By Jordan Long
The Kansas City Royals have decided to re-sign closer Greg Holland. The contract is 1-year worth $2.75 million but he can earn $1.5 million in performance bonuses. This move is to stabilize the bullpen for this season.
Holland pitched well last year in a shortened season. He came into 28 games and pitched 28.1 innings. Kansas City for the most part could trust him to finish games. Holland was able to strike batters out with 31. He gave up 20 hits but those didn’t cost him games.
When it came to saves, Holland was reliable. Even when a batter was able to get on, he shut down the rest of the lineup. He recorded 6 saves. His ERA was 1.91.
Kansas City felt they needed to keep him. According to mlb.com, General Manager Dayton Moore said, “Greg is one of the very best competitors that we’ve had in Kansas City. He’s fearless in any situation. He is very resilient. He understands that if he had success the day before, it doesn’t matter the next day. There are very few situations he hasn’t experienced in this game, if any.”
Last season was just a taste of what Holland could do. Holland can be a great closer or he can be awful to cost the Royals games. In his career, Holland has 212 saves but blew 28 of them. In 2015 Holland had the most blown saves of his career with 5 while in a Royals’ uniform.
The Royals know what they are getting with him. This is his second stint with the franchise. The first lasted from 2010 to 2015. He has 151 saves with the franchise, ranking 4th in franchise history.
Kansas City is taking a risk. They hope Holland can shut down teams at the end of games like he did last year. If he can, that will help Kansas City reach the playoffs for the 1st time since they won it all in 2015. The worst case is Holland can’t save games and the Royals go with someone else. They may let him go at the end of the year since it is only a 1-year contract. Otherwise, he could pitch himself into a long-term deal.
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