After days of speculation and restless waiting, Zack Greinke has finally made up his frigging mind. Despite the Rangers making a hard push to sign the free agent starter, it was the Dodgers who came out on top in the end. (Who else but the team with bottomless wallets?)
I honestly saw this coming all along. Despite Ned Colletti and co. telling everyone they were 'pessimistic' about their chances of landing Greinke, they knew all along that they were going to land him.
So, six years and $147M with an AAV of $24.5M. Holy hell is that a lot of money. This can only mean one thing. The Dodgers wanted the most overrated pitcher on the market to head their rotation of Clayton Kershaw, Texas Tough Guy Beckett, Chad Billingsley, Ted 'Holy Crap That's a High ERA' Lilly, Chris Capuano who has only one season in which he finished with a winning record, and possibly even Aaron Harang who has only four seasons with a winning record in his 11 year career. The Dodgers really are overrated. Kershaw is their only reliable pitcher.
Greinke is being paid like a stud pitcher, except there's just one problem with that. He's really not that good. In his nine year career, Greinke has one season with an ERA under 3.44. He had a 2.16 ERA in 2009 with Kansas City, the year he won the Cy Young Award, but hasn't done anything else to justify this kind of payday.
This contract means that the Rangers are going to be desperate, and Anibal Sanchez and Kyle Lohse are going to get absolutely PAID. No doubt about it. This also means that if the Rangers get Sanchez or Lohse but can't get Justin Upton, the Red Sox are in a position to really get a haul from Texas for Jacoby Ellsbury.
I've also come up with a Jacoby Ellsbury trade. In order to facilitate it, a third team was involved in the deal. The Red Sox, Rangers, and San Francisco Giants would all exhcnage players in a deal that would center around Jacoby Ellsbury.
San Francisco Receives: OF Ryan Kalish (via BOS), 1B/3B Mike Olt (via TX), OF Brandon Jacobs (via BOS), SS Luis Sardinas (via TX)
Texas Receives: OF Jacoby Ellsbury (via BOS), RHP Anthony Ranaudo (via BOS), 1B Ricky Oropesa (via SF)
Boston Receives: LHP Matt Harrison (via TX), RHP Kyle Crick (via SF), RHP Cody Buckel (via TX), RHP Wilmer Font (via TX)
My reasoning behind this trade? Boston improves the team for the long run while also freeing up space to help contend in 2013, acquires solid prospects to help stock the farm again after the Gonzalez/SD trade, and acquires Matt Harrison to help solidify the rotation for the coming season. Texas gets a top outfielder, a position they seem to really covet, frees up a rotation slot for Sanchez or Lohse, and doesn't have to trade Elvis Andrus or Jurickson Profar. San Francisco gets solid prospects in exchange for basically prospects, gets a top corner infield prospect in Mike Olt, and gets an outfielder who would likely benefit from a change of scenery in Ryan Kalish. This is all while keeping all three teams in contention, as nobody is totally blowing it up.
Really not that bad, now is it?
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