The Arizona Diamondbacks have designated Greg Holland for assignment.
Holland led the league in saves just two years ago and, after a rough start to 2018 seemed to turn things around after a midseason trade to the Nationals. That got him his job with Arizona, but it hasn’t gone well. He was demoted from the closer’s role ten days ago after going 17-for-22 in save situations and has allowed five runs in three appearances since then. His ERA for the season has ballooned to 4.54 to go along with an unacceptably high walk rate.
Holland will almost certainly clear waivers and hit the free agent market in a few days. Whether anyone takes a chance on him is hard to say.
Fun fact: Holland’s deal with the Dbacks was an incentive-laden one. Lots of bonuses for games finished and games pitched. His last appearance for them came this last Monday. It was one inning of mopup duty in a loss to Philly. It was also his 40th appearance of the year which earned him a $100,000 bonus.
I wonder if the thinking was (a) “hey, let’s do him a solid;" (b) “let’s not cut him right before an incentive because he might file a grievance;" or (c) a total baseball decision, after which someone in the front office asked themselves why they’re running a guy out there who can make hundreds of thousands of dollars via just normal usage as the Snakes play out the string, thus prompting today’s transaction. I suppose there are other explanations too, but this is the kind of stuff that runs through my mind.
I know some people with the Dbacks and they seem pretty nice so I’m gonna assume (a), even if we never know.
