San Francisco Giants making moves, bring back Derek Holland

The San Francisco Giants delivered on their promise of a new player. It’s not exactly a new player, just a new contract for an older one! They bring back Derek Holland on a one year deal with club option.

Farhan Zaidi said the San Francisco Giants would announce a trade or signing this week, and he was right. Ken Rosenthal reported this morning that the Giants were bringing back Derek Holland on a one year deal.

Per more Rosenthal tweets, the structure of the deal is as follows:

2019 guaranteed at $7 million

2020 club option w/base of $6.5 million, $500k buyout

The 2020 option, increases to $7 million for 24 starts, $7.5 million for 28 starts, $8.5 million for 32 starts.

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Holland was a surprise success for the Giants last season. Holland earned the big league deal with a solid spring training, and ended up leading the club in innings pitched for 2018. Holland posted a 3.57 ERA in 171.1 innings. He struck out 169 and only walked 67.

Holland benefitted from the friendly pitching confines of AT&T yes, but his peripherals showed that it wasn’t a joke. His 3.87 FIP and 1.290 WHIP showed that his season had been no fluke.

He made 30 starts in 2018, which shows the possibility of him reaching his $7.5 million is certainly there.

However, due to his bullpen time, he still made 36 appearances. Given how they are planning to use the starter role at times this year, I wouldn’t be shocked if Holland ended up surpassing the 32 starts and guaranteeing his option for 2020 is $8.5 million.

With Holland officially back in the mix for 2019, the Giants rotation seems like it’s in pretty good shape. With hopefully a healthy MadBum, a rotation with Holland, Rodriguez and Suarez should serve pretty well.

It’s the first move that might actually affect the big league roster that the Giants have made this offseason. Whether or not there is more to come, is a different story. But bringing back Holland, at a relatively below market price, is a good start.