Derek Holland and the Rangers have agreed to a five-year, $28 million contract that includes team options for 2017 and 2018, according to Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
Holland wasn’t even arbitration eligible yet and Texas had him under team control through 2015 already, so the five-year contract cancels out his previous minimum-salaried deal for 2012, pre-pays for all three arbitration seasons, and buys out his first season of free agency while giving the Rangers options on his second and third free agent years.
Holland emerged as a top prospect after being a 25th-round pick in 2006 and established himself as one of the league’s best left-handed starters last year at age 24, throwing 198 innings with a 3.95 ERA and 162/67 K/BB ratio while calling an extreme hitters’ ballpark home.
Early last year Trevor Cahill and Clay Buchholz both signed five-year, $30 million contracts while having similar service time to Holland. He has just one full season in the rotation and currently sports a modest 4.73 career ERA thanks to an ugly debut as a 22-year-old in 2009, but if he stays healthy the Rangers will be plenty happy with the investment to control Holland through age 31. And now Holland is set for life, so he can focus solely on pitching and mustache growing.
UPDATE: According to Richard Durrett of ESPN Dallas the option years are worth $11 million in 2017 and $11.5 million in 2018, so the total value of the contract could rise over $50 million for seven seasons.