Giants Feud With Pitcher Derek Holland Just Took Another Weird Turn

Cover Photo: Getty Images

San Francisco Giants pitcher Derek Holland has created quite the weird situation between himself and the team and things only seem to get weirder by the day.

On Wednesday, following the Giants' loss to the Cincinnati Reds, Giants' manager Bruce Bochy announced that Holland would be moved to the bullpen and would no longer be starting on Thursday.

Holland, in an interview on Saturday, did not seem too pleased with this development. When asked about it, Holland made mention that the injury, which landed him on the IL in late April, was "fake." He also questioned why the Giants were making the move in the first place.

Holland: "To be honest, I have no idea what they’re doing. And I don’t mean that by Boch and them, it’s more for the front office. We keep changing things. I get a fake injury, so I’m not happy about that. But at the end of the day, I’m going to do whatever they ask me to do." https://t.co/4KVqTtUr2h
— Maria I. Guardado (@mi_guardado) May 12, 2019

The injury was officially diagnosed as a bruised bone in the finger of his pitching hand. Holland didn't think that warranted a visit to the IL or a demotion to the bullpen, despite his 1-5 record and 5.34 ERA in his six appearances leading up to it.

Fast forward to today and the Giants have reportedly provided medical information and MRI results to the MLB in order to validate the legitimacy of Holland's injury and IL stint. That's highly unusual and speaks to the disconnect between player and franchise.

The #SFGiants have provided documented medical reports and MRIs to #MLB today to show evidence that Derek Holland did not go on the injured list earlier this season with a ‘fake injury’ as Holland described it Saturday night after being told he’s being demoted to the bullpen.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) May 12, 2019

We'll see how this one plays out from here, but from Holland's perspective, it's pretty tough to argue against medical records, regardless of how he feels.

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