Coming into the winter meetings, we heard that the Pittsburgh Pirates had interest in signing left-handed starter Derek Holland, who has spent the last eight seasons with the Texas Rangers. The Pirates were scheduled to meet with his representatives this week, which happened yesterday according to reports. According to Evan Grant, who covers the Rangers for the Dallas Morning News, the market now for Holland appears to be the Chicago White Sox and the Pirates. More teams were looking at him recently, with the Boston Red Sox being one of them. Boston just acquired Chris Sale from the White Sox and Tyler Thornburg from the Milwaukee Brewers, so they might be out on Holland now.
Derek Holland's market at current time appears to be Pittsburgh & Chicago White Sox.
— Evan Grant (@Evan_P_Grant) December 6, 2016
Holland had a 4.35 ERA, a 1.33 WHIP and 790 strikeouts in 985 innings with the Rangers. He threw 213 innings during the 2013 season, then only 203 inning total over the last three seasons combined. In 20 starts and two relief appearances in 2016, he had 4.95 ERA, a 1.41 WHIP and 67 strikeouts in 107.1 innings.
In other pitching news, Bill Brink is reporting that the Pirates are one of the teams that have expressed interest in right-handed pitcher Daniel Hudson. The number might be lower by now, but earlier this week, it was reported that 16 teams showed some type of interest in Hudson. Back in 2011, he was a 24-year-old starter, who posted a 3.49 ERA in 222 innings with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He then had Tommy John surgery in 2012 and then again in 2013, shortly after he began his return. Since then, Hudson has pitched in relief and struggled for the most part. In 2016, he posted a 5.22 ERA and 1.44 WHIP in 60.1 innings over 70 appearances.
Heard Pirates are one of the teams that have expressed interest in free-agent righty Daniel Hudson.
— Bill Brink (@Bill_Brink2) December 6, 2016
