Texas Rangers starter Derek Holland has joined a long-list of elite athletes sidelined by unusual mishaps that occur in our everyday lives. The pitcher required arthroscopic surgery on his left knee after damaging cartilage in his left knee, in an incident with his dog, Wrigley. The injury is expected to keep Holland out of the Rangers rotation for the first half of the 2014 season.
Holland says that Wrigley caused him to trip while walking on the stairs in his home on Tuesday of this week.
“He was running up the stairs and clipped me,” Holland said Saturday. “I hit my knee on the step, and if it wasn’t for me grabbing the rail, I might have fallen all the way down the stairs and cracked my head open.”
Some have tried to say that Holland injured himself playing hockey, as he does recreationally in the off-season, and did on Monday night, but the pitcher attempted to put the kibosh on such rumors.
“I’m getting tired of the assumption that I hurt myself playing hockey,” Holland said. “I played the full game and was fine.”
The 27-year-old Holland was coming off one of the best seasons of his career. He made 33 starts for the Rangers, and while his record was 10-9, he had career bests with 213 innings pitched, 189 strikeouts, 3.42 ERA, and 3.3 WAR. His 1.29 WHIP was also the second-best of his major league career.
Holland was obviously disappointed that this injury means he won’t be able to follow up that great 2013 with a full 2014.
“It was just a freak accident, and it stinks. That’s what happened,” Holland said. “For me personally, it’s a big blow. I was very excited to get back with the guys and start the season. I felt like my offseason was great. I had what I thought was a good season last year and wanted to build off it.
“An accident like this, it crushes me.”
It will be interesting to see if the injury to one of the team’s key starters will put the Rangers deep into the bidding for Japanese star Masahiro Tanaka, or one of the other free agents on the market such as Ubaldo Jimenez or Matt Garza as they attempt to wrestle the AL West title away from the Oakland Athletics.
Thanks for reading. You can follow the site on twitter – @lastwordonsport and like our Facebook Page.
Interested in writing for LastWordOnSports? If so, check out our “Join Our Team” page to find out how.
