MLB
This may be stating the obvious, but Greg Holland is a problem. The late addition to the Cardinals’ roster had some people very excited, for good reason. Holland had been one of the best closers in baseball, saving 166 games in his last four seasons. Unfortunately, he’s been bad this season, and maybe worse than you think.
Greg Holland is a Problem
After missing Spring Training Holland has struggled mightily to open the season. He’s been so bad that in his last two that Cardinal Nation has booed him off the field. His latest triumph was Tuesday night when he gave up back to back singles in the ninth, followed by a walk, and finally a two RBI single to former Redbird Jon Jay. After Tuesday night, Holland has allowed six earned runs over his last inning of work. An inning that has now stretched through three appearances.
This season Holland has an 0-2 record with an 8.76 ERA. In just 12.1 innings he’s allowed 13 runs on 17 hits, 15 walks, and only nine strikeouts. His 10.9 BB/9 would rank worst in baseball among relievers, if he had enough innings to qualify.
Advanced statistics haven’t been anymore kind to Holland. He has a WAR of -0.8, according to Baseball Reference, or, -0.3 if you look at Fangraphs. Neither is impressive, especially for a reliever in limited time. Holland has allowed a .364 BABIP and has a FIP of 6.35. His park and league adjusted ERA, where 100 is average and lower is better, is 229. His adjusted FIP under the same principles is 162.
When Holland isn’t walking batters, or when he’s throwing strikes, he isn’t fooling anyone either. Batters are swinging at just 26.6% of pitches outside the zone and 64.6% inside the zone. What’s a bigger problem, those swings aren’t misses. Even when batters are swinging at balls, their contact percentage is 59.5. As for the strikes they’re swinging at, they’re connecting 84.5% of the time. It’s not soft contact either. 48.9% of the time, batters are making medium contact against Holland and 33.3% of the time they are making hard contact. That leaves just 17.8% for soft contact.
Tough Decisions
Greg Holland is a problem and it’s time for the problem to be properly addressed by the front office. John Mozeliak or Michael Girsch need to sit Holland down and have a difficult conversation about his future with the team. He should be given two options, accept a demotion to the minors to sort this stuff out, or pack your bags. If he chooses the latter, try to find somewhere to trade him and dump some salary, or cut ties with him and eat the remainder of the contract. It’s that simple.
This article was originally written by former TSJ101SPORTS MLB Department editor and writer Canyon Clark. Due to systems modalities, the article has been assigned to the author tag designation “Former Writers”.
