That would be Zack Greinke, Arizona Diamondback.
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A person with knowledge of the deal tells The Associated Press that free agent ace Zack Greinke and the Arizona Diamondbacks have reached agreement on a six-year contract. The deal is contingent on Lackey passing a physical.
According to Ken Rosenthal on Twitter, the contract is worth $206 million with deferrals, which creates an average annual value of $34.42 million a year.
The Diamondbacks had been pursuing free agent Johnny Cueto, but changed course when he rejected their six-year, $120 million offer last month.
Greinke moves to the top of the rotation featuring Patrick Corbin, Robbie Ray and Rubby De La Rosa. Or they must trade for a starter, because that’s how they have won before – pitching in their big ballpark, with runs cobbled together with resourceful, but less-than-overpowering, lineups. Arizona’s lack of rotation depth could be an issue, but Fox Sports also reported that the club remains interested in pursuing free agent Mike Leake even after signing Greinke. Sources say a chunk of Greinke’s gold rush is deferred, so by the time it comes due, Chief Baseball Officer Tony La Russa and Co. will be long gone, anyway. Both required his services.
Just as the hot stove was getting primed back in early November, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman laid out the team’s approach to this off-season. It appeared that he narrowed his choices to the Giants and Dodgers until the Diamondbacks convined him to come toi Arizona.
Cy Young Awards: Zack Greinke, 2009 (Royals). Dodgers should get similar production from the 27 year old.
Greinke is coming off the best season of his career. But they can’t be sure that Matt Cain (5.79 ERA in 60 2/3 innings last season) will be the guy who carried them to the 2012 title again. He went 19-3 and pitched six or more innings in all 32 of his starts. He lost once after June 13 until October 15, when he was outpitched by Jacob deGrom in Game 5 of the division series.
He joins the staff of Don Mattingly, who recently became the Marlins’ seventh manager since June 2010. The two figures are going to be almost impossible to overcome. He doesn’t worry about too much after that. Those two together and healthy for a full season give Arizona a formidable 1-2 punch that could make a difference. They take pressure off the other guys. Greinke is expected to get less than seven years from the Arizona Diamondbacks but a higher salary average per season than Price.
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Greinke has made at least 28 starts for eight consecutive seasons. While they missed out on Greinke, that might not be a bad thing, considering the cost and length of term that they would have had to dole out.
