Dodgers RHP Greinke opts out, hits free agency

Dodgers righty Zack Greinke, who is a leading candidate to win the National League Cy Young award this season after an 18-win, 1.66 ERA season, has opted out of his contract and will be a free agent. After signing a six-year contract worth $147 million prior to the start of the 2013 season, Greinke will walk away from the Dodgers while leaving three years and $71 million remaining on the deal.

Greinke recently chose to opt out of his contract with the Dodgers, and that instantly made him the best player on the free agent market.

It is a catch-22 situation since Greinke is unlikely to replicate what he did in 2015 and the Dodgers will nearly certainly have to offer more than they would like, but that is the price teams must pay in order to retain elite arms. While Los Angeles won three straight NL West titles, it has not reached the World Series since winning the 1988 championship.

Mark Walter, the Dodgers’ controlling owner, has said he would leave the decision about Greinke to Andrew Friedman, president of baseball operations, and Farhan Zaidi, general manager. According to recent Major League Baseball rumors, the Red Sox could sign Zack Greinke in 2015 Major League Baseball Free Agency this offseason.

That, along with the approximately $50 million coming off the books with the expiring contracts of Lincecum, Tim Hudson and others, puts the Giants in position to revamp their starting staff and make a big splash. For this demonstration, I’m using decreases of 0.5 fWAR - a reasonable assumption, all things considered. The deal with Los Angeles called for him to earn $24 million next year, $23 million in 2017 and $24 million in 2018. Because of this, teams might seek to build in a $3-4 million cushion for each season in order to offset potential production issues (or worse, significant injury).

Scherzer got $210 million from the Washington Nationals, Lester $155 million from the Chicago Cubs. Based on these values, Greinke could very well be in line for a modest annual raise.

The Dodgers’ 2016 rotation, counting pitchers under club control and healthy, now includes only Clayton Kershaw and Alex Wood.

Maybe Greinke chooses to make the move across the Bay, joining Bruce Bochy and 2014 World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner in San Fran.