San Francisco Giants: Holland in, Parker Out

The San Francisco Giants made it official on Monday, designating Jarrett Parker for assignments and adding Derek Holland to the 25-man roster.

This was certainly something a lot of us saw coming with the injuries to the pitching staff, and Parker’s below average play during spring training.

I wrote Parker off a long time ago as I’ve always viewed him as a fourth outfielder at best. I know some Giants love Parker and wanted to see him get a chance to start in the outfield, but he’s never shown me anything over an extended period of time to make me believe he deserves that shot.

In 342 major league at-bats with the Giants, Parker has hit .257 with 15 home runs and 119 strikeouts.

To be fair, he looked really good in 2015 when he hit .347 in 49 at-bats with 6 home runs. That was the most home runs he’s hit in a season, and that with the fewest at-bats he’s received in a season.

You can certainly blame the injuries to Parker’s fall, but he’s had plenty of time to recover and find his stroke again. It hasn’t happened, and I don’t think we ever see him in a Giants uniform again.

Parker will now go through waivers where a team could pick him up. Even if he makes it through waivers and is assigned to the Giants Triple-A team, he’ll have to prove his worth before getting called up again.

Honestly, for Parker’s sake, I hope he gets a fresh start somewhere else to try and resurrect his career — he’s still just 29.

While he hit just .220 this spring with a .333 on-base-percentage, he did crank out 3 home runs, showing that power potential again.

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As for Holland, he’s a pitcher that I have really like over the years. But like Parker, he has struggled with injuries that has kept him from being a bigger factor.

Holland has had extended success at the big league level though, throwing 175.1 innings or more for three straight years. He won 16 games in 2011, and had a career best 3.42 ERA in 2013.

However, he hasn’t had an ERA under 4.91 in the past three years, and at 31 he certainly seems to be on the decline.

Holland finished spring training with a 4.05 ERA in 20 innings pitched, which I would take all day if that’s where he stays during the regular season. In those 20 innings he struck out 23 batters, while allowing 21 hits and 6 walks.

Against the A’s on Monday night he lasted five innings, giving up 2 runs on a couple of solo shots, while also allowing 4 hits and a walk and striking out five.

I feel very comfortable starting the year with Holland in our starting rotation as I’ve always thought he’s a good pitcher. But the fact that he’s our second most experienced and possibly third best starter, makes me nervous.