Pirates pitcher Derek Holland: I feel like fans are on our side in MLB negotiations

As an 11-year major league veteran, Derek Holland is one of the established players for the Pittsburgh Pirates. As a nonroster invitee to spring training, the left-handed pitcher still is trying to make the team.

That didn’t stop Holland from speaking candidly Friday night in an interview with Dan Zangrilli that aired Saturday morning on 93.7 FM and touched on topics from negotiations between MLB owners and the Players Association to stall tactics by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and the proposals for a shortened season.

Holland said the union stands in solidarity, and he feels like fans are supporting them in their negotiations with owners for a longer season and expanded playoffs with full prorated salaries.

“We are strong. We’re a family. We definitely care about each other’s dreams and what we’re doing with the future of baseball,” Holland said of the MLB Players Association. “I feel like the fans are on our side. They see what’s going on. We could have already been playing the game of baseball. It’s just that simple.”

The Major League Baseball Players Association today released the following statement: pic.twitter.com/XxRDSskBBT

— MLBPA Communications (@MLBPA_News) June 19, 2020

All 30 teams will shut down their training camps after the Philadelphia Phillies reported five covid-19 cases Friday, which could throw another wrench in already contentious negotiations.

The league rejected a 70-game counterproposal by the union to its offer for a 60-game regular season that would have started July 19 and finished by Sept. 27, with the playoffs expanding from 10 teams to 16. If an agreement isn’t reached, Manfred has the power to impose a season in the range of 50 games, but the players can file a grievance.

“There’s obviously time. We can definitely play those games,” Holland said. “We just keep continuing to push it back. The owners are trying to cut it back and make it smaller.”

Holland echoed the sentiments of Cincinnati Reds All-Star pitcher Trevor Bauer, who criticized Manfred on Monday for backtracking from his June 10 draft-night declaration guaranteeing that there will be a season. Bauer accused Manfred of delay tactics as a bluff until he clears the risk of “not negotiating in good faith by trying to play as many games as possible,” holding the fans and future of the game “for ransom” and called it a “losing hand for everyone involved.”

So, Rob, explain to us how you can be 100% sure that there’s going to be baseball but not confident there will be baseball at the same time? hmmm. What changed between those statements ?? Players told you to set the season, but it’s too early to set the season right now,

— Trevor Bauer (@BauerOutage) June 15, 2020

“I’m just going to put it this way: If you haven’t seen what Trevor Bauer tweeted out, I think that says it all very well,” Holland said. “I think we’re in a stalling pattern right now with the owners. We’ll see what happens. It’s up to those guys to figure things out. I’ve got to get myself prepared. I’m trying to make a team. What they decide on is what it’s going to be, but we’ve had plenty of opportunities for them. We just continue to keep pushing it back.

“We could be playing by now. I think it would be good for America, as well, to get back on the field and give them something else that we can look at that can take our minds off a lot of things that are happening.”