In his seven seasons with the Nationals, he pitched 1094 innings, holding a 3.32 ERA/.583 W-L%/1.159 WHIP with 903 strikeouts and only issuing 221 walks. Greinke had a scoreless streak of 45 2-3 innings this summer.
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The Dodgers ultimately were outbid by about $50 million, by a team they did not suspect was deep into the bidding until Friday. Dependent on his performance in the next five years, what will his expectations be looking at a new contract. 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. The former Cy Young victor just turned 32, and he’ll be 37 when his 6-year, $206 million deal with the Diamondbacks expires. Arizona surprisingly joined the Greinke sweepstakes late in the process and were able to land him on a six-year mega-deal, as written here. Yet, the Dodgers media rights deal is worth five and a half times more.
Baseball teams can spend whatever they like, but the so-called “competitive balance tax” adds a tariff to payrolls above a certain level.
And just like that, the Dodgers take a dramatic step backward.
By all accounts, Greinke and his family liked Los Angeles.
That’s what one magazine says about Stephen Curry, who has been discovered by every form of media the world over and now exchanges jerseys on Instagram with Lionel Messi – get it: the planet’s two reigning sports stars. How they balance this more discerning approach with the typical bombast of managing the Dodgers pocketbook remains to be seen, but it looks like that means something different than unchecked purchasing. The Dodgers’ tax bill was $44 million last season.
Cliff Lee reportedly wants to pitch in 2016. While the other Dodgers starters combined for a 4.41 ERA last season – went 49-48 but 43-22 when Greinke or Kershaw started – but they will find another starter to fill the spot.
But Los Angeles was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs because the club failed to build around its two aces.
Arizona’s willingness to commit six years to Greinke appeared to be the difference in what had become a three-team race of the National League West opponents.
Greinke went 51-15 during his three years with the Dodgers. Hamels, a Southern California native, is owed $22.5 million per year through 2018, a relative bargain these days. According to oddsmakers from online sports book Mybookie.ag, the Diamondbacks have gone from 40/1 to 25/1 to win next year’s World Series. The Mariners are hoping to bring back Iwakuma and if the pitcher signs with another team, he will net the team a draft pick after declining their qualifying offer.
Of course, Greinke also is coming off the best season of run prevention by any major league pitcher in two decades. They’ve done it recently as well, and I really think we’re going to do it in the future. 500 in four years, reaching the postseason just once since 2007, are instant contenders once again, thanks to their game-changing local TV deal worth in excess of $2 billion.
That’s how the Dodgers and Giants must’ve felt when Zack Greinke wrote his own plot twist and agreed to terms with the Diamondbacks for a reported six years and 6 million. Losing Greinke would not be as devastating if the free agent market held viable alternatives.
“The Diamondbacks” big weakness this past season was their rotation, but Patrick Corbin made a strong return from Tommy John surgery in the second half of the season, Robbie Ray emerged as a viable mid-rotation starter and top prospect Archie Bradley ended the season on an upswing in Triple-A after an injury-riddled campaign.
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Mike Leake and Kenta Maeda are also on a long list of pitching candidates for the Dodgers.
