Derek Holland Back In Rangers Rotation

Posted on July 16th, 2009 3:47pm by Evan Grant
Filed under Baseball, Rangers notes, Starting rotation, Texas Rangers

ARLINGTON – Rangers manager Ron Washington said LHP Derek Holland would rejoin the starting rotation, at least for now.

Holland will start Sunday, the third game after the All-Star break, against heavily left-handed hitting Minnesota. Holland has made seven starts this season for the Rangers, but finished up the first half pitching out of the bullpen. He will replace RHP Dustin Nipper who lasted 3.2 innings in each of his two starts.

The Rangers will open the second half of the season with RHP Vicente Padilla, RHP Scott Feldman and Holland facing Minnesota. RHP Kevin Millwood will open a series against Boston on Monday followed by RHP Tommy Hunter.

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18 Comments to “Derek Holland Back In Rangers Rotation”
  • cameron @ July 16th, 2009 at 3:52 pm

    Good move. I don’t get the Nippert hype.

  • Mark @ July 16th, 2009 at 3:57 pm

    Good. Now freaking leave him there and pitch him every fifth day!

  • Rangers Fan @ July 16th, 2009 at 3:58 pm

    Thank you Ron! Let’s go Holland!

  • J. Blake @ July 16th, 2009 at 4:00 pm

    This is probably my favorite version of the Ranger’s rotation. Two tough veterans at the top with a developed young pitcher in Feldman sandwiched between two young developmental pitchers. Hunter’s emergence has been huge. We could be having the same realization about him next season that we’re having about Feldman now; that it’s about results, not prospect ratings and scouting projections.

  • Hightower @ July 16th, 2009 at 4:12 pm

    EG,

    Is this a showcase?

    Which looms larger to you? The continued ineffectiveness of Nippert and the upcoming lefthanded Twins, or the trade deadline?

  • Rangers Fan @ July 16th, 2009 at 4:13 pm

    What’s troubling now is that Evan just proclaimed Feliz a career bullpen guy (also said they are leaving open a chance of him starting). But man oh man…if he’s only a reliever, I’m not against trading him if we can get starting pitching in return.

  • cameron @ July 16th, 2009 at 4:18 pm

    Rangers Fan – I agree. If management thinks Feliz is only a bullpen guy (as EG said on the Ticket), then he needs to be the one in a trade while his market value is so high.

  • Josh @ July 16th, 2009 at 4:44 pm

    This leads me to believe Nippert is on his way out of town, with Feliz or El Duque taking his spot. Next on the chopping block has to be Guarado, but he has been better as of late, so no rush. Now if Hamilton and Davis can produce, this team could be pretty interesting the rest of the year, and be developing a fair amount of rookies for next yr while doing so. A win-win. I would love for them to make the playoffs, but if it means giving guys like Nippert the ball instead of Feliz/Holland/Hunter, I don’t see the point.

  • Daniel @ July 16th, 2009 at 5:05 pm

    If Feliz is career bullpen, maybe a top-notch closer, that’d be fine…the farm is deep with pitchers…patience…no need to trade him away

  • Tippett's 'stache @ July 16th, 2009 at 7:54 pm

    How far would the Yankees have gotten in the playoffs without Mariano?

  • Rangers Fan @ July 16th, 2009 at 9:23 pm

    I don’t think we should be looking to trade him. What I was meaning is…if you were trying to pull of a big deal and you had to include one of the top pitching guys (which you would) I would be more willing to deal him than Holland. But I’m not saying we should trade him.

  • iharttherangers @ July 16th, 2009 at 9:45 pm

    We should not be surprised by the Rangers moving him back and forth. I’ve heard some people talk about “this is the way Earl Weaver did it”, but how about – this is the way Nolan was brought up?

    In his first 3 full season 68, 69 & 70 Nolan started 18 of 21 games, 10 of 25 and 19 of 27 games respectively.

    Evan maybe you should ask Nolan if his moving from starter to relief early in his career helped him or what he learned from that? or Why did that make him a better pitcher?

  • JustSaying @ July 16th, 2009 at 10:24 pm

    In some ways this team feels like it is held together by chicken wire and farmers twine……in other ways it feels like its about to break out and beat nuggies on the angels………
    this is the thing I ponder as we go to the second half……who is having a better than expected year?
    Feldman plus year, O’Day free plus year, and Andrus plus year………..
    No one else is having anything other than expected or disappointing………
    The good news about that is we’re only 1 1/2 game out with a lot of upside……….I remain optimistic!

  • JustSaying @ July 16th, 2009 at 10:29 pm

    I’d rather see Hunter pushed up in the rotation over Holland…….you have to reward performance over potential ceiling……

  • obagain @ July 17th, 2009 at 12:22 am

    Justsaying, you dont think millwood is having a plus year?
    You could make a case for young under the circumstances.
    How about cruz? He had a good end to last season but did you think he could have the production he has and finish 2nd in the allstar HR derby? I would think that is plus.

  • James in NY @ July 17th, 2009 at 9:50 am

    @obagain, I agree with you. There are a ton of guys on the team that are having plus years. How about Blalock not being on the DL all season? that is a plus over last year. Plus he has been on a tear as of late.

  • Bobby in Bryan @ July 17th, 2009 at 1:08 pm

    Good to see Holland back in the rotation. He showed a variety of pitches his last relief appearance but had only thrown fastballs in his last start. Let’s hope that he continues to start while working on the variety of pitches.

  • Weekend In Review « wire2 @ July 20th, 2009 at 2:21 pm

    [...] young Ranger pitcher, Derek Holland, was inserted back into the rotation for Sunday’s series finale with Minnesota. Vicente Padilla, just a month and a half removed from [...]