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Report: Nationals consider Holland too risky on multi-year deal

Matthew Stockman / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Free-agent closer Greg Holland, who saved an NL-leading 41 games last season for the Colorado Rockies, may find securing a big-league job has become even harder.

Holland, who appeared to have a suitor in the form of the Washington Nationals, may be too risky on a multi-year deal for the club, according to major-league sources of The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal.

Instead, the Nationals are likely to wait out the market for a lesser right-handed reliever to join their bullpen, Rosenthal adds.

Holland and the Nationals appeared to be a good fit because of the connection his agent Scott Boras has with Washington's front office, and their apparent need for additional bullpen help.

But, Holland is one year removed from missing an entire season thanks to Tommy John surgery and was nowhere near as good in the second half of the 2017 season as the first.

2017 SPLIT G IP W-L ERA HR SO SV
1st half 35 33.1 1-1 1.62 2 43 28
2nd half 26 24 2-5 6.38 5 27 13

The 32-year-old appeared to be closing in on a deal with the Rockies in mid-December, but an agreement failed to come to completion and Colorado instead inked Wade Davis to a three-year, $52-million contract.

Holland has also been linked to the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals.

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