According to reports by both veteran Washington Post columnist Thomas Boswell and his WaPost colleague, Barry Svrluga, at one point last winter the Washington Nationals had a deal in place to bring reliever Greg Holland to the nation’s capital.
“Ownership balked at the money needed to sign [Scott] Boras client Greg Holland, who was risky after elbow surgery and not due back until June,” Boswell wrote in a late-May look at where the roster stood at that point.
“[T]he baseball side of the franchise wanted Holland, risk and all,” Boswell noted, “... and thought a deal probably could have gotten done.