For days, it’s been assumed that big-time free agent starter Zack Greinke was deciding between the Dodgers and Giants. They had the need, and, most importantly, they had the mega-cash.
Surely no other team could jump in late with enough pull to land him.
Surely not a team whose offer to Johnny Cueto topped out at six years and $120 million.
Um, wut:
Sources: Greinke in agreement with #DBacks, pending physical.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 5, 2015
greinke gets 6 yr dea with dbacks
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 5, 2015
I am floored.
The particulars are unfolding as I type, but the immediate ramifications here are significant. The Diamondbacks are now almost certainly out of the market for any other kind of significant addition – and it turns out that they must have had some serious ammo – and the Dodgers and Giants are now going to be scouring the pitching market (and outfield market for the Giants) with tons of cash left to spend.
For now, the Diamondbacks pulled off the coup. I can’t wait to hear how they did it. Must’ve been the new uniforms.
As for the baseball implications of this signing, you now have a young, already-intriguing D-Backs club with an ace at the front of the rotation, with Patrick Corbin coming back at full strength, and some interesting young arms. They could be very good next year.
Good thing the Cubs locked down John Lackey when they did, I suspect.
UPDATE: Looks like Greinke netted a new record AAV ($32.5 million), breaking the pitching record David Price set earlier this week ($31 million):
Zack Greinke receives about $195 million on six year deal from #Dbacks
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) December 5, 2015
UPDATE 2: Even more:
Sources: Greinke deal is six years, $206M. Deferrals expected.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 5, 2015
The deferrals could change the actual value of that $206 million significantly, though. So we’ll see how this ultimately breaks down – could be that Greinke gets to say he set a record, while the Diamondbacks get to pay him less in present-value money.