Free-agent pitcher Zack Greinke agreed to a deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks Friday night. Greinke’s average annual value on this deal, $34.3 million, is the highest in Major League Baseball.
Advertisement
Greinke, 32, is coming off arguably the best year of his 12-year career.
Greinke’s ERA was the lowest in the majors since Greg Maddux had a 1.63 ERA in 1995. Turner, 24, (Westminster), spent most of last season on the Chicago Cubs’ disabled list (elbow).
Though he had some elbow soreness, the only time he went on the disabled list in his three seasons with the Dodgers was when he broke his collarbone in a brawl with the ‘ in his third start in 2013. Earlier in the week, the Detroit Tigers made official their five-year, $110 million contract with Zimmermann. But the Dodgers could certainly afford it: they’re pulling down an average of $334 million a year in TV revenue alone, even if the actual TV deal has turned out to be a nightmare.
Bonds joins the staff of new Manager Don Mattingly, who was sacked by the Los Angeles Dodgers despite winning three consecutive division titles. To compensate, the Giants signed Jeff Samardzija to a five-year deal worth million, according to Yahoo’s Tim Brown. They should be in the big leagues by then. No matter. The Dodgers, with their $300 million payroll, could have kept Greinke had they wanted to. However, he was always overshadowed by Clayton Kershaw in Los Angeles. Those close to Greinke said his wife, Emily, who gave birth to their first child this summer, wanted to stay. The Dodgers had the fish on their line, and they threw it back in, hoping it would swim back. 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. Maybe he just didn’t want to pitch to Paul Goldschmidt anymore.
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. That they bested the Dodgers and Giants for the 2015 Cy Young Award runner-up qualifies as one of the biggest free-agent upsets ever.
But Los Angeles was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs because the club failed to build around its two aces.
The Dodgers’ front-office team of Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi made a decision to go all practical on Greinke. They had a 15-win improvement in 2015: They had 64 wins in 2014 and 79 wins previous year. Hamels, a Southern California native, is owed $22.5 million per year through 2018, a relative bargain these days. Greinke’s ERA over his three years with the Dodgers: 2.30, bested only by Kershaw’s in that same period.
Greinke will be part of a rotation that includes former All-Star Patrick Corbin and will play in front of one of the best defenses in baseball. And yet it’s a lot to ask the soon-to-be 28 year old to continue pitching at this level when we know the disgusting things throwing a baseball does to an arm.
Advertisement
But right now the Dodgers have a rotation of Kershaw and couple of guys.
