St. Louis Cardinals: Greg Holland since his departure

The St. Louis Cardinals decided to part ways with their big money All-Star reliever Greg Holland last month. Since then he has been picked up by the Washington Nationals.

Greg Holland’s departure from the St. Louis Cardinals was a welcome sight at the time. In 72 appearances his ERA close to eight. He was entirely unreliable and not worth the money paid to him.

This was a part of the bullpen blow up that really helped turn the Cardinals season around. Despite the money he is still being paid, it was worth it to bite the bullet and start winning. The questionable bullpen cost quite a bit of games.

Enter Washington

With the 14 million owed to him by the Cardinals, he was able to sign with another team for a cheap price. That team happened to be the Nationals who signed him for $545,000 for the rest of the season.

Since being signed, Holland has appeared in eight games for his new team. This has resulted in a total of 6.1 innings of work. Though it is a small sample size he looks like a completely different pitcher than he was with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Comparing The Numbers

Again, the sample sizes are entirely different. But the numbers are crazy so far. With the Cardinals, opponents his over .300 against him and now they are under .200. His strikeout numbers with the new team are higher, up to a batter an inning.

What is crazy is that his control is suddenly back. His K/BB ratio was 1/1. Now he has six strikeouts and two walks. That tells a completely different story. Oh, and he has yet to give up a run in his new uniform.

This includes 1.2 innings against his former team, the Cardinals. He allowed only a single hit.

The Different Pitcher

Mike Maddux has done an excellent job for the St. Louis Cardinals pitching staff, but it just did not work out with Holland. Under new pitching coach, and familiar face, Derek Lilliquist, things are working out a little better.

That is poetic justice, in a way. The team’s old pitching coach is helping the 14 million dollar man who couldn’t live up to expectation, whereas the new guy who was the Washington pitching coach last year did not work out.

It would have been nice to get the performing pitcher, but that did not happen. The Cardinals got the confusingly awful pitcher. Potentially we can blame the clubhouse dynamic under Mike Matheny. Though, he did get two games under Mike Shildt and still struggled.

Holland is pitching well for his new team. The irony is that he wanted to go to a contender after leaving St. Louis and since he left the Cardinals have been proving themselves to be in contention. Baseball is a funny game.