Surprise! Arizona Diamondbacks sign Zack Greinke to six-year deal

The sides agreed to the terms of the deal on Tuesday, but had to wait for Price to pass his physical.

“We made a very strong offer to retain Zack Greinke but clearly he found a deal that fit better for him and his family”, Friedman’s statement read.

According to several reports, Greinke has accepted a six year, $206 million deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Johnny Cueto is the top free agent pitcher remaining on the board, and while he’s good, he comes with many more questions – like, how does he perform in the crucible of the postseason on the road? – than did Greinke.

The contract is technically the second major deal in the past three years for Greinke, who in early November opted out of his final three seasons (and the last $71 million) with the Dodgers.

CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman was first to report the deal is for six years, while USA Today’s Bob Nightengale added that the figure is an astounding $195 million over that span.

Baseball’s best pitching tandem is now a memory.

CHICAGO – Multiple media outlets reported the Chicago Cubs and free-agent pitcher John Lackey have agreed to a two-year contract.

Mendenhall reached a five-year agreement with Virginia that starts at $3.25 million per year. The $34.4 million average will be the sport’s highest, topping David Price’s $31 million per year deal with the Red Sox. Now, with Greinke’s salary off the books, they’ll have quite a bit of money to spend too.

Don’t laugh, and don’t be yammering on about that cold-blooded Greinke leaving Hollywood simply for the money and nothing else. Both required his services. It appeared that he narrowed his choices to the Giants and Dodgers until the Diamondbacks convined him to come toi Arizona.

The deep thinking, somewhat eccentric, often wry and hyper-athletic Greinke emerged in 2015 as the Dodgers’ co-ace, an extraordinary development given his partner at the top of the rotation was three-time Cy Young Award victor (and one-time MVP) Kershaw.

From the front office to the clubhouse, the Dodgers badly wanted Zack Greinke back in 2016.

The team’s No. 2 pitcher is now the injury-prone Brett Anderson, who made a career-high 31 starts last season. Last season Greinke had a historic year, posting a 1.66 ERA with a 19-3 record and he finished as one of the finalists in the Cy Young voting, coming in as the runner-up to Jake Arrieta.

His outstanding season included a scoreless streak of 45 2/3 innings. He lost once after June 13 until October 15, when he was outpitched by Jacob deGrom in Game 5 of the division series.

He’ll join the staff of new manager Don Mattingly, the Marlins said Friday. He exercised it and walked away from a whopping amount over the next three years. They kind of save your bullpen.

Except for one thing: The Diamondbacks have an Albert Pujols-in-his-prime type in Paul Goldschmidt and the game’s most underrated star in A.J. Pollock, and they’re ready to win right now.

Bonds’ playing career ended in 2007. The result is a fresh contract, and a new beginning in Arizona.