Zack Greinke Signs With Arizona Diamondbacks Over

Zack Greinke will still pitch in the NL West. But surprise – with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The San Francisco Giants were the Dodgers’ top rival for Greinke until the Diamondbacks jumped in with a serious bid late in the week. Sources confirmed that Geinke signed a six-year deal worth more than $200 million with the Diamondbacks.

That’s a lot for a pitcher who will turn 35 when the contract is halfway fulfilled, but teams including the Giants felt confident in offering long, rich deals because of Greinke’s pitching style and know-how. Does it mean that the Winter Meetings next week in Nashville are going to be without drama?

Instead, the Diamondbacks reeled in an even bigger prize.

ESPN is reporting that the deal is worth a total of $206 million, while Jon Heyman at CBS Sports reports that there is $60 million in deferred money, making the value around $190 million.

Greinke’s contract gave him the flexibility to find a new home. The Florida native finished with an MLB-leading 1.66 earned-run average and a 19-3 record.

The 32-year-old right hander had an option to remain in Los Angeles for another three years but chose to become a free agent.

Will the Dodgers miss the playoffs next year? In the Jetstream of those deals came Greinke, and what was believed to be a contest of wills (and dollars) between the Dodgers, the wealthiest franchise in the sport, and the Giants, three-time World Series champion this decade.

Last season, Arizona pitchers finished 23rd in baseball in both ERA (4.37) and strikeouts (701), 27th in opposing batting average (.447), and the most damning, 29th in innings pitched per start (5 1/3).

Greinke began his Major League Baseball career in 2004, and owns 142-93 record, and a 3.34 ERA. Greinke had a scoreless streak of 45 2-3 innings this summer. That’s a front-end starter to be sure, and Greinke may also be the best all-around athlete of any starting pitcher in baseball having won and deserved the Gold Glove award in each of the last two seasons while also emerging as the top hitting pitcher in all of baseball, hitting.249/.300/.357 (85 OPS+) in his three years in L.A. Sources close to him say he also likes the club’s young players. Chicago also agreed on a one-year, $1.5 million contract with righthanded pitcher Jacob Turner.

And that’s the one thing Price hasn’t delivered.

Bonds is joining the staff of new Marlins manager Don Mattingly as hitting coach. “That just hasn’t been the case thus far”, said Price, who is 0-7 with a 5.27 career ERA in eight career postseason starts. 500 (79-83) in their first season with Tony La Russa and Dave Stewart at the helm, and though the message from that leadership group can seem a bit scatterbrained at times, look at the infrastructure here. Greinke turned 32 in October and Andrew Friedman, the team’s president of baseball operations, frequently has spoken about the dangers of long-term free-agent contracts.

Because Greinke is two years older than Price, he was expected to receive a shorter contract.

The Dodgers: Los Angeles, in a weird way, had to get this deal done.