Zack Greinke joins Diamondbacks for $206.5 million over six years

The Arizona Diamondbacks have landed one of the most coveted free agents on the market by agreeing to a contract with star pitcher Zack Greinke, US media reported Friday.

The Dodgers offered Greinke a five-year contract that paid $31 per year, according to Heyman, a year short and more than $50 million less than the Diamondbacks’ apparent agreement.

He has a 2.16 ERA over his last six seasons, averaging 201 innings and 178 strikeouts per year with Hiroshima.

But now the D-backs now have an ace to match up with the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw and the Giants’ Madison Bumgarner.

Is it possible Greinke would have aged as gracefully as Maddux and lived up to the deal he’s about to sign?

Pitching in the dry desert where balls sometimes carry as if propelled by rocket fuel, no chance the numbers look that sweet for Greinke again in 2016. And remember, the day Kasten hired Friedman, it was about making shrewd moves, not the big-dollar moves that get fans excited, the kind the Dodgers specialized for the brief period between the new owners came in and Friedman arrived.

The Diamondbacks clearly overpaid the 32-year-old Greinke in isolation, but given that all reports had Greinke staying in the division, some of that overpay may prove to be worth it for the blow struck against the Dodgers and Giants. The Dodgers gain a compensatory pick, likely No. 41.

The Diamondbacks are looking to rebound after going 79-83 last season and now Greinke joins a core of players that includes Paul Goldschmidt and AJ Pollock. The teams play each other 19 times during the regular season. Yes, the Diamondbacks. Not the San Francisco Giants or the Los Angeles Dodgers, who were the supposed front-runners for the right-hander. Price is two years younger than Greinke. Signing Iwakuma or Samardzija would cost the Dodgers a first-round draft pick in addition to their salaries; Cueto or Leake would not.

Mets: General manager Sandy Alderson, 68, has cancer and will begin chemotherapy this week, the team announced. He exercised it and walked away from a whopping amount over the next three years.

The winning bidder was a stunner.

The Diamondbacks were not expected to compete for Greinke, who along with David Price was considered the prize free agents of the winter. They had money to spend – last February, they signed a TV deal with Fox Sports Arizona for more than $1.5 billion over 20 years.

So maybe, when we get to Nashville, Cueto will sign with the Phillies and Jason Heyward with the Brewers and we’ll find more reason to be surprised.

Don’t laugh, and don’t be yammering on about that cold-blooded Greinke leaving Hollywood simply for the money and nothing else.