Royals Non-Tender Greg Holland

The Royals announced that they have non-tendered injured closer Greg Holland as well as infielder Orlando Calixte (Twitter link). Holland, who would have been arbitration eligible for the final time this winter and came with a projected $11.3MM price tag, will enter the free-agent pool.

It’s been known for quite some time that the Royals would non-tender Holland, who underwent Tommy John surgery earlier this year and missed the end of the season. Kansas City has expressed interest in working out a two-year contract that would allow the team to retain Holland, who was among the most dominant pitchers in baseball when healthy. Any contract would, of course, backload most of the salary into the second year of the deal, as Holland will almost certainly not take the mound in 2016 as he recovers from the operation.

Though it was a well-known possible outcome, the non-tender is nonetheless notable; due to the fact that the Royals weren’t able to strike up a two-year pact with Holland in advance of tonight’s deadline, he and agent Scott Boras will now have the opportunity to negotiate with all 29 other clubs to see if a more lucrative offer is available on the open market.