Rockies morning after: Should Holland be removed from the closer role?

The Colorado Rockies had another late inning loss as Greg Holland has got the loss in three of his past five appearances.

The Rockies dealt with a grueling 6-3 loss last night against the Brewers. Chad Bettis made his second consecutive seven inning start since returning from chemotherapy and cancer treatment and, this time, he pitched well but not as well as Monday. Last night, he gave up three runs (all of which came in the third inning) and, as before, was saddled with a no-decision.

The game was tied at three a piece heading into the ninth inning. Greg Holland came on to keep the game tied. He retired Stephen Vogt on a strike-out but he hit Brewers center fielder Keon Broxton with a 96 mile per hour fastball. Two batters later, Jesus Aguilar came up as a pinch-hitter for relief pitcher Anthony Swarzak. He worked the count to full and on the 3-2, Holland hung a slider off and Aguilar launched it 449 feet for a two-run home run to give the Brewers the lead.

Eric Thames followed with a single and he stole second base. Neil Walker followed with an RBI single. Rockies manager Bud Black had seen enough and went to Scott Oberg to relieve Holland. Oberg walked Ryan Braun but he retired Travis Shaw to end Oberg’s first outing since he was recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque.

Holland’s struggles

It’s not any secret that Holland has struggled in his past few outings. In his past five appearances, he has an ERA of 18.71 with a .381 batting average (no, neither of the numbers are typos). He is 0-3 record in the past five appearances too. In this span, his season ERA has gone from 1.56 to 3.22.

Should Holland be removed?

Personally, I believe that, at least in the interim, Holland needs to be removed from the closer’s role. He should be the closer for September and October but temporarily, I would say that somebody else should get the save and ninth inning opportunities. However, finding out who would replace Holland for the next week and a half or so is a different question.

Of save opportunities in their career, Jake McGee has the most experience with 49 career saves. Pat Neshek is next with eight. I would suspect that if Holland is replaced, it will either be McGee or Neshek.

Another potential problem

In 10 of the last 12 games the Rockies have played the Rockies have not scored more than four runs in a game since August 5 (with the exception of their 17 run outburst against the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday and their 8-4 win on Friday.)

In the eight games the Rockies played between August 5 and the game against the Braves on Wednesday, the Rockies went 2-6 as a team and they hit .228 with a .307 on-base percentage and a .354 slugging percentage. They averaged 2.6 runs per game. They did not score more than four runs in a single game in that span.

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Final Thoughts

The Rockies are 4-8 in their last 12 games but they are fortunate that the Diamondbacks are 4-9 since August 5 so the Rockies have actually gained ground in the Wild Card race. However, neither team will be playing like this for the rest of the season; the Rockies just need to make sure that they recover before the D’Backs do.

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