KC Royals: What Next For Greg Holland

The Kansas City Royals closer situation might finally have some closure.

It’s a good thing the KC Royals and Ned Yost replaced Greg Holland as the closer prior to last night’s 11-2 decimation at the hands of the Seattle Mariners.

In all seriousness though, it is a good thing. Wade Davis is now the Royals’ closer and we move on.

As many have suspected all season, Holland’s elbow is acting up and is the apparent cause of his lost velocity this season, according to ESPN.com:

"“You know what you’ve got with Wade,” Yost said. “With Holly you don’t know from one day to the next how his elbow is going to respond, if it’s going to be tight or sore or stiff."

Yost went on to say in the same article:

"“Rest isn’t going to help him,” Yost said. “He’s been functional through it all year long. It’s getting a little more sore the last month or so and he continues to go out, pitch through it and he’s been successful for the most part.”"

Man, good thing the Royals have Davis, maybe the best reliever in the American League, they can plug in. But man, what a run by Holland.

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In three seasons from 2012 through 2014, Holland posted a 1.88 ERA, 109 saves and 284 strikeouts in 196 1/3 innings. He allowed eight home runs in three years.

His K/9 during that span was 13.0 and he averaged 36 saves per season. (via Baseball-Reference)

Josh Vernier of 610 Sports tweeted that the seventh inning will now belong to Ryan Madson and the eighth inning to Kelvin Herrera. He also added an interesting tid-bit:

Each of the past four World Series champions have changed their closers in the season they won it all. ... That's all I got, guys.
— Josh Vernier (@JoshVernier610) September 19, 2015

Probably irrelevant to the Royals’ situation, but it’s good context. Closers change and change often. At any point in the season. You always go with your best option when you’re down to the final couple weeks.

Recently, Holland deflected any concerns about his lack of effectiveness (a 3.83 ERA and 5.2 BB/9 rate this season), according to MLB.com‘s Jeffrey Flanagan:

Greg Holland on his confidence level. "I think I’ve thrown some pretty good outings the last 9 or 10. I didn’t even think I was struggling.”
— Jeffrey Flanagan (@FlannyMLB) September 19, 2015

You respect his confidence, but you also knew something was up. He’s been a different pitcher this season.

His velocity is consistently down, and along with it are his disappearing strikeout numbers. He used to be 1-2-3 every night with a devastating fastball/slider combination. This year he’s facing more batters and looks hittable most nights.

It will be interesting see what role Holland takes from here on out. With Danny Duffy now in the bullpen, Holland could be relegated to a middle-relief or even a late-game, one-out kind of guy. It’s tough to say at this point.

Holland is a competitor. He’s going to find a way to contribute to this team.

The writing was on the wall and Holland fought it like a champ, but it was time to make the change, and credit Yost for doing it in the right way.

What do you do with Greg Holland if you’re Ned Yost?

Next: KC Royals: The Value Of Home Field Advantage

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