By Jordan Long
The St. Louis Cardinals have added depth to their bullpen, agreeing to a 1-year contract with reliever Greg Holland. The deal will pay him $14 million this season pending a physical.
Holland is a decent relief pitcher. The past 5 years his role has been the closer for both the Colorado Rockies and the Kansas City Royals. Holland is able to strike batters out and shut down teams with a total of 500 in his career. Those strikeouts helped him save games with a total of 186 but he has blown 20 saves.
Holland’s problem are walks and home runs. There are times where he can’t pick his spots with his pitches and hitters are patient. If they are, they work the count and Holland walks them with a total of 151 free passes, far too many. Holland takes chances with the baseball and leaves it in the middle of the zone which hitters smack out for home runs, giving up 23. His career ERA is an impressive 2.60.
The Cardinals were looking to add another arm to the bullpen. They already have a closer in Luke Gregerson who has 66 saves in his career but 47 blown saves. Holland can take over as the closer if Gregerson struggles.
Holland is able to be a dominant closer and showed that in the 1st half of last season with the Rockies. He had 28 saves with 1 blown save and an ERA 1.62. He made the All-Star team. After the All-Star break, Holland was awful saving 13 games while blowing 3 with a 6.38 ERA.
The Cardinals are hoping to have the Holland the Rockies saw before the All-Star break. If they have that type of pitcher, Holland will help the Cardinals win games and take the pressure off of Gregerson. It will make Gregerson’s job easier if Holland is the set-up man. If Holland pitches like he did after the All-Star Game, the Cardinals may have to cut him loose if he is leaving the ball in the zone for hits costing them games. On paper this should enhance the Cardinals bullpen.
What do you think of the St. Louis Cardinals adding Greg Holland to the team?
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