Thursday Morning Rangers Notes: Whither Derek Holland?

A few things out there this morning, with some commentary on the latter two bullet points forthcoming:

● Evan Grant suggests this morning that Derek Holland (5.0 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 5 BB, 0 K, 2 HR) "may need" to move back to the bullpen at some point this season, with Tommy Hunter possibly supplanting him once he gets healthy, or Brandon Webb (provided that he regains his velocity, which peaked at 85 mph during his rehab start at Double-A Frisco yesterday), or perhaps even Martin Perez (Dallas Morning News)

[It is unfortunate that this piece is shrouded by the pay wall, because I'd honestly like to read the underlying rationale for pulling Holland out of the rotation. Granted, he was absolutely atrocious last night from just about every possible perspective, such that it was actually his worst single appearance WPA-wise since August 31st, 2009 ... but the start before that, Holland amassed 10 strikeouts and yielded only a single walk in 7.1 innings at Tampa Bay. The start before that, he threw his second career complete-game shutout. I get that sequences like this are exactly why he is such a maddening pitcher to watch, but if we're going to recognize him at his worst, we also have to recognize him when he's at his best.

And here's a dirty little thought that he's been rattling around in the recesses of my mind: if you look at where this starting rotation is right now and what it has in terms of potential supporting pieces (e.g. Webb, Perez, Hunter, Eric Hurley, et al.), I'm almost inclined to think you have to stick with Holland in spite of the flaws in his pitching résumé. When we get down into crunch time in August/September and, hopefully, October, what do you have to work with? You have a capable, proven post-season starter in C.J. Wilson, another guy who could be good in Alexi Ogando, another guy who has proven himself good but is extremely flakey right now in Colby Lewis ... and then what? Can Hunter actually represent an upgrade over Holland in the regular season, let alone in the post-season? I doubt it, and though it's true that Holland could end up pitching himself into a lesser role, I'm not expecting to see it happen -- period.]

● The Seattle Mariners have promoted five-star second base prospect Dustin Ackley (.300/.418/.487 at Triple-A Tacoma; .369/.471/.605 with 22 extra-base hits, six home runs, and 30 walks since May 6th) to the majors, with limp-hitting infielder Luis Rodriguez taking his roster spot at Tacoma (Bob Condotta, The Seattle Times)

● With Buster Posey out for the season, the San Francisco Giants are desperate for catching help, and the Rangers "may be willing" to move a catcher -- in this case, presumably Taylor Teagarden -- to the Bay Area in exchange for pitching help (Danny Knobler, CBSSports.com)