By Jon Weisman
Zack Greinke has agreed to terms with the Arizona Diamondbacks on a six-year contract, according to multiple news reports, including MLB.com.
What is official is that Greinke’s three-year run with the Dodgers has come to an end.
Statement from Dodger president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman on Zack Greinke: pic.twitter.com/edegqWjc2R
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) December 5, 2015
Greinke, who turned 32 in October, pitched 602 2/3 innings as a Dodger with a 2.30 ERA (156 ERA+) — best in Dodger history for pitchers with at least 500 innings — culminating in his 1.66 ERA in 2015, the lowest by a Dodger in 99 years. Greinke also had a .300 on-base percentage at the plate and won two consecutive Gold Gloves.
It’s practically impossible to have been a Dodger fan and not loved Greinke. But it is completely possible to move forward, and that’s what the Dodgers will do.
Mario Olvera
looks like a case of take the money and run, too bad there’s no loyalty to a team anymore, what a shame
Larry Barker
F’ the Dodgers new Management for letting him go!!! Idiots!
Michael Green
It’s worth noting that on this, the best and smartest Dodger blog, we have one commenter attacking Greinke and one attacking management. Both are right.
Greinke once said he wanted to play for a contending team near a beach. Maybe he believed the George Strait song, “Ocean Front Property in Arizona.” But given the money he has made, once the offers hit the stratosphere, what ultimately matters is your own happiness. Maybe Greinke felt he would be happier with a team that seems less likely to contend but that will pay him more money. Maybe the rumors are true that he wanted to be away from Puig. If so, part of me hopes the Dodgers now trade Puig to Arizona.
Management didn’t want to go, it’s being reported, for the sixth year. After eating the salaries of Matt Kemp and several others, and making no compromises–and we know they aren’t, granting the evils of the corporation with whom they are dealing–to get the games on TV for the fans, they are going to get chintzy about that? Further, Joe Posnanski today had a great article about the Koufax-Drysdale holdout of 1966 and how fundamentally and deeply management has, throughout baseball history, cheated its ballplayers. For Greinke to get all he could, well, I say, good for him.
Will the front office make up for it? Their off-season deals last time suggest they are quite capable of making big trades that do some good. Their mid-season deal suggests they are clueless. In other words, as The Vin would say, it’s the Dodgers.
Kenneth Ofgang (@ofgang)
For that kind of money he can buy a beach.
tumbler43
The player’s job is to get the best deal for his family; not to show “loyalty” which by the way is never reciprocated by a team nor should it be. I wish it were not so, but it is. The Dodgers traded Jackie Robinson to the Giants, OK? It’s a business.
Management’s job is to utilize its resources to put together the best team possible with the resources at hand. The current Dodger brass are like the team of All-Stars who look good on paper but just can’t get it done on the field. With more money than any team in baseball, they have ONE reliable starting pitcher — inherited from the previous front office. In fact, basically every good player on the team was inherited from the previous regime, which had far fewer resources.
I don’t get this constant dribble drabbie dealing for guys with a history of injuries who at best at #4 or #5 starters, if they stay healthy which they usually don’t. . Of all the disappointments since the last Dodger World Series, this Front Office’s constant shopping for value from the discard pile and coming up empty handed is the most disappointing thing I’ve seen.
I’d like to hear Magic apply the same standards to the Dodgers who have no salary cap or financial limitations as he does to the Lakers who are in a system designed to prevent the Lakers from doing business the way they did in the Dr. Buss days.
Dan Estrada
Didn’t realize he’d turned 32 this PAST October. This contract means he’ll be 39(!) at the end of it – truly a VERY risky proposition. No way to know if it was the extra year, the dollars or avoiding Puig but does he REALLY think this team will be as much a perennial post season contender as the Dodgers will be?
I hope he likes going into the Hall someday as a snake!
Now, onto using that $200MM for multiple players!
Jon Weisman
He’ll be 38.
Dan Estrada
PS: Being angry with this ownership or front office make no sense at all.
throwdeuce
I’ll respectfully disagree. No one else to be angry with for this.
Dan Estrada
I think if we feel we HAVE to be “angry” then be angry with Zack! He waved off the Brinks truck we drove to his house. It didn’t/doesn’t mean as much to him as we would hoped to be part of a legendary team, a perennial contender with near unlimited money to stay competitive in contrast to looking out for his own wealth in the short term AND his legacy longer term. It’s not like he wasn’t going to be uber rich with any of the 3 teams (that we know of) who wanted him.
Ok, fine. Go enjoy being with a 2nd tier (3rd?) perennial NON-contending team.
throwdeuce
To say the least I’m disappointed. Long term it appears letting him go is the right move, but after 27 years of not even a pennant, I only care about next year not 3, 4 etc. years from now. If the Dodgers win next year, then short term it was a good move as well, we will see what and how the money saved is allocated. The only pitcher they could get at this point that would be Greinkeish is Fernandez, and he’ll cost Urias, DeLeon, and Cotton to get. None of the remaining FA pitchers combined would be better than having Greinke behind Kershaw, with Anderson, Wood, Ryu, Bolsinger, Frias, Weiland, or Lee in the back end.
Long term maybe Urias, DeLeon, Cotton, and Holmes with Kershaw will be awesome, but that is 3 years away.
I’ll be a Dodger fan until I die, but today is not a happy one. I’m mad at ownership, and the Front Office, and whatever unknown reasons that caused this too happen and their weak excuses. I wish to tell them to go have sex with themselves.
pigstown
Too much money over too long of a time. 2020 and 2021 seasons may be tough for Dbacks
oldbrooklynfan
This is terrible, I’m shocked. I can’t believe the Dodgers couldn’t give him what he wanted. Now I’d be surprised if the Dodgers made it back to the postseason.
throwdeuce
OBF, I wouldn’t say the couldn’t, but wouldn’t. Pretty clear now they won’t ever give a big contract to someone who will turn 37 or older in that contract. That philosophy I understand. But the short term ramavications are something I doubt they can recover from.
Jack Rosenberg
Isn’t Latos available again?
oldbrooklynfan
The question is now what’ll they do with the money they saved.