Bleeding Yankee Blue: COULD DEREK HOLLAND HELP THE YANKEES?

Friday, November 4, 2016

COULD DEREK HOLLAND HELP THE YANKEES?

Honestly, I am not sold but the Yankees do need rotation help and it never hurts to have another lefty. The Texas Rangers are shopping Derek Holland and he wouldn't be expensive but....would he even be worth it?

The Yankees need rotation help and they are going to be tied to pitching this off season. In fact, we've already been tied in rumors with the Mets, read COULD ZACK WHEELER HELP THE YANKEES? for more. The Rangers are ready to make a deal. According to multiple reports like T.R. Sullivan at MLB.com HERE the Rangers told Holland that they will not be picking up his $11 million option and instead plan to exercise their $1.5 million buyout option so he either gets traded or they eat even more money.

Holland has pitched all right of his big league seasons in Texas and helped the Rangers to the World Series in 2010 and 2011. His last full season was back in 2013. Since then he has made just 37 starts over the last three seasons and has not been effective since suffering a sprained shoulder early in 2015. This season he made just 20 starts and two relief appearances due to another shoulder injury. His 7-9 record and 4.95 ERA are less than impressive, but so is the rest of the free agent market for pitching.

Whatever happens with Holland, it will come fast. The guaranteed date of Holland's contract option is most likely in the next few days if not hours now that the World Series is over. If the Yankees really wanted to gamble they could probably get him very cheap and make Texas eat a lot of that contract. Given Holland's struggles over the past few years it is hard to imagine any team even giving up more than one mid-level prospect. At this point, the Rangers may look at that as a win-win situation.

So, if you are Yankee brass what do you do? The Yankees need pitching but not just any pitching. We need effective starters and not a repeat of 2016. We don't know if Luis Severino will ever make it back to the rotation and what about the last two spots in the rotation.....do those go to Luis Cessa and Bryan Mitchell? Or, do the Yankees make a move just to have another veteran lefty in the rotation and help CC Sabathia?

I'm not sold on this, but maybe I am wrong. I would rather see the Yankees give some of the younger kids a shot in the rotation then go after Holland, but it is an interesting bite. Someone is going to gamble on him and hopefully it won't be us but the connection is bound to come up more over the next few days. It's that time of the year where rumors are everywhere and we get to wait around and see what is actually true. Hold on to your hats, fans....it's about to get really interesting.