There’s always a surprise or two amongst the players who were non-tendered regardless of whether or not the move made sense. It might’ve been surprising to see Greg Holland‘s name out there, but the move made sense. 

Holland was slated to possibly receive $11.3 million in arbitration. You can’t pay that to someone who is going to miss all next year due to Tommy John surgery. You can’t pay him that when it’s his last year of team control before he becomes a free agent. The Royals tried to do the prudent thing in offering Holland a two year deal. However, the Royals were rebuffed leading to the non-tender. 

The reason the Royals were rebuffed probably had a lot to do with the fact that Scott Boras is his agent. Boras probably wants to shop Holland around looking for the best offer. He should with 145 saves over the past four years. In 2013 and 2014, when he was the full time closer and healthy, he averaged 47 saves with a 1.32 ERA. 

When healthy, he’s an elite shutdown closer in the ilk of any closer you want to mention. It’s the reason you would be willing to give him a two year deal. You want to get him on the cheap. He’d be a dream to pair with Jeurys Familia. If he returns to form in 2017, you have a reliever you could extend a Qualifying Offer thereby recouping a possible draft pick. 

If I’m the Mets my selling point is how well things went with Matt Harvey (not sarcasm). However, I think Holland is going to go to the team that’ll offer him the most money, which he should. It’s at that point the Mets probably fall out of contention. 

It’s a shame too because having that kind of bullpen in place would be another step in making a one year World Series run into a three year period of playoff runs.