GLENDALE, Ariz. — At first glance, Derek Holland looks like the type of player the Chicago White Sox are trying avoid.
The left-handed starting pitcher is an eight-year veteran, and significant knee and shoulder injuries limited him to 35 starts with the Texas Rangers over the last three seasons.
At 30, Holland seems out of place on a Sox team that is still in the early stages of shedding older players and infusing the roster with youth.
But after the Rangers declined his $11 million club option for this season — making Holland a free agent — the White Sox stepped in and signed him to a one-year, $6 million contract.
Holland also considered joining the Pittsburgh Pirates but had his reasons for choosing the Sox.
“The track record,” Holland said Wednesday here at Camelback Ranch. “I mean, look at what (coach Don) Cooper has done with the pitching staff. The guys that have been here. Lefty-wise, they’ve also done a really good job keeping guys healthy.
“Going through a process like I have the past three years of injuries, this is a good place to kind of change the scenery, get with the right staff that’s going to help me stay healthy and kind of just go from there.
“Coop just kept nailing me, talking to me. ‘There’s some things I want to work on, I know what we can get right, I saw some things.’ We continued, just kept talking about stuff, and I know these are things I need to get back on track and to be successful. And that was it.”
Holland obviously was attracted to the Sox, and to Chicago as well.
“I’m a very sporty person and this is a sports town, too,” he said. “I came from a sports town and this is another great sports town. That also played a factor.”
So, why did the White Sox feel Holland would be a good addition to an organization that launched a rebuilding project in December?
With Chris Sale now pitching for the Boston Red Sox and Jose Quintana next up on the trade block, the Sox are going to need an established pitcher to log innings while young starters such as Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, Carson Fulmer and Michael Kopech work their way toward the big leagues.
Holland said the inflamed left shoulder that sidelined him for two months last season feels “great” and “awesome,” and he wants to pitch 200 innings in a season for the first time since 2013.
“That’s one of my goals,” Holland said. “As a starter that’s what you want. Everybody has their certain things, for me obviously health is the big one, but that’s everybody. To me getting 200 innings means I did something productive, I was out there averaging seven innings. My philosophy, too, coming from Texas when I had Nolan (Ryan), I wanted to be the starter and the closer. When I say that I want to start the game and finish it.”
If Holland does manage to stay healthy and gets back to his 2011 form with the Rangers (16-5, 3.95 ERA), he could bring more prospects back to the White Sox in a July nonwaiver trade.
Or, the outgoing Holland can spend the entire season with the Sox and teach the young pitchers about how to stay loose and handle the stress that comes with being a major-leaguer.
“He’s a happy-go-lucky guy,” manager Rick Renteria said. “Very focused. Very intent on his work. Knows what he wants to do. He’s been around. We’ll take advantage of it and use it to liven up the clubhouse a little bit.
“It’s always good to have veteran guys around. Sometimes young players feel like they are separated from veteran players or even from a team. We are going to do everything we can to make sure everybody feels comfortable in their own skin and they go off and do what they are supposed to do.”
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
