The Kansas City Royals were able to make a deep postseason run in 2014 due to one of the best bullpens in the game. If they are hoping for a repeat in 2015, they'll have to do so without closer Greg Holland.
The Royals announced that Holland will be shut down for the rest of the season Thursday due to an elbow injury. The early prognosis does not look good.
Holland will meet with Dr. Neal ElAttrache in order to determine whether he'll need to undergo Tommy John surgery, according to Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star.
Concern over Holland reached its peak following his last outing. Holland allowed two runs on three hits over 2/3 innings, and he threw at least two fastballs that failed to hit 90 mph.
Over his career, Holland's average fastball velocity has been 96.02 mph according to BrooksBaseball.net, so the lack of velocity is a significant concern. After averaging 94.32 mph on his fastball in 2015, Holland's average fastball velocity has dropped to 91.56 mph in September.
Though the velocity issues just started to kick in, Holland hasn't been himself since the trade deadline. In 13 innings, Holland has posted a 5.54 ERA. He struck out 14, but walked eight during those outings.
Manager Ned Yost was clearly aware of Holland's issues, naming Wade Davis as the team's new closer recently. While it seems like Holland's struggles are a recent development, Yost believes he may have been dealing with the injury for quite some time.
If true, it's amazing that Holland was able to pitch at such a high level despite the injury. It's also somewhat of a concern if the team knew Holland was dealing with a significant issue and kept running him out there. The team was apparently aware of this, and reportedly asked Holland to have his elbow examined multiple times.
The Royals asked Greg Holland, on multiple occasions this year, to get his elbow checked out. Holland always said no, until last month.
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) September 24, 2015
To clarify: Kenney said the trainers informed Holland last August his ligament was damaged. Everyone knew the score. He wanted to pitch.
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) September 24, 2015
No matter what happens with Holland moving forward, his absence is a big blow to the Royals, especially with the playoffs looming. Davis is a great reliever, and arguably better than Holland at this point, but the club will miss having a high upside reliever like Holland in the pen.
The dominant bullpen that helped lead the team to the World Series last season just suffered a major blow. With Holland now out of the picture, the Royals rush to repeat last year's success just got a lot more difficult.
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