Greinke had one of the best seasons of his career in 2015, posting a 19-3 record and leading the National League in ERA with a 1.66 ERA mark. Then the righty, 32, opted out of his contract, leaving $71.5 million on the table – and wound up with the richest deal, by yearly average, in baseball history. Fox first reported an agreement.
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The $300-million payroll last season attracted all the headlines, but the Dodgers really do want to get younger.
It was a deep and glorious class, but now the top three options – Greinke, David Price (to the Red Sox, for $217 million) and Jordan Zimmermann (a Detroit Tiger for a relatively economical $110 million) – are off the board. The moves came as teams prepared to head this weekend to the winter meetings in Nashville, Tenn. The Dodgers have led the major leagues in attendance in every year under Guggenheim Baseball ownership, and the team just increased ticket prices sharply. Instead, the Diamondbacks reeled in an even bigger prize.
The 32-year-old right hander had an option to remain in Los Angeles for another three years but chose to become a free agent.
Nats, Perez reach deal • Oliver Perez and the Washington Nationals have agreed to a $7 million, two-year contract, a source said. “We are now hard at work on our alternatives”. So must the Giants, who had looked like the Dodgers’ top competition to sign Greinke.
Arizona scored the second-most runs in the NL last season but was thin in the pitching department.
The only other healthy pitcher who has a place in the rotation locked down is Alex Wood, who was acquired in a midseason trade with the Atlanta Braves.
“It is more of what we are trying to do”. They’ve done it recently as well, and I really think we’re going to do it in the future.
Since 1919, only five pitchers have had a better ERA than Greinke had past year, with Greg Maddux doing it twice. He threw a career-high (with the postseason) 236 1/3 innings, and in the regular season posted 200 strikeouts to 40 walks, and career bests in hits per nine innings and WHIP.
This signing has the potential to change the landscape of the NL West, preventing it from yet again being a two-team race between the Giants and Dodgers for the division crown. The next Dodgers starter may not be as good as Greinke but the gap may not be as wide if it’s Scott Kazmir or Jeff Samardzija, where it wouldn’t cost them a draft pick that they covet so much.
In recent days the NL West rival Dodgers and Giants were bidding for Greinke. And it’s not enough for him to wind up among the Cy Young contenders in the offseason.
In a shocking turn of events, former Dodgers’ co-ace Greinke will join a Diamondbacks’ rotation that is sparse, to say the least.
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But the reality is, the Giants have Madison Bumgarner to front their rotation (an excellent spot in which to be) and Chris Heston as a promising 28-year-old behind him.
