Zack Greinke, Diamondbacks strike deal
In conversations leading up to free agency, members of the Dodgers front office – which was united, from president Stan Kasten down – was skeptical about whether a mega-contract for Zack Greinke was a good investment.
The blockbuster deal is reported to be for six years and worth $206.5 million, according to ESPN.com and others.
He was most recently signed on with the Los Angeles Dodgers since the winter of 2012, but in November he opted out of the remaining three years of his contract and $71 million.
Greinke was durable, pitching 222 2-3 innings.
The Arizona Diamondbacks decided that they were going to make a splash in the free agent market, and they did.
The latest Major League Baseball news is that Zack Greinke is expected to get fewer years from the Arizona Diamondbacks than new Boston Red Sox pitcher David Price but a higher salary average. “Everything varies depending on the player you’re talking about, but if you look over time, so many long-term deals for free agent contracts have worked out really poorly”.
Literally about two hours ago, Rosenthal reported that the D-backs were pursuing the former Cy Young Award victor.
As night fell Wednesday, and again on Thursday, the Dodgers thought they were closing in on a new contract with Greinke, believing the issue was more about how to structure a deal and less about whether there would be one.
All that, plus he has dominated the NL West. Greinke was 7-2 against the division previous year and 29-7 in his three seasons with the Dodgers. Goldschmidt is one of the best players in baseball and breakout seasons from Pollock, an All-Star who established him as one of the best center fielders in the NL, and Ender Inciarte make Arizona one of the best offenses in the league.
Let’s assume the Giants and Cardinals add two starting pitchers to fortify rotations decimated by retirement, injury or defections. Wood pitched reasonably well for the Dodgers – he was 5-6 with a 4.35 ERA in 12 starts – but not well enough to earn a start in the postseason. “God knows that. That’s all that matters to me”.
A 26th-round draft pick of the Montreal Expos in 2003, Henderson’s best season came in 2013, when he had 28 saves and made 61 appearances.
Beyond that, the Dodgers are counting on the return of Hyun-Jin Ryu, who is recovering from a shoulder operation. 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.