In a stunning series of events Friday, right-handed starting pitcher Zack Greinke agreed to terms with the Arizona Diamondbacks, according to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports.
The deal is for six years, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, and worth $195 million, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today. However, Rosenthal reported it's actually capped at $206 million overall.
Under either scenario, Greinke will surpass David Price, who joined the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday, with the highest per-year salary in baseball history at either $32.5 million or $34.3 million per year.
Greinke, this year's runner-up for the National League Cy Young Award, opted out of his contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers in November with three years and $71 million remaining in hopes of hauling in a longer-term deal.
He was arguably the best player in this year’s loaded free-agent market and was expected to sign with either the incumbent Dodgers or archrival San Francisco Giants before the D-backs made a late push Friday.
ESPN analyst Tim Kurkjian said on SportsCenter on Friday that Greinke’s addition immediately catapults the D-backs into contention in the highly competitive National League West:
They also are a pretty good club. This is without Zack Greinke. If you look at how they played last year—offensively, they were a very good team, defensively they were a very good team—but they needed a couple of pitchers. That was obvious.
And they got arguably the best pitcher on the market in Zack Greinke, who now goes to the top of the rotation and really puts the Diamondbacks in the middle of the West, given, of course, that the Dodgers and the Giants thought they had a real shot at Greinke.
ESPN Stats & Info showed how Greinke stacks up with the rest of his new team:
Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times, who covered Greinke over the past three-plus seasons during his time with the Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels, added to the argument that the D-backs had already been legitimate contenders without Greinke:
Jesse Spector of Sporting News added context to show how much Greinke's unprecedented deal will be worth to the star right-hander:
Jon Morosi of Fox Sports alluded to how surprising Friday’s signing was—particularly since few considered the D-backs to even be dark horses to sign Greinke:
Sports author Molly Knight called out the Dodgers front office for its failure to retain its top free agent—especially given the ongoing saga over its lucrative television-rights deal to broadcast games locally:
D-backs reliever Daniel Hudson relayed his excitement:
Greinke was expected to opt out of his deal after a remarkable season in which he went 19-3 with a 1.66 ERA—the majors’ lowest since Greg Maddux’s 1.63 in 1995.
By joining Arizona, he solidifies a rotation that, with the support of an upward-trending offense, should help the Diamondbacks become immediate contenders in the NL West.
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