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KC Royals: Is It Time To Replace Greg Holland As A Closer

By Alec Tilson

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KC Royals fans will agree there’s nothing like the panic induced by a blown save, the taste of victory slapped out of your mouth and eight innings of winning baseball disappeared.

That’s what the Kansas City Royals dealt with yesterday, when closer Greg Holland blew his third save of the season in allowing two-runs in the bottom of the ninth against the Chicago White Sox.

Trade him. He’s overpaid. He’s not the same. We have better options. These aren’t uncommon feelings among Royals fans, and especially not following a blown save.

All of these are reasonable suggestions. We could trade Holland.

He’s arbitration eligible next season and set to be a free agent in 2017, so trading him for a long-term piece would make sense. You could argue he is overpaid. We’re paying him $8.25 million this season for what will likely be 60-70 innings of work.

Holland might not be the same guy as last season; his strikeouts are down and his walks are sky-high. If I’m being fair, we may have better options …namely Wade Davis.

Wade Davis is absolutely a trustworthy candidate for closer, but the job is still rightfully Holland’s.

For now, however, the answer is to sit tight.

First of all, a Greg Holland regression should have been expected. He was, by any measure, unhittable last season, posting a 1.44 ERA in the 2014 regular season. His 46 saves were second in the Majors and his 12.99 K/9 was video game-like. Those numbers were actually down from Holland’s even more ridiculous 2013 season, and it’s unrealistic to expect him to repeat those.

While Holland is trending down in some ways, he’s still a big-time reliever with electric stuff and the track record to prove it.

Second, Holland is in the circle of trust.

In the 2014 postseason, he added another seven saves in 11 innings, striking out 15 and allowing one earned run in 11 of the highest-pressure games of his career. He pitched through the tensest moments in baseball and proved he can execute in that role.

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While it’s intuitive to think that Wade Davis or Kelvin Herrera would make a great closer, there’s no telling how someone will perform under higher and higher levels of stress. We know how Holland will react in those moments and that trust is critical when there’s no room for error.

Trust, guys. It’s earned. It requires more than three blown saves in 23 save opportunities to impeach Greg Holland as this team’s closer. Wade Davis is absolutely a trustworthy candidate for closer, but the job is still rightfully Holland’s.

Holland definitely has some work to do, don’t get me wrong. Most concerning: his 4.88 BB/9 is too high for any pitcher, and his fastball velocity is 93.6 MPH this season (down from 95.7 MPH last season), according to FanGraphs.com.

If his walk-rate continues, so will the blown saves and we won’t be having this conversation much longer. But if Holland can stabilize his walks, he’s exactly the type of pitcher I want to hand the ball to when the postseason comes calling.

Besides, the Royals won the game 7-6. You don’t make closer changes after a win.

Next: Jeremy Guthrie Deserves to Stay in Rotation

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