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Derek Holland

Cubs Exercise Option On Jose Quintana, Decline Option On Derek Holland

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6:50 pm: The club has announced both transactions. Quintana will remain under club control for the 2020 season, while Holland has been bought out.

6:25 pm: As expected, the Cubs have exercised their 2020 team option on starter Jose Quintana, as first reported by Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times (link). The club declined its 2020 team option on hurler Derek Holland.

Quintana’s option for 2020 comes in at $10.5MM, while the club could have paid him a $1MM buyout if it preferred that he walk. The left-hander hasn’t been quite the same pitcher since changing Chicago sides midway through the 2017 season, but a $9.5MM proposition for a mid-to-back-rotation type is still a reasonably palatable option. Quintana’s 4.68 ERA in 2019 was his worst mark since breaking into the league back in 2012, but underlying metrics like FIP (3.80) and BABIP (.326) indicate that he may have been subject to more than his fair share of bad luck last year. Quintana carries a cumulative 4.23 ERA with the Cubs since being acquired from the White Sox in 2017 in exchange for a package headlined by Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease.

Holland carried a $7MM club option for 2020, but the club instead chose to buy him out for $500k. That likely represented an easy pass for Chicago management, as Holland was largely limited to relief in 2020 after a rocky start to the year for San Francisco (the lefty was designated in July and subsequently acquired by Chicago in a minor deal). While Holland has recorded sub-4.00 ERAs as a full-time starting pitcher in 2011, 2013, and 2018, he has pitched to an ERA exceeding 6.00 in two of his last three seasons. The sinkerballer posted a Hard Hit percentage of 42.1% last year according to Statcast, placing him in the bottom 8% of the sport in that category.

Cubs Activate Willson Contreras

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Catcher Willson Contreras and left-hander Derek Holland have been activated from the 10-day injured list, the Cubs announced Tuesday. Contreras had been out since early August due to a hamstring strain, while Holland has been out since Aug. 25 owing to a wrist contusion.

Contreras will return to a different catching mix than he left, as the Cubs quickly scooped up veteran Jonathan Lucroy to help cover for Contreras’ absence. Lucroy has hit just .232/.302/.282 through 43 plate appearances since joining the Cubs, though he’s served primarily as a backup to hot-hitting Victor Caratini. In 79 plate appearances since Contreras was placed on the IL, the switch-hitting Caratini put together an impressive .271/.354/.471 output with four long balls and a pair of doubles.

Productive as Caratini may have been, Contreras should assume the lion’s share of playing time behind the dish if he’s at full health. Contreras, 27, made his second All-Star team in 2019 and has posted a .275/.365/.525 batting line through 340 plate appearances over the life of 87 games. Between him and Caratini, it seems that playing time for the veteran Lucroy could be scarce moving forward.

As for Holland, he’s allowed five runs on eight hits and three walks with eight punchouts in 9 2/3 innings with the Cubs since they picked him up from the Giants. He’ll give manager Joe Maddon another left-handed option out of the bullpen as the Cubs look to close a three-game deficit to overtake the NL Central-leading Cardinals.

Cubs Acquire Derek Holland, Designate Tim Collins

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The Cubs announced today that they have acquired lefty Derek Holland from the Giants. To create roster space, fellow southpaw Tim Collins was designated for assignment.

Holland had recently been designated himself by the San Francisco organization. He was playing on a deal that promises him $6.5MM this year and a $500K buyout on a $7MM club option (which also includes some escalators). Today’s trade, humorously, involves “a cash consideration” heading in both directions. Precisely how the sides have sorted the financials isn’t yet clear, but it seems fair to presume that the Cubs will pick up a small portion of the two-and-a-half million or so remaining on the tab.

The Chicago organization continues to cycle through lefty relievers. When Collins signed his modest, $850K deal, the club dropped Brian Duensing from its 40-man despite a $3.5MM salary. Now, the team will give Holland a look in a relief capacity.

It’s not surprising to see Holland land on his feet despite his struggles this year. The 32-year-old washed out of the San Francisco rotation after seven starts, as he failed to follow up a quality 2018 season. His ability to throw multiple innings as a long man or starter is still of appeal, particularly for a Cubs team that recently parted with Mike Montgomery.

The real appeal here, though, is the possibility of using Holland as a situational reliever. While his overall results were hardly exceptional — 5.03 ERA in 34 innings with 29 strikeouts and 15 walks — Holland has shown a velocity boost in the bullpen. Better still, he’s pummeling opposing left-handed batters, who carry a meager .182/.276/.195 batting line in 89 trips to the plate against him this season. Holland has not only induced lots of poor contact, but has drawn grounders from southpaw hitters on more than three of every four balls they put in play.

As for Collins, the 29-year-old hasn’t been tasked with much of a workload in the majors. His swinging-strike rate has dropped from a promising 11.6% rate last year to just 7.5% in his nine appearances in 2019. He has spent most of the year pitching at Triple-A, where he carries a 4.67 ERA with 12.3 K/9 against 5.3 BB/9 with seven long balls marring his stat line.

Giants Designate Derek Holland, Ryder Jones

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The Giants have designated left-hander Derek Holland for assignment, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reports. In addition, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets that Ryder Jones has also been designated for assignment, clearing a second spot on the Giants’ 40-man roster.

Holland, formerly with the Rangers and White Sox, joined the Giants entering 2018 on a minor league contract. He was coming off multiple rough seasons at the time, but Holland made his way to San Francisco last year and enjoyed a career renaissance. Holland’s output a year ago was enough to convince new president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi to make the 32-year-old his most expensive free-agent signing in a modest winter for the club.

The Giants inked Holland to a one-year, $7MM guarantee with a matching club option for 2020. They’re now likely have to eat the approximately $2.67MM remaining on Holland’s deal, as it’s difficult to believe a team would take on him and his money in light of the subpar production he has put up this season.

Holland got off to such a poor start out of the Giants’ rotation this season that they shifted him to their bullpen. Neither job has worked out that well in 2019 for Holland, though. Across 68 2/3 innings, Holland has pitched to a 5.90 ERA/6.08 FIP with 9.31 K/9, 4.59 BB/9 and a 41.4 percent groundball rate. Home runs helped lead to the death of Holland’s Giants tenure, as he yielded them on 23 percent of fly balls this year en route to his designation. He did, however, stymie same-handed hitters, who batted .182/.276/.195 against him. With that in mind, perhaps a team will take a chance on Holland as a LOOGY. Regardless, his next deal will likely be of the minor league variety.

Jones, meanwhile, has largely failed to live up to expectations after the Giants made him a second-round draft selection in 2013. With just four home runs and a .133 ISO in his Major League career, he has yet to show the power that is necessary for a lumbering corner infielder. Jones’s struggles this season—the first under Zaidi—may have sealed his fate; the 25-year-old has managed just a .529 OPS across several levels of the minor leagues, though injuries have limited his availability, having appeared in just 12 games. Jones could be an intriguing case for teams eyeing the waiver wire, given his draft history, age, and raw power.

Checking In On Largest One-Year Deals: Pitchers

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Seven months after signing right-hander Matt Harvey to an $11MM guarantee, the Angels are moving on from the floundering former ace. By my count, Harvey’s one of eight pitchers to receive at least $5MM on a one-year contract since the winter. It’s an arbitrary amount, but as you’ll see below, most of the game’s other fairly expensive short-term hurlers also haven’t lived up to their paydays so far in 2019. To the Angels’ chagrin, Harvey’s not the lone free-agent signing of theirs on this list.

Dallas Keuchel, SP, Braves ($13MM):

  • Unlike the other members of this group, Keuchel was not a winter pickup for his team. He instead went without a club until early June, owing to a steep asking price and a qualifying offer hanging over his head, before accepting the Braves’ one-year offer. The former Cy Young winner with Houston has been a mixed bag in his first month in Atlanta, though it’s worth pointing out he didn’t have the benefit of a spring training. The 31-year-old southpaw has taken the ball six times for the Braves and notched a 3.58 ERA with a 2.87 BB/9 and a 57.7 percent groundball rate, all of which are appealing. Conversely, Keuchel’s 5.23 FIP and 5.26 K/9 through 37 2/3 innings may be cause for alarm.

Trevor Cahill, SP/RP, Angels ($9MM):

  • Cahill was a low-cost signing entering 2018 for the Athletics, who profited from the 110 effective innings the right-hander gave them as part of a patchwork rotation. The Angels expected something similar this season, but the Cahill addition has blown up in their faces thus far. Cahill was so disappointing as a member of the Halos’ starting staff that they moved him to a relief position several weeks back. Neither role has suited the 31-year-old in 2019, evidenced by his 6.56 ERA/6.20 FIP with 6.81 K/9 and 3.09 BB/9 across 70 innings.

Cody Allen, RP, Angels ($8.5MM):

  • Yet another regrettable investment for the Angels, Allen lost his place in the organization a month ago and then had to settle for a minor league contract with the Twins. Allen joined the Angels off a mediocre-at-best 2018 with the Indians, but he was an imposing late-game reliever in the preceding years. The Angels were banking on Allen revisiting his halcyon days. Instead, they got a 6.26 ERA/8.39 FIP over 23 innings from the righty. Allen did fan upward of 11 hitters per nine in that span, but he also walked almost eight, induced groundballs at a measly 19.7 percent clip, gave up nine home runs, and experienced a drop in velocity for the second straight season.

CC Sabathia, SP, Yankees ($8MM):

  • It was no surprise Sabathia and the Yankees stayed together last winter for the final season of the potential Hall of Famer’s career. The 38-year-old lefty has since repaid the Yankees with 82 innings of 4.06 ERA ball and 8.45 K/9 against 3.07 BB/9. Sabathia’s 5.29 FIP and 4.77 xFIP are much less encouraging, but it’s worth noting he also outpitched those metrics in the prior couple years after reinventing himself as a soft-contact specialist. While Sabathia’s average exit velocity against has gone up more than 2 mph since last year, per Statcast, he still ranks in the league’s 88th percentile in terms of hard-hit rate.

Derek Holland, SP/RP, Giants ($7MM):

  • The former Ranger and White Sox revived his career with the Giants last season after they took a flier on him on a minor league pact. That led the Giants to bring back Holland on a guaranteed deal, but the move hasn’t worked out. Holland began the season with seven starts and 32 innings of 6.75 ERA/6.44 FIP pitching, which forced the Giants to demote him to their bullpen in the first half of May. The 32-year-old has done better as a reliever since then, though he still hasn’t been particularly good. Through 33 frames, Holland has recorded a 4.09 ERA/5.03 FIP with 7.64 K/9 against 4.09 BB/9.

Trevor Rosenthal, RP, Nationals ($7MM):

  • Rosenthal’s similar to Allen as a former standout closer whose career has gone in the tank recently. The Rosenthal signing went so poorly for the Nationals that they released him toward the end of June. The flamethrowing Rosenthal was a stud at times for the Cardinals from 2012-17, but he underwent Tommy John surgery in the last of those seasons and sat out all of 2018. In his return to the majors with the Nationals this year, Rosenthal logged an unfathomable 22.74 ERA with 21.32 BB/9 in 6 1/3 innings. He also spent more than a month on the injured list with a viral infection while on Washington’s roster. After the Nats cut Rosenthal, he caught on with the Tigers on a minor league contract. The 29-year-old is now back in the majors with rebuilding Detroit, having tossed a pair of scoreless innings and posted two strikeouts and two walks as a Tiger.

Tyson Ross, SP, Tigers ($5.75MM):

  • As has often been the case during Ross’ career, an injury – an elbow issue this time – has largely kept him from contributing. Ross hasn’t taken a major league mound since May 10, nor does it look as if a return is imminent. Before landing on the shelf, Ross, 32, put up an ugly 6.11 ERA/5.99 FIP with 6.37 K/9 and 4.58 BB/9 in 35 1/3 frames. Ross was serviceable last year between San Diego and St. Louis, however, so the Tigers were likely hoping he’d perform similarly over this season’s first few months and turn into a trade chip around the July 31 deadline. That dream died weeks ago.

NL West Notes: Giants, Altherr, Anderson, Cordero, Jankowski

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Yesterday’s news that Derek Holland was being moved to the Giants bullpen came with some eyebrow-raising comments from the left-hander, who was critical of the front office’s decision and claimed that his April 29 injured list placement due to a bruised index finger was a “fake injury.”  Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said Saturday that Holland’s injury was legitimate, and further discussed the matter today with reporters (including Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group).  “I think every organization would like to create an environment where guys feel comfortable talking about their concerns in-house,” Zaidi said.  “To the extent guys don’t feel comfortable, that’s on me. Maybe I haven’t been around as much as I should be.”  The entire situation, Zaidi intimated, could be due to the shared displeasure between the front office and the players over the Giants’ lackluster start to the season: “If we’re 23-16, I don’t think we’d be sitting in this room right now. I understand it. I’m as frustrated as anybody. But again, I want us to have a culture of accountability where people are looking in the mirror and asking what they can do better.”

More from around the NL West…

  • The Giants claimed Aaron Altherr from the Phillies yesterday, though the outfielder has been on San Francisco’s radar for a while.  According to NBC Sports.com’s Alex Pavlovic, the Giants first asked the Phils about Altherr two months ago, when Bryce Harper’s arrival created a surplus in the Philadelphia outfield.  Giants skipper Bruce Bochy said Altherr’s arrival won’t impact Mac Williamson’s status as the team’s regular left fielder, as Williamson will be given an extended look as an everyday player.  Altherr, meanwhile, “be eased in,” Pavlovic writes, both because Altherr hasn’t played much in recent weeks and because Altherr has struggled since the start of the 2018 season.
  • Rockies southpaw Tyler Anderson will have his bothersome left knee examined by a specialist on Monday, manager Bud Black told the Denver Post’s Sean Keeler and other media.  Anderson missed two weeks in April due to knee inflammation, and he been hit hard in five starts this season (an 11.76 ERA over 20 2/3 IP).  He was optioned to Triple-A in the wake of another rough outing on May 3, though Anderson hasn’t since pitched.  Anderson emerged as a solid, if unspectacular, innings-eater for Colorado last season, with a 4.55 ERA and league-high 30 homers over 176 frames.
  • In other injury updates, Franchy Cordero and Travis Jankowski aren’t expected to return to the Padres’ active roster anytime soon, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes.  Cordero has begun to hit in the batting cage, though “the work is limited” as Cordero continues to recover from an elbow sprain that has kept him on the IL since April 9.  Jankowski has yet to play this season after breaking his right wrist in early March, and the injury “is not healing as fast as anticipated.”  Jankowski was originally estimated for a three-month IL stint, though it doesn’t seem as though he’ll meet that timeline.

Giants Move Derek Holland To Bullpen

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The Giants are moving struggling left-hander Derek Holland to their bullpen, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets. Righty Tyler Beede will take the ball in Holland’s place Tuesday.

This is the second noteworthy change of the day in San Francisco’s rotation, as the team previously demoted 2018 rookie sensation Dereck Rodriguez to the minors in response to his discouraging start to the season. Likewise, Holland has thus far failed to follow up last year’s quality performance – one that convinced the Giants to re-sign him to a one-year, $7MM guarantee in the offseason.

A year ago at this time, Holland was in the early stages of a renaissance season after the former Ranger and White Sox accepted the Giants’ minor league offer. Holland ended up notching a 3.57 ERA/3.87 FIP with 8.88 K/9 and 3.52 BB/9 over 171 1/3 innings, making him one of the majors’ top bargain pickups of 2018. Now, though, the 32-year-old’s sitting on a 6.75 ERA/6.35 FIP with a bloated walk rate (5.19) and a sky-high 27 percent home run-to-fly ball rate in 34 2/3 frames. While Holland’s strikeout rate has surged to 10.9 per nine, it hasn’t come close to offsetting his flaws.

Furthermore, it seems bad blood has developed between Holland and the Giants’ front office, as the hurler accused the club of putting him on the IL with a “fake injury” last month (via Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle). Holland added he’s “not happy about” that IL placement, which occurred April 29 on account of a bruised left index finger and ended quickly when he returned May 9.

Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi responded to Holland’s comments, per Schulman, saying in part: “He had a finger issue that he had back in spring training. It flared up. We got an MRI. He felt he could continue pitching. We felt it would be prudent to give him the time off. The decision was collaboratively made. We have extensive medical records of it.”

Zaidi also noted that “players and the staff and front office people sometimes have differences of opinion when they should or shouldn’t play.” It seems Holland’s not the only Giant who has differences with Zaidi & Co., though, with Pavlovic tweeting there’s unhappiness within the clubhouse regarding the team’s recent IL placements and roster moves.

Now, with Holland losing his spot in favor of Beede, the Giants’ staff still has two vacancies after Drew Pomeranz went on the IL on May 9 with a left lat strain. Aside from Holland, Beede, Rodriguez, Madison Bumgarner and Jeff Samardzija, the only experienced, healthy starting options on the Giants’ 40-man roster are Triple-A arms Andrew Suarez and Ty Blach. Those two don’t inspire much confidence, however, which could lead the Giants to make another 40-man promotion (Shaun Anderson’s a possibility, according to Schulman) or deploy an opener.

West Injury Notes: Pollock, Tatis, Olson, Holland, Smyly

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With center fielder A.J. Pollock having undergone right elbow surgery Thursday, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman told Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register and other reporters that adding another righty-hitting outfielder “would be ideal.” However, Friedman noted the Dodgers “have a fairly high bar with our mindset being to giving our current guys more of a runway.” Even without Pollock, the Dodgers have no shortage of quality outfield options at the big league level, though nearly all of them hit from the left side. Pollock could come back later in the season to balance out the group, but there’s still no timetable for his return. For now, Pollock’s “resting and recovering” in the wake of surgery, per manager Dave Roberts.

  • Padres manager Andy Green expressed optimism Saturday that shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. will come off the injured list in relatively short order, Dennis Lin of The Athletic tweets. Tatis went down with a hamstring strain Tuesday, meaning he’s eligible to return as early as May 10. When he does come back, the 20-year-old rookie will try to pick up where he left off before the injury sidelined him. Tatis has burst on the scene by slashing .300/.360/.550 with six home runs and six steals in 111 plate appearances.
  • Injured first baseman Matt Olson could rejoin the Athletics as early as Tuesday, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle relays. The 25-year-old slugger has only totaled six plate appearances this season as a result of late-March surgery on his right hand, an injury that spurred the A’s to acquire Kendrys Morales from the Blue Jays. Morales has since amassed more appearances at first than any other Athletic, but the 35-year-old switch hitter has batted an uninspiring .200/.310/.271 with just one home run in 100 trips to the plate.
  • Giants left-hander Derek Holland will come off the injured list Wednesday for a start in Colorado, according to manager Bruce Bochy (via Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group). It’ll amount to a short stay on the IL for Holland, who landed on the shelf April 29 because of a bruised left index finger. Holland, 32, revived his career with the Giants last season, which convinced the team to re-sign him to a one-year, 7MM guarantee over the winter. The investment hasn’t paid off in the early going for San Francisco, as Holland has only managed a 5.34 ERA/5.15 FIP in 32 frames.
  • Texas will activate southpaw Drew Smyly from the IL to start Sunday against Toronto, Rangers executive vice president of communications John Blake announced. The oft-injured Smyly, who missed 2017-18 after undergoing Tommy John surgery, has been on the IL since April 20 because of mid-arm nerve tightness in his left arm. While the 29-year-old seems to have dodged a serious ailment this time, his return from TJ surgery has been a struggle thus far. Smyly has averaged fewer than four innings a start across four tries and posted a 7.80 ERA with six walks per nine and a meager 26.7 percent groundball rate.

Giants Place Derek Holland On 10-Day IL

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The Giants have placed lefty Derek Holland on the 10-day injured list, the club announced and reporters including Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area tweeted. He’s dealing with a bruise to his left index finger.

It’s certainly possible this’ll be a brief IL stint of limited consequence. There’s no indication at present as to how long Holland will be sidelined, but it doesn’t sound like a particularly worrisome injury. That said, the Giants’ pitching staff remains one of the most interesting in baseball from a hot-stove perspective, so it’s worth a quick look at the move.

The 32-year-old Holland has struggled to a 5.34 ERA in his first 32 frames, with home runs (seven already) and walks (16) largely to blame. But he’s also striking out 11.3 per nine on an 11.4% swinging-strike rate, with ramped-up usage of his slider helping to change his profile. Holland could yet be a mid-season trade candidate if he can refine his new approach.

For the time being, Ty Blach is coming up to take the open roster spot. But as Pavlovic notes on Twitter, the IL placement may end up opening the door for former 14th overall pick Tyler Beede. As he closes in on his 26th birthday, Beede could get his second shot at the majors after a rough debut last year.

The Giants are said to be pleased with what they’ve seen from Beede thus far in 2019. Indeed, he has run up 22 2/3 innings of 1.99 ERA pitching with 13.5 K/9 against 4.0 BB/9 this year at Triple-A. At some point, the Giants will want to get a full MLB look at the former Vanderbilt hurler.

Giants Re-Sign Derek Holland

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The Giants have made the first addition to their rotation under new president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, announcing on Monday that they’ve re-signed left-hander Derek Holland to a one-year deal with a club option for the 2020 season.

Derek Holland | Lance Iversen-USA TODAY Sports

Holland’s contract reportedly comes with a $7MM guarantee in the form of a $6.5MM base salary for the 2019 season and a $500K buyout on a 2020 option that has the same $6.5MM base. The option year’s base salary will increase to $7MM if he makes 24 starts in 2019, $7.5MM if he makes 28 starts and $8.5MM if he makes 32 starts. All told, the Martini Sports Management client can earn $15MM over the next two seasons if he remains healthy and the option is exercised.

Holland, 32, enjoyed a career revival with the Giants last season. Once a promising young lefty with the Rangers, Holland missed the vast majority of the 2014 season due to microfracture surgery in his left knee, and shoulder issues plagued him in each of the next two seasons. A one-year deal to rebuild his stock with the White Sox in 2017 didn’t pan out, but last year’s minor league deal with the Giants proved to be one of the season’s most productive minor league signings.

Holland led Giants pitchers in games started (30) and in total innings (171 1/3), pitching to a 3.57 ERA with 8.9 K/9, 3.5 BB/9, 1.00 HR/9 and a 39.8 percent ground-ball rate. Holland’s velocity didn’t return to it peak levels (94.3 mph) and probably never will, as he averaged just 91.6 mph on his heater last season. However, that’s not to say his success isn’t sustainable; the lefty’s swinging-strike rate jumped from 7.1 percent to 10.1 percent from 2017 to 2018, and his opponents’ chase rate on out-of-zone pitches jumped by a hefty 5.6 percent (from 25 percent to 30.6 percent).

Mutual interest between the two sides was no secret, with Holland saying near the end of the season that he would like to return to the Giants in 2019 and beyond. The lefty also drew interest from other clubs, most recently including the Mets and the Reds, and the Rangers were also said to have interest in a reunion. Instead, he’ll return to one of the game’s premier pitchers’ parks — the recently re-named Oracle Park — for at least the forthcoming season.

With Johnny Cueto likely out for the season following Tommy John surgery, Holland will slot in behind top starter Madison Bumgarner and line up alongside the likes of Dereck Rodriguez, Andrew Suarez and a hopefully healthier Jeff Samardzija in 2019. Left-hander Ty Blach and righties Tyler Beede and Chris Stratton represent alternate rotation options on the 40-man roster, should the need arise.

The addition of Holland pushes the Giants’ projected Opening Day payroll north of $167MM and brings their luxury tax ledger north of $172MM. It seems likely that some additional moves — be they trades or further free-agent signings — will change that calculus, although Farhan Zaidi strongly downplayed the chances of an offseason Bumgarner trade over the weekend. Of course, if Holland is able to replicate last season’s success but the Giants are unable to rebound as a collective unit, then both he and Bumgarner could find themselves being marketed to contending clubs come July.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported the agreement and the terms of the contract (Twitter links).

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