The Diamondbacks are pursuing Zack Greinke, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets. Two other NL West teams, the Giants and Dodgers, had been widely reported to be the top two contenders for Greinke, but it appears another team has entered the fray.
This offseason, the Diamondbacks have shown interest in a variety of starters, including Johnny Cueto, Kenta Maeda, Mike Leake and Shelby Miller, but it’s a bit surprising to hear that they’re a possible contender for an up-market option like Greinke. Obviously, Greinke won’t be cheap — MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently predicted he’d get a six-year, $189MM deal. That total would be almost three times more expensive the Diamondbacks’ largest-ever contract (Yasmany Tomas’ $68.5MM deal, signed last November), and the team has recently expressed skepticism about long contracts for pitchers. They did, however, reportedly offer Cueto a six-year deal worth $120MM. Also, the Los Angeles News Group’s J.P. Hoornstra tweets that the team does have the money to sign Greinke.
ImDaBaron
Well…that’s certainly unexpected
BlueSkyLA
Improbable, more like.
its_millertime
LOL
The Oregonian
Wow! Gotta say, I’m kind of rooting for them to surprise people here, and I’m a Giants fan.
wilymo
i’m not rooting for that, and i’m a dodger fan
wilymo
unrelated to greinke, it’s interesting how the common terms used are “giants fan”, plural, and “dodger fan”, singular.
i guess because using “giant fan” would make you sound like an enthusiastic, or just physically large, fan of an unspecified thing. where on the other hand “dodgers fan”… is just wrong, somehow
smelliott00
Wth bro
wilymo
i take it you don’t agree, smelliott
bobbleheadguru
How does that work for the Red Sox and the White Sox?
wilymo
makes it easier, really. all just sox fans
jleve618
Typical Dodger fan.
wilymo
am i? dodger fans must be pretty awesome then
wilymo
to be clear, the fact that i’m not rooting for a division rival to sign one of my favorite players from the team i’m a fan of makes me a “typical dodger fan”… you can maybe see why i’m having a hard time taking this as an insult, because it’s extremely normal
wants to be a GM
I agree. I love that the low payroll team comes out of nowhere to try and take away one of the best free agents from two huge payroll teams-I also love the fact that the competitiveness for Greinke rises because they are all in the same division.
Cletis
I hope the D’backs do sign him!!! Just goes to show, everything is not just cut and dried!! Ha!
willreily
If they low-balled Cueto, it’s hard to see them being able to afford 30+ MM annually for him.
ImDaBaron
That’s what’s so interesting. Owner says it’s hard to give out 6 year deals. They had an offer declined by Cueto.
willreily
Don’t get me wrong, they may have the ability to contend this year for at least a Wild Card spot, but to go all in and spend 25% of your payroll on one player when you aren’t a guaranteed contender? A bit risky.
ImDaBaron
Depending on where their offer is this may drive up his price even more for the Dodgers and Giants. That’s probably not making them happy.
willreily
Good point. That’s what some people thought the Giants were doing to the Dodgers. What’ll be interesting is if this drags out into the winter meetings, and a team like the Cardinals or Nationals get involved. It could get out of control.
McGlynn
I think they have a legitimate chance at winning a wildcard spot or even the division if they land greinke. They were only a little below .500 last year, and their core is so young that they can only get better
chesteraarthur
SF, LA, Cubs, Bucs, Cards, Mets, Nats…I’m not sure how sold I am for them to be a wc team
ryeandi
D-backs have $40MM+ to spend and things open up more next season. I hated the low-ball Cueto offer and hope this one is for real.
ImDaBaron
I almost forgot but didnt they just sign a 1 billion dollar TV deal recently?
ryeandi
Near $100MM is allocated for payroll this season. They have roughly $60MM committed using MLBTR arb predictions. They need this.
seamaholic 2
They’ve got several players a few years from FA who are absolutely core members of the team. You can’t just look at one year’s payroll when you’re offering five or six years to a guy. Having 30% of your payroll wrapped up in one guy (45% with two guys) just doesn’t work.
YourDaddy
How is 6 years $120 million a low ball offer? Its higher than most, including this site, expected him get this offseason.
Joe Covert
I don’t think the “low-balled” Cueto at all. He’s not worth what they supposedly offered.
Michael Macaulay-Birks
They’re playing keep away and driving up the price just like Yankees and Red Sox have been doing for 50 years
RLTKC
Wow
jakesaub
That’s cute.
MeowMeow
Welp.
lrhibbs
Bet you feel stupid now….
wilymo
i can’t see greinke signing up for those new uniforms
Niekro
Simply driving up the cost for 2 division rivals?
Bringbacktheblue
Yes. I love it.
seamaholic 2
Dbacks aren’t doing the driving. Greinke’s agent is. Sounds like one of the big boys has backed off and they’re trying to extract a few more cents from the other one before signing with them.
Philliesfan4life
this shook things up a bit, the dbacks could use an ace, I think thats what greinke wants , he wants to be the ace not a co-ace anymore
alex navarrette
He just wants money bro.
Philliesfan4life
If the dbacks snag him away from both the giants and dodgers then I think the whole nl west will shift in different directions
Anonymous 6
Ha that’s a good one.
ssimplisticness
serious interest? just driving up the price? maybe alterior motives regarding other possible available starting pitchers?
Philliesfan4life
Greinke wants to be the ace of the staff imo , he no longer wants to be in that co-ace roll, the dbacks have a nice young line up and a pretty young rotation.
ryeandi
D-backs are going to take him to that world series that the dodgers could never deliver…Slue of down-voting coming in 10…9…
Philliesfan4life
Giants could take him to the world series too, which is why I don’t think the dodgers bring him back
drewm
I really doubt they match the money.
drewm
And I was wrong. Oh well, good talent goes to a bad organization.
A'sfaninUK
Dodgers are not going to be outbid, and driving up the price doesn’t mean anything to the richest team in baseball. Empty gesture here by AZ.
Philliesfan4life
I don’t think greinke wants to be a co-ace anymore, I think he wants to be the lead dog of the rotation, thats where he would fit perfect with the d-backs
wilymo
you are completely making that up, though
BlueSkyLA
Making things up is the new knowing.
A'sfaninUK
Maybe he is Greinke???
A'sfaninUK
Are you him? No? Then please don’t write down stuff you make up in your head.
A'sfaninUK
Ok I was totally wrong on this. Owning up to it. Baseball is really unpredictable!
brandonmarin
Possibly just driving up the price for the rivals.
TheMichigan
Ohh I hope the Diamondbacks get in here considering Ceuto wasn’t so good I hope they get Greinke since he is probably above Cueto
51giantsfan
IMHO, The Giants need to cut bait now with Greinke and move-on with other pitchers while the gettin is still good. Let Arizona and LA drive each other up $ wise, while the Giants pick up a couple of decent caliber pitchers, thus leaving less on the board for the loser, to to pick from….
beyou02215
That would be cool if the D-Backs stole away Greinke from both the Dodgers and the Giants. But, I have to think it is a long shot still.
forum199
Good, let the D’Backs have Greinke so the Dodgers can sign Heyward and trade Puig for someone like Salazar. I’d rather give the 200M to the 26 year old versus the 32 year old.
pustule bosey
why is it that in the last couple of days that I have the sinking feeling that our Giants will do a great job of coming in 2nd on a bunch of free agents again and will end up with blackburn, stratton or someone else from the minors (or all of the above) on the opening day roster instead of price, greinke, zimmerman, cueto – or even samardzija as was thought a week ago
puigpower
The only way this happens is with a 10-year deal.
scottaz
D’Backs are winners, simply by announcing their intent and having all this reaction…whether or not they sign Greinke.
BlueSkyLA
Something was announced?
seamaholic 2
Yoo hoo, Dave Stewart … you don’t HAVE to call Rosenthal after every phone call to keep him in the loop. Especially when you have no prayer of landing the player and you’re just being used to increase his leverage.
legit1213
I almost literally LOL’d upon reading this.
MaineBaseball
Are you LOLing now?
ChicagOs
Greinke is best as a second fiddle. LAD
Logjammer D"Baggagecling
He wants to win. The dbacks are 4-5 years from winning anything. They should honestly trade Goldschmit right now. Boston needs a 1B. Goldy for mookie Betts.
lrhibbs
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
start_wearing_purple
The speed at which the Diamondbacks would say no to that offer would shatter records.
markmc1235
I’m a huge dbacks fan and even I scoffed at this one. Hope it’s true though. I think they should offer cueto 6/ 145 if they truly wanna land one of these top tier starters.
BlueSkyLA
Wasn’t Grienke supposed to be deciding within 48 hours about 72 hours ago?
wilymo
i think it actually was about 48 hours ago, it just seems like longer because we all keep reloading this website every 45 seconds like the lab rats we are
petefrompp
Cool move by the D’bags
Tie up the negotiations, both the Giants Dodgers wait on Greinke
All the 2nd tier arms sign- D’bags fold and leave the poker game
and most likely Giants are left holding squat – Dodgers overpay for Greinke and the D’bags get a leg up in the west
start_wearing_purple
Grienke already owed the Red Sox and Price a thank you card for driving up his own price tag. Now he needs to add the Diamondbacks to the list.
22Leo
The Dbacks aren’t going to drive anything up. You think the Giants and Dodgers are thinking the Dbacks are going to outbid them? That’s laughable.
start_wearing_purple
I think even a token offer would force either the Giants or Dodgers to blink and offer a few million more to ensure they win the bidding.
22Leo
I doubt it. Not from a team like the Dbacks. This absolutely sounds like the media trying to stir the pot in order to maintain the public’s attention.
22Leo
Lol I should have waited a couple minutes. It’s being reported they are going to sign him.
22Leo
This basically sounds like rumor for rumor’s sake. It’s funny that some people think Greinke going to the Dbacks is a serious possibility, but that is why these ridiculous rumors get blown out of proportion by the media. Many people will believe anything.
MaineBaseball
Your posts are pretty awesome now haha
provguard
Some one “playing” Rosenthal to drive up the prices…
22Leo
The media hasn’t had anything new to report on Greinke for a couple days, so may as well pretend the Dbacks are serious contenders to sign Greinke. It’s more likely that someone in the Dbacks organization said they would be interested in Greinke, (what team wouldn’t, if they could afford him), and the media ran with it.
22Leo
Never mind what I just said lol. It’s being reported the Dbacks are going to sign him.
start_wearing_purple
Your posts will officially live in infamy.
ThorsHammer34
Spending $70mm more on Grienke as opposed to the offer they made to Cueto makes a ton of sense for the Snakes. Grienke is better by even more than that figure. Now go get Chapman!!
scottaz
Go D’backs!