Derek Holland was blunt Saturday when addressing his demotion to the bullpen.
The Giants moved him out of the rotation in favor of prospect Tyler Beede, and Holland didn't "say all the right things" after learning of the decision. He also brought up an odd piece of information that might lead to questions for San Francisco front office.
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"To be honest, I have no idea what they’re doing," Holland told reporters, via MLB.com "And I don’t mean that by Boch (manager Bruce Bochy) and (the coaches), it’s more for the front office.
"We keep changing things. I get a fake injury, so I'm not happy about that. But at the end of the day, I’m going to do whatever they ask me to do."
Holland: "To be honest, I have no idea what they’re doing. And I don’t mean that by Boch and them, it’s more for the front office. We keep changing things. I get a fake injury, so I’m not happy about that. But at the end of the day, I’m going to do whatever they ask me to do." https://t.co/4KVqTtUr2h
— Maria I. Guardado (@mi_guardado) May 12, 2019
Holland was placed on the 10-day injured list after his April 27 start with a bruised left index finger. That apparently wasn't true, and the Giants may have used the IL to get Beede his first start of the year on May 3.
The 10-day injured list has been notoriously taken advantage of since its installment. Teams use it to rest starting pitchers; they'll call up a pitcher from the minors to start in their place, or they'll put an extra man in the bullpen or on the bench. They don't have to designate players for assignment to clear roster space for a pitcher to make just one start. Holland was clearly not a fan of the Giants using the IL on him like this.
The left-hander signed a one-year, $7 million contract to return to the Giants in the offseason after posting respectable numbers in his first year with the club in 2018.
He's clearly not happy with his current situation and he kind of outed the Giants on his way to the bullpen. It's going to be interesting to see how things develop in the coming days.
UPDATE, 2 a.m. ET MAY 12:
Farhan Zaidi, the Giants' president of baseball operations, responded late Saturday to Holland's claim. He told the San Francisco Chronicle the injury dated to spring training and that the front office "felt it would be prudent to give him time off." Zaidi also said the club has "extensive medical records" of the injury.
"His use of the word 'fake' probably comes from him feeling he could continue to pitch with it. Players and the staff and front office people sometimes have differences of opinion when they should or shouldn't play," Zaidi told the Chronicle's Henry Schulman.