The media and the mystery of Derek Holland’s open mouth

Before the San Francisco Giants managed another spectacular come-from-behind win against the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday afternoon, the media was trying desperately to get answers about what on earth was happening with Derek Holland and the mystery of the fake injury (also known as the weirdest Nancy Drew title ever). The LHP was sidelined last month with an apparent bone bruise on his left index finger according to president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi.

Holland, upon learning that he was being “demoted” to the bullpen on Saturday evening from manager Bruce Bochy, decided to dive head first into a media frenzy instead of having it out with the front office behind closed doors.

To put it plainly, the boy spilt tea EVERYWHERE.

“To be honest I have no idea what they’re doing,” Holland said. “I don’t mean that by Bochy and them, it’s more the front office. They keep changing a lot of things. I did a fake injury. I’m not happy about that. But at the end of the day I’m going to do whatever they ask me to do.”

On Sunday, Zaidi said that there are medical records that backed up the bone bruise and gave Holland a vocabulary lesson by way of the San Francisco Chronicle.

“His use of the word ‘fake’ probably comes from him feeling he could continue to pitch with it.”

Understandably, Holland is frustrated with his numbers this season as a starter (6.75 ERA through seven starts) but at what point is it appropriate to go to the media first instead of talking in private? Sure, it can seem like a testy little power grab, but with numbers like Holland’s, is he really in a position to play an old high school game of telephone? He’s venting his grievances through the media rightfully aware that it will cause a stir in an already fidgety franchise.

“There’s a lot of frustration right now,” Zaidi said. “We’re not playing as well as we’d like. I think fans are frustrated, as a front office we’re frustrated. I understand players being frustrated, but we’re going to do everything we can every day to get better.”

Zaidi and Holland met on Sunday evening and discussed Holland’s use of the word ‘fake.’ And, of course, Holland backed down.

“It was a good conversation,” Holland told NBC Sports Bay Area. “Obviously, I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did with the media. I was just frustrated with not performing the way I was last year.”

Okay, but you think it’s not adding fuel to a fire when you go to the press in order to air your frustrations? The team is 17-23 and is dead last in the NL West, so rightfully everyone is frustrated, but it sets apart a good player from a whiny player when they decide to flip over chairs with the media in retaliation. It’s just plain childish.

You’re not Regina George, bro.