Yankees Should Roll the Dice on One of These Risky Starting Pitchers

Derek Holland

The Texas Rangers were surprisingly unable to find a taker for Holland in a trade following the season, so rather than pick up their $11.5 million option on the lefty starter, they paid him a $1.5 million buyout to walk away.

While that would have been an admittedly steep price to pay for a guy with a 4.95 ERA and 4.75 FIP in 107.1 IP last year, it’s not completely crazy given the lack of attractive options on the market and Holland’s relatively recent success.

Any team that inks Holland this offseason will keep their fingers crossed that he can get back to being the guy who pitched to a 3.42 ERA and 3.44 FIP in 213 IP back in 2013 before knee and shoulder injuries derailed his promising career.

If he can show he’s finally healthy, Holland is young enough at 30 that there’s a reasonable chance of a career renaissance. The southpaw relies primarily on a heavy sinker, but posted a career-low 38.3% groundball rate last year. If he can get back to keeping the ball on the ground, he could be a good fit in homer-friendly Yankee Stadium.

MLBTR pegs Cashner for a one-year $6 million deal, which like Cashner, is a very reasonable risk for the potential upside he brings. The worst case scenario is you can try him out as a LOOGY or long reliever if one of the team’s young starters beats him out for a rotation job.