Chicago Cubs have choices to make regarding the future of the ninth inning

Greg Holland

We’ll start with an old teammate of Davis from Kansas City – 2017 Colorado Rockies closer, Greg Holland.

Holland will opt-out and test the market and there are sure to be suitors interested. Coming off a season with the surprising Rockies, he converted 41 of 45 saves in 57 1/3 innings. His BB/9 was high (4.08), yet lower than his 2015 season (5.24).

Holland’s 2016 season was lost to Tommy John surgery.

More from Cubbies Crib

• Cubs: P.J. Higgins deserves to be in the lineup on a daily basis
• Cubs might start to limit Justin Steele’s workload soon
• Cubs: Adrian Sampson is forcing his way into the conversation
• Projecting the Chicago Cubs bullpen to open the 2023 season
• Cubs fans are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel

Considering, his 2017 campaign couldn’t have gone much better as he led the league in saves and made the All-Star team. His 1.10 HR/9 was the highest of his career as he only surrendered seven home runs–three at home and four on the road.

You might think Holland’s numbers would be misrepresented a bit as his home games were played in hitters- friendly Coors Field, yet the splits were fairly consistent.

At home, he had a 3.34 ERA as opposed to 3.90 away from Denver. He allowed 12 runs, 11 ER at home across 29 2/3 innings, and 12 runs, all earned on the road spanning 27 2/3 frames.

For Holland, it’s encouraging that his ERA improved slightly, even while in Colorado, and upon his 2015 season in Kansas City (3.83), where he was lost in late Sep. to the torn UCL that caused his TJS for 2016.

This paved the way for Wade Davis’ official coming out party as the closer.

Holland saved 93 games respectively for the Royals between 2013 and 2014. He had an ERA of 1.22 and 1.44 in those seasons.

What to expect?

With plenty of teams lining up for a closer, he should fetch three years, $30 million at least. Probably way too conservative on the money side, but you get the idea.