Greg Holland is one of a handful of premier free agents still on the market and his market this entire winter has been very abysmal like many of the players still out there. There's been chatter here or there and there was at one time a belief that the Rockies were interested in reuniting with Holland on a four-year deal, but besides that, there's been virtually nothing.
Holland, who turned 32 in November, is coming off a stellar season with the Colorado Rockies in which he recorded a career high 41 saves and had a 3.61 ERA over the span of 57.1 IP. The impressiveness regarding Holland doesn't stop there either as he also had a 11.0 strikeouts-per-9 rate last year, which occurred after he missed the entire 2016 season, recovering from Tommy John surgery.
With that being said and with where the calendar currently stands, lets try to nail down five potential teams that could use Greg Holland at the back of their bullpen.
1. Angels - A lot of people are really high on the Angels right now, but unless they add a legitimate starter or two and bolster their bullpen, they are going to struggle within their own division. Now, they could always of course surprise us all and be that surprise team of 2018, but it's hard considering the current starting rotation and bullpen that they possess. After signing Ohtani, there is a lot of excitement about him and rightfully so given that he can pitch and hit, but how is he really going to adjust to life over here in the states? What about the rest of the starting rotation that comes with health question marks? Switching to the bullpen, the Angels currently have only Blake Parker and Jim Johnson at the back end. That is just not going to cut it if they want to contend, especially having to go up against the reigning World Series champion, Houston Astros, and have a shot at bringing postseason baseball back to Anaheim. This is where Greg Holland comes into the picture. The Angels are obviously doing everything they can right now to give the Angels the best chance to win a World Series Championship before Mike Trout becomes a free agent in three seasons so why stop here? Sure, the ownership group might be reluctant to add more payroll to the books, but with how late it is in the offseason, the Angels might get lucky and be able to sign Holland to a bargain contract. If it means that the team has a higher chance of ending this season as a legitimate contender, then it's all the more reason to ink Holland to a deal that works for both the Angels and his camp.
2. Indians - The Indians are right in their middle to win and now is the perfect time for them to make another legitimate addition to the back end of their bullpen after losing both Bryan Shaw and Joe Smith to free agency this winter. Add to the fact that Cody Allen and Andrew Miller are free agents after this season and the need becomes even clearer. Assuming the Indians lose Allen and Miller after this season, they would still have someone like Greg Holland, who could serve as their closer, next year and beyond. Cleveland is a team that is built around pitching and that is something that has set them apart from other teams in both leagues the past two seasons. For example, one of the reasons the Indians made it to the World Series in 2016 was because of their starting pitching and having Andrew Miller to go along with Cody Allen at the back of the bullpen. The same can be said for the success that the Indians had last season when they were in the midst of their 22-game win streak. The reason that streak happened is because their bullpen was lights out, Corey Kluber was being his typical Cy Young self, and the rest of the rotation was carrying it's weight behind him. If Cleveland were to add Greg Holland, they could have themselves two closers and could use Andrew Miller in a more flexible role like they did during the 2016 postseason. Now, the problem of course relates to money as the Indians project to have a franchise record Opening Day payroll this year of $148.3 million dollars after all of the 40-man roster costs and benefits are taken into account. However, if the Indians could find some way to make it work, it just would make too much sense especially looking towards the future.
3. Cardinals - At the start of the winter, many people around baseball figured that the Cardinals were going to be the one team that ended up signing Greg Holland early on in the offseason. Instead, they decided to make a trade for outfielder, Marcell Ozuna, and bolster their pitching staff in other ways. On paper, the need for a closer in the back end of the Cardinals bullpen is still extremely high even after the team added Luke Gregerson, on a two-year, $11 million dollar deal, and Bud Norris, on a one-year $3 million dollar contract, along with acquiring, Dominic Leone, in the Randl Grichuk trade with the Toronto Blue Jays. All three of those relievers have a great track record and are talented in different aspects of their game, but if St. Louis was able to add Greg Holland to the mix, it would only make things easier for Mike Matheny and his staff and boost the Caridnals chance of making the postseason more. After missing the playoffs the past two years, St. Louis needs to do something to bring a winning baseball team back to St. Louis and bring about a significant amount of excitement for their fanbase. Going into this offseason, the biggest goal for the Cardinals was to acquire a power bat, which they did in Marcell Ozuna from the Miami Marlins, and now it's time to tie a bow on everything. It's almost as if the Cardinals were to sign Greg Holland, all of the question marks surrounding their bullpen would be eliminated and it would be icing on the cake. As is always the case, it's always easy to spend someone else's money, but it looks like a great fit on paper from here.
4. Brewers - Now before you begin to question why the heck the Brewers would be on here, when their bigger need is starting pitching, step back and take a look at the whole picture for a moment. With the cost of the remaining free agents in the starting pitching market, Milwaukee might be better suited to explore how much it would cost to ink Greg Holland instead. The reason being is that if their rotation isn't strong, but their bullpen is stronger, they can make up for the lack of starting pitching by relying on their bullpen more often. It's not like the Brewer's starting rotation is awful or that they haven't done anything to add depth to it this offseason either. Milwaukee added free agents, Yovani Gallardo and Jhoulys Chacin, and were heavily involved in talks with the Tampa Bay Rays regarding starting pitcher, Jake Odorizzi, before he got traded to the Minnesota Twins. If Milwaukee finds that they can't find a contract within their price range for the starters left on the free agent market, then this move makes a lot of sense. The Brewers can insert Holland into the back of their bullpen to go with last year's phenomenal closer, Corey Knebel, and elect to look for a starting pitcher come the Trade Deadline in July. At that time, who knows who might be available on the market and Milwaukee might be able to snag a legitimate starting pitcher, who would cost significantly less money than Jake Arrieta, Lance Lynn, or Alex Cobb would command. The fit isn't perfect, but if you think outside of the box, you can start to understand why Holland would fit here and would still be a significant upgrade for the Brewers pitching staff.
5. White Sox - This one is a little more farfetched simply because the White Sox are still rebuilding and trying to figure out who they want to be moving forward, but many people including myself expect them to potentially be a surprise team this year. After all, the AL Central is not a strong division like it once was with only the Cleveland Indians and Minnesota Twins looking like true contenders and that means that the White Sox might be able to sneak into the picture and play meaningful baseball once September rolls around. After General Manager, Rich Hahn's, comments last week about how many of the players are accelerating on a faster track than anticipated, you can start to see why this might make some sense. Of course, the White Sox would be a perfect landing spot for free agent third baseman, Mike Moustakas, as well, but if they chose not to go down that road, than Greg Holland can be the guy that locks down the back end of their bullpen as they navigate forward and gives them someone to build around. As we've seen in the past couple postseasons, successful teams build their bullpens from the back to the front which is what would happen in this scenario. The White Sox would have Holland anchoring down the back end, which would then push everyone else up, and give the other relievers even more defined roles. With the open payroll space that the White Sox have moving forward, this is something that could work in theory and is certainly worth exploring.
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