier ($270MM) of the luxury tax threshold.
• Cam Bedrosian, RHP, Phillies: After signing a minor league deal with Philadelphia last July, Bedrosian posted a 4.35 ERA over 10 1/3 innings with the club despite recording almost as many walks (seven) as strikeouts (eight). The righty inked a new minors deal with the Phillies over the winter but has yet to pitch this season due to injury.
• Shelby Miller, RHP, Yankees: The former All-Star pitched well with the Cubs’ and Pirates’ Triple-A affiliates in 2021, and he has kept up that strong Triple-A performance now working as a full-time reliever.  Over eight innings for Scranton/Wilkes-Barres, Miller has a 2.25 ERA with outstanding strikeout (31.3%) and walk (3.1%) rates. He also hasn’t allowed any homers, a notable stat for a pitcher who has had great trouble containing the long ball over the last few seasons.
• Matt Carpenter, INF, Rangers: Carpenter got a late start to Spring Training, and upon Opening Day, he expressed a desire to take the necessary time to get himself up to speed. Through 52 plate appearances in Triple-A, Carpenter has slashed an improved .239/.327/.457 with a pair of home runs. While not standout numbers, they are an improvement over the .203/.235/.346 slash line Carpenter posted in 901 PA from 2019-21 with the Cardinals.
• Carlos Martinez, RHP, Giants: Another former Cardinal looking for a fresh start, Martinez has yet to pitch for Triple-A Sacramento, as he is still rehabbing from the thumb surgery he underwent last July. With injuries and a nasty bout of COVID-19 factoring into matters, Martinez has only a 6.95 ERA over 102 1/3 big league innings since the start of the 2020 season.
• Keone Kela, RHP, Diamondbacks: Kela has also been ravaged by injuries over the last two seasons, including Tommy John surgery last May. Given the usual TJ recovery timeline, Kela isn’t likely to be a factor for the D’Backs until at least midseason.

Of course, players remain free to negotiate additional out clauses into their minor league contracts. Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports, for instance, that lefty Adam Morgan has an opt-out provision in his contract with the Astros today. Morgan doesn’t have enough service time to qualify as an Article XX(B) free agent, but he’ll nevertheless have the opportunity to become a free agent Sunday if he doesn’t like his chances of eventually being added to Houston’s roster.

Holland further explained his decision on his own Twitter feed, stating that he “took the [Triple-A] assignment because I’ve only been able to showcase two innings” of actual Grapefruit League action.  “It’s a great organization to be apart of so I want to stay and see where this road takes me.  Going to be a lot of fun with these guys.“

This is the third time in as many offseasons that Holland has signed a minor league deal, and his previous two contracts resulted in some significant big league action.  The southpaw tossed 40 2/3 innings with the Pirates in 2020 and then 49 2/3 frames with the Tigers last year, with a 5.07 ERA to show for his time in Detroit.  While Holland’s Statcast numbers weren’t impressive in 2021, his 4.00 SIERA was well below his actual ERA, likely since Holland was snakebit by a .354 BABIP.

Since the lockout prevented from Holland from signing anywhere until March 18, it makes that sense that he would take a bit more time to fully ramp up rather than immediately jump back into the open market.  MLB.com’s Ian Browne reports that Holland has another opt-out on May 1 if he hasn’t already been added to the active Red Sox roster.

While nothing is official yet, it makes sense that the Red Sox would retain Shaw as a left-handed hitting complement to prospective starting first baseman Bobby Dalbec.  While Dalbec had a terrific finish to the 2021 season, the young slugger has been pretty inconsistent over his 545 career plate appearances, so Shaw can provide some experienced backup.

Shaw is a familiar face in Boston, breaking into the majors with the team in 2015-16 and then returning last season after being claimed off waivers by the Brewers in August.  Over a small sample size of 48 PA, Shaw hit well, delivering three home runs and a .238/.319/.524 slash line in his Red Sox return.  He also had a clutch pinch-hit single in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the ALDS, advancing the eventual winning run to third base.

Holland has pitched in each of the past 13 MLB seasons, spending time with the Rangers, White Sox, Giants, Cubs, Pirates and Tigers. He is probably best known for his time in Texas from 2009 to 2016, appearing in 179 games, including 158 starts. He threw 985 innings with a 4.35 ERA, 18.9% strikeout rate and 7.4% walk rate.

A one-year, $6MM deal with the White Sox in 2017 didn’t go as planned, with Holland’s ERA shooting up to 6.20 over 135 innings. His 16.6% strikeout rate and 12% walk rate also didn’t inspire much confidence. However, he had a terrific bounceback in 2018 after signing a minor league deal with the Giants. He eventually made 30 starts and came out of the ’pen six times, throwing 171 1/3 innings with a 3.57 ERA, 23.2% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate.

That was enough for the Giants to bring him back for 2019 with a one-year deal that came with a $7MM guarantee. Holland’s pendulum swung back the other way, though, as his ERA went back up to 6.08. Despite still getting strikeouts at a healthy rate of 21.8%, his walk rate went back up to 12% on the year.

The past two years have seen Holland sign minor league deals with rebuilding clubs, then soaking up innings throughout the year, primarily out of the bullpen. Between his 2020 season with the Pirates and 2021 season with the Tigers, he logged 90 1/3 total innings, with a 5.88 ERA, 23.8% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate.

The Red Sox don’t have a strong need for southpaws in their bullpen, as they recently added Jake Diekman and Matt Strahm to a relief corps that already had Josh Taylor and Darwinzon Hernandez. However, the rotation has some uncertainty, as it was recently revealed that Chris Sale is going to be sidelined with a stress fracture in his rib. Nathan Eovaldi has been healthy the past couple of years, but has dealt with his share of injuries prior to that. Rich Hill threw 158 2/3 innings last year, the second-highest mark of his career, but has frequently been injured before and is now 42 years old. Michael Wacha hasn’t topped 130 innings since 2017. Holland, on the other hand, has only been on the MLB injured list three times in his career, and never for more than about a month, giving the Red Sox as a veteran safety net, should they need one over the course of the season.

Manning has been one of the Tigers’ top prospects since he was taken ninth overall in the 2016 draft. Along with Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal, Manning figures heavily into the Tigers’ rebuilding strategy. The Tigers have long been a pitching forward organization, of course, but it’s only now that all three of their highly-touted arms have begun to arrive in Motor City. With five starts this season, Manning is the last of the three to make his Major League debut.

Like Mize and Skubal, Manning’s early results have been relatively underwhelming. The 23-year-old has a 6.95 ERA/5.36 FIP through 22 innings with a solid 7.9 percent walk rate, but subpar 8.9 percent strikeout rate. It’s early to judge Manning, of course, and he put forth arguably his best effort yet on Friday night against the Twins, tossing five innings and yielding two earned runs on two hits and three walks while striking out three. The move makes sense at this juncture, however, as the Tigers won’t need a fifth starter for the foreseeable future with the All-Star break beginning Monday.

Thus far, Manning has presented a relatively diverse arsenal, fronted by 93.3 mph four-seamer, thrown 62.0 percent of the time. He compliments the heater primarily with a change-up to lefties and a slider to righties, occasionally mixing in a change-of-pace, looping curveball, clocking in at 78.3 mph.

The slider-forward approach is one that we’ve seen many Tigers’ hurlers take this season, with Mize and Skubal also showing increased reliance on the slider, as noted here and here by Timothy Jackson of Baseball Prospectus. Ace Spencer Turnbull, too, had increased his slider usage from 20.9 percent to 24.5 percent this year prior to being injured.

A flyball-heavy approach has left Manning somewhat prone to the long ball this season, especially in Triple-A  where he was tagged with a 27.5 percent home-run-to-fly-ball rate. While that number is astronomically high and sure to regress to the mean somewhat, he was tagged for three more home runs in the Majors, amounting to a 3.0 percent home run rate – right around the league-average rate.

As for the 34-year-old Holland, he will rejoin the Tigers bullpen. The veteran southpaw has 14 appearances on the season totaling 15 innings of work with a unsightly 9.60 ERA. ERA indicators — 4.01 SIERA, 4.04 FIP — are far more complimentary of Holland’s contribution, however. The difference could be due to a .426 BABIP that’s well above both the league-wide average of .297 and his own career average mark of .299.

Holland has been a touch wild, with an 11.5 percent walk rate, despite a career best 74.4 percent first pitch strike percentage. To his credit, as he’s gotten ahead in counts, Holland has struck out 25.6 percent of batters, a strong mark just above the league average for relievers.

Holland has been on the injured list since June 10th with shoulder inflammation. It was his second stint on the IL so far this season. Formerly of the Rangers, White Sox, Cubs, Giants and Pirates, the journeyman joined the Tigers on a minor league deal this offseason and made the team out of spring training.

This is the second time this month that Ramos has been sidelined by the same injury.  Ramos’ previous IL stint lasted the minimum ten days before he was activated on May 17, but clearly something wasn’t quite right, as he hit only .087 over 24 plate appearances after his return.

Ramos signed a one-year, $2MM free agent deal with the Tigers during the offseason, and got off to a very strong start in his first few weeks in Motown before cooling off at the plate.  With the brutal stretch between his IL stints now severely weighing down his numbers, Ramos has a .200/.238/.392 slash line over 128 PA in 2021.

Ramos had mostly been serving as a designated hitter after his return from the injured list, and thus the Tigers have already had three catchers on the roster.  Eric Haase and Jake Rogers will now officially be handling all the catching duties until Ramos is healthy.

Holland signed a minors deal with Detroit and ended up making the Opening Day roster, giving the veteran left-hander a 13th Major League season under his belt.  Holland has struggled to a 13.00 ERA over nine innings, pitching mostly as a reliever.

Stewart, 27, was the No. 34 overall pick in the 2015 draft and was considered one of Detroit’s most promising farmhands for the first few years of his pro career. He mashed his way through the team’s minor league system and at one point carried the potential to be a bat-first option in left field, but his big league production simply hasn’t lined up with his minor league numbers. Stewart has appeared in 157 games for the Tigers over the past three seasons but posted a combined .225/.300/.376 batting line in 586 plate appearances.

Despite having huge raw power, Stewart’s exit velocities (career 86.7 mph) and hard-hit rates (32.2 percent) have never been particularly impressive. He’s probably been a bit less strikeout-prone than some feared when he punched out in 26 percent of his Double-A plate appearances, striking out at a 24.9 percent clip in the big leagues against an 8.3 percent walk rate.

Stewart still has three minor league options remaining, so it seems as though he ultimately just fell out of favor with the club’s decision-makers after his lack of production since his 2018 debut. The Tigers inked Robbie Grossman (two years, $10MM) and Nomar Mazara (one year, $1.75MM) over the winter and took an intriguing outfielder, Akil Baddoo, from the division-rival Twins in the Rule 5 Draft. Baddoo had a monster Spring Training showing, and Detroit also has JaCoby Jones and Victor Reyes (another former Rule 5 pick) ticketed for the Opening Day roster. Meanwhile, Daz Cameron and Derek Hill, another pair of former top picks with better defensive skill sets, will open the year at the team’s alternate site.

The Tigers have a week to trade Stewart or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. His raw power and trio of minor league options could pique the interest of another club with a need for some outfield depth. Stewart’s glove has long been considered to be poor, but he carries a career .264/.366/.501 batting line and 98 home runs in just over 2000 minor league plate appearances.

As for the veteran Holland, it was announced earlier in the week that he’d made team’s Opening Day roster. Those who didn’t track the lefty’s Spring Training may be surprised due to Holland’s struggles in 2019-20, but there was no way the Tigers were leaving him off the roster after he tossed 9 1/3 shutout innings with just six hits and one walk against a whopping 16 strikeouts during camp.

Mize, 23, didn’t have a great spring but was sharper in his most recent outing, holding the Blue Jays to a pair of runs on five hits and no walks with nine strikeouts through four innings. Overall, he’s been tagged for 13 runs in 14 frames during Grapefruit League play, but he’s also punched out an impressive 21 hitters in that time.

Mize made his big league debut in 2020 and looked sharp at times but generally struggled to work deep into games. He held opponents to a tepid .228/.302/.358 batting line the first time through the order but saw those numbers leap to .235/.361/.510 upon turning a lineup over for the second time. It was a small sample, just seven starts, and Mize certainly has the pedigree to pitch at or near the top of a big league rotation. In addition to a strong NCAA track record, the former Auburn ace carries a 2.71 ERA, a 24.8 percent strikeout rate and a tiny 5.4 percent walk rate through 123 minor league innings. He skipped Triple-A entirely due to the canceled minor league season in 2020, but he’ll be given the opportunity to prove to the Tigers that he needn’t ever throw a pitch with their Toledo affiliate.

Mize joins Matthew Boyd, Jose Urena, Julio Teheran and Tarik Skubal in a rotation that looks quite different than it did early in the 2020 season. Righty Spencer Turnbull figures to eventually join the mix in some capacity, but he’s been in Covid-19 protocol since early this week.

Fulmer, too, could eventually work his way back into the rotation picture. The righty has undergone a pair of arm surgeries — ulnar nerve transposition and Tommy John — since being named AL Rookie of the Year back in 2016. He struggled mightily this spring, but Hinch gave him a vote of confidence Friday, calling Fulmer a “big league pitcher” (via Woodbery) and noting that optioning him to Triple-A was not a consideration. He’ll work in a multi-inning role, so he could perhaps slide into the rotation when injuries and/or struggles from the other starters necessitate. The Tigers still control Fulmer through the 2022 season.

As for Holland, he’ll give Hinch a third lefty alongside Gregory Soto and Daniel Norris. The 34-year-old has overwhelmingly earned his roster spot this spring, rattling off eight scoreless innings while allowing just five hits and a walk against 13 strikeouts. Holland has struggled with the Pirates, Giants and Cubs across the past two seasons, but he turned in 171 1/3 innings of 3.57 ERA ball for San Francisco as recently as 2018. He’s worked mostly as a starter in his 12-year big league career but has come out of the bullpen 80 times at the MLB level, so a relief role is hardly unfamiliar territory for him.

JAN 23: Derek Holland is a Detroit Tiger, he announced via his Twitter bio. The veteran lefty will join the Tigers on a minor league deal, per Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press (via Twitter). The Tigers will invite Holland to Major League camp with the intention of utilizing him out of the bullpen, notes Jon Morosi of the MLB Network (via Twitter). The deal has not been announced by the club.

The well-traveled southpaw spent 2020 with the Pirates after previous stops on the Cubs, Giants, White Sox and Rangers. He’s best known for his eight-year stay with the Rangers from 2009 to 2016. He spent much of that time in the Rangers’ rotation, including one start in the 2011 World Series. Holland went 8 1/3 innings giving up just two hits and two walks while striking out seven to beat the Cardinals 4-0. Though that series didn’t end as planned for the Rangers, Holland’s performance in that game four win certainly marked a highlight for the then-25-year-old. Holland was a bit of a breakout star on that 2011 pennant-winning team, throwing 198 innings with a 3.95 ERA/3.94 FIP and 3.1 fWAR.

His best overall season would come two years later. During that 4.5 fWAR 2013 campaign, Holland logged 213 innings with a 3.42 ERA/3.44 FIP, 40.8 percent groundball rate, 21.1 percent strikeout rate, and 7.2 percent walk rate. Unfortunately, Holland’s career took a turn the following season when left knee surgery cut his season to just 37 innings. Shoulder problems limited his 2016 season to 10 starts and 58 2/3 innings as his run prevention numbers rose to a 4.91 ERA/5.30 FIP.

Holland has since settled in as a swingman, primarily working out of the bullpen the past two seasons. He made five starts and seven bullpen appearances for the Pirates in 2020, finishing with a 6.86 ERA/6.14 FIP. Though those numbers don’t offer much promise, and batted ball metrics show he’s been hit hard the past two years, he did log a solid 25.1 percent strikeout rate and 8.4 percent walk rate.

Holland has long been expected to win a spot in the Pittsburgh rotation — and that was before Chris Archer underwent thoracic outlet surgery. The 33-year-old had a miserable season with the Giants in 2019 but enjoyed a strong year there the previous season when he logged a 3.57 ERA and 3.87 FIP with nearly a strikeout per frame in 171 1/3 innings. He’ll join Joe Musgrove, Trevor Williams, Mitch Keller and Steven Brault in the Buccos’ rotation to open the season. There’s some upside there, particularly with Keller, but the Pirates will need some breaks for that staff to function as an average unit.

The 27-year-old Evans has just 34 MLB games and 61 plate appearances under his belt — all coming with the Mets. He’s played all four infield positions and left field as a pro, but spent the most time at second and third base. Evans slashed .283/.371/.470 in 539 plate appearances with the Cubs’ Triple-A club last year, walking nearly as often as he struck out (10.7 percent versus 13.6 percent).

Turley, 30, hasn’t pitched in the Majors or minors since 2017 due to an 80-game PED suspension and an elbow injury. He posted brilliant numbers for the Twins’ Double-A and Triple-A clubs that season (2.15 ERA, 124-to-29 K/BB ratio in 92 frames) but was clobbered in the Majors. The Pirates have continued to try to get Turley into the mix since claiming him from Minnesota a couple years ago, and it seems he’ll finally get his shot in 2020.

• Last month, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that José Bautista had been eyeing a return as a two-way player. While his hope of representing the Dominican Republic in the Olympic qualifying tournament was dashed by the event’s postponement, Bautista doesn’t appear to be giving up his two-way dream. He tells Sportsnet he would consider trying the dual role in the 2021 World Baseball Classic. Interestingly, he seems open to the idea of representing Team Spain (his father is a Spanish citizen, thus granting him eligibility), Sportsnet adds, if the Dominican team doesn’t offer him a roster spot. The former Blue Jays’ star admitted it’d be a long shot for him to ever pitch in the majors, but noted he’d be “ready just in case.”
• Derek Holland was on track to crack the Pirates’ season-opening rotation prior to the shutdown, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He’d likely have slotted in behind Chris Archer, Joe Musgrove, Trevor Williams and Mitch Keller for first-year manager Derek Shelton. If the 2020 season is indeed played, Holland would presumably still figure to grab a roster spot, particularly since any playing scenario is likely to involve significant roster expansion. Holland’s minor-league deal originally called for a $1.25MM base salary if he were to make the club, reported ESPN. As MLBTR’s Jeff Todd explained this week, though, player salaries would be paid on a prorated basis in the event of a shortened season.
• Major League Baseball economics are sure to be rocked by the coronavirus hiatus, notes Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. It’s obviously too early to know exactly how teams, players and the league will respond to the loss of gate receipts. Nevertheless, Speier speaks with a handful of sports economists (and Scott Boras) about ways in which MLB could look to mitigate their losses in attendance revenue. As former SABR president Vince Gennaro points out, fan-free games might force teams to explore innovative media packages as alternatives to in-person attendance. Speier’s piece is well worth a full perusal for those interested in the sport’s economic future.

A flurry of low-key pickups followed for Cherington as the Pirates bought  in bulk: Charlie Tilson, Andrew Susac, JT Riddle, Robbie Erlin and Derek Holland signed minor league deals this week. Cherington gives Erlin a decent shot of joining the bullpen, which is otherwise without a lefty except for rotation candidate Steven Brault, per The Athletic’s Rob Biertempfel.

Holland, too, could end up in the bullpen, but like Brault, he’ll be given a shot at the rotation. Holland’s glory days as a Texas Ranger are long in the rearview, but his 2018 with the Giants at least gives the perception of a raised ceiling for Holland after otherwise forgettable stints with each Chicago team. It was just two seasons ago that Holland put up 171 1/3 innings with an impressive 3.57 ERA/3.87 FIP across 36 games for the Giants.

Holland’s shoe game remained on-point in 2019, but he struggled on the hill, both for the Giants and then for the Cubs. He only got 7 turns through the rotation to start the season, but 26 earned runs in 34 1/3 innings earned a demotion to the bullpen, where he stayed until the deadline trade to the Cubs. The Cubs relied on him as a lefty reliever out of the pen, but he struggled there, too, marking a 10.50 ERA in September, contributing to the Cubs’ tailspin.

Still, he’ll come into camp representing a veteran floor for the Pittsburgh rotation as Brault and Mitch Keller try to earn their spot. If the young Pirate arms aren’t ready to take the ball every five days, Holland could find himself back in a big league rotation in 2020.

Financial details aren’t known. But Holland will compete in camp for a spot on the MLB roster and gets a chance to opt out if he isn’t added for the start of the season.

The division-rival Cubs had declined an option over Holland at season’s end. It was a rough overall campaign — whether working from the rotation or in relief, and both before and after the Giants traded him to Chicago. Holland ended the year with 84 1/3 innings of 6.08 ERA ball. That’s now the second time in three campaigns that Holland has allowed more than six earned per nine.

For both Holland and the Bucs, the idea will be to help him rediscover the form he showed in a successful 2018 season. He worked to a 3.87 ERA in 171 1/3 frames that year, carrying 8.9 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9.

It remains to be seen what sort of role Holland will occupy. Even if he’s given a chance to compete for a rotation spot in camp, he may end up being tasked with entering from the pen. Notably, Holland posted extreme platoon splits last year (.997 OPS for right-handed hitters vs. .528 OPS for left-handed hitters).

First and foremost, Holland will need to nail down an approach. He continued the ramped-up slider usage he utilized in 2018, then made a drastic mid-season fastball swap (from his four-seamer to his sinker). That did coincide with improved results for most of Holland’s time with the Cubs, but his numbers were irreparably marred when he coughed up seven earned in just two frames in his last appearance of the season.