Zack Greinke is a free agent no more.
Advertisement
About an hour after a report surfaced that Zack Greinke was considering a third team, the Diamondbacks, Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports confirmed that the Cy Young Award runner-up has indeed chosen to play out the rest of his prime in Phoenix.
It has been a long time since the Arizona Diamondbacks have had a pitcher the caliber of Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling, or Brandon Webb.
The D-backs beat out the division rival Dodgers and Giants to unexpectedly win the Greinke sweepstakes Friday night, acquiring the free agent ace they hope will get the franchise contending again – and fast.
The terms of Greike’s deal aren’t yet known – it is reportedly between $195-200 million per Bob Nightengale of USA Today and Tim Brown of Yahoo – but it comes three days after David Price signed with the Red Sox for seven years and $217 million, an average of $31 million per year.
The deal is for six years, ESPN reported, and is expected to include guaranteed money of about $180 million. The right-hander pieced together an outstanding 2015 campaign, leading the majors with a 1.66 ERA and a 0.844 WHIP, along with a 19-3 record and a 200/40 K/BB ratio in 222 2/3 innings.
Greinke won Game 2 of the NLDS against the Mets, but lost Game 5 when he allowed a go-ahead home run to Daniel Murphy.
“I think just what him and Clayton have meant to our club over the last three years is just that one-two punch. The money is definitely important”, Diamondbacks general manager Dave Stewart said at the time. They were 49-48 when other pitchers started. Greinke opted out of the final three years and $71M left on his contract after the season. They shot high for Cueto, then higher for Greinke, who they’d put at the top of their rotation, ahead of Patrick Corbin, Rubby De La Rosa, Robbie Ray and Chase Anderson.
Advertisement
A top priority of the Giants this offseason was to build up their rotation behind 2014 World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner.
