Greinke signs blockbuster deal with Diamondbacks

Though he had some elbow soreness, the only time he went on the disabled list in his three seasons with the Dodgers was when he broke his collarbone in a brawl with the ‘ in his third start in 2013.

In one of the most surprising free-agent deals in recent memory, the Arizona Diamondbacks have reportedly signed former Los Angeles Dodgers starter Zack Greinke to the most lucrative contract in baseball history. If Greinke’s arm indeed falls off in five years, well, Dodgers fans will not be throwing the front office a parade to celebrate the foresight.

And it’s a franchise-altering gamble for Diamondbacks president Tony La Russa and general manager Dave Stewart, considering that long-term contracts for pitchers often lead to dead money at the end, and Greinke is 32 years old even before putting ink to paper.

Greinke will join an Arizona team that has solid building blocks for success.

Greinke’s departure frees Friedman from concerns that roster flexibility will one day be limited because of an underperforming 38-year-old pitcher making $30-plus million. Los Angeles will receive a supplemental first round pick as compensation.

Now add it up: That’s 17 major league rotation jobs – majority crucial slots on teams with a lot at stake. He is now in a market where anything short of a World Series championship is considered a failure, and losing Greinke to a division rival won’t get the Dodgers any closer to an October parade. He was neck-and-neck with Clayton Kershaw as the Dodgers’ co-ace, gave them certainty at the top of the pitching order and the guarantee they’d essentially be in 66 or so of the games he and Kershaw started. The remainder of the rotation had a 4.41 ERA.

Kershaw has been the best pitcher in baseball for the past five seasons. It wasn’t until Friday afternoon that we learned the D-Backs were pursuing the right-hander, and even then it was unclear if they were willing to make a competitive offer, or just trying to drive up the price. For his career, Greinke owns an ERA of 3.35 (123 ERA+) and 3.71 K/BB ratio across parts of 12 big-league seasons.

Toni Payne had a goal and an assist for the Blue Devils (14-5-5), who failed to qualify for the NCAA tournament last season.

Something else to consider: Kershaw, Anderson, Wood and Ryu are all left-handed.

UPDATE (6:05 p.m. PT): Greinke’s deal with the Diamondbacks is for six years, $206 million, according to multiple reports.

The bigger question when it comes to the value of this deal is the term, with six years taking Greinke through his age-37 season.

That doesn’t make the situation hopeless. Players like Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija are available in free agency and could be potential targets.

The Dodgers could solve this issue, too, by trade. How can they replace someone like Greinke?

No Greinke on the Dodgers is weird – and depressing – enough.

He also finished second behind Jake Arrieta of the Chicago Cubs for this season’s National League Cy Young Award.

Greinke was durable, pitching 222⅔ innings.

Certainly, leaving Dodger Stadium to go to Arizona isn’t as favourable for pitchers, and that should negatively affect Greinke’s overall numbers, but in 10 career starts at Chase Field, he has a 3.34 ERA and 1.31 WHIP with 58 strikeouts in 62 innings.