After 20 Major League seasons, Zack Grienke might not yet be ready to hang up his cleats, as the veteran right-hander has been working out at the Diamondbacks’ extended Spring Training camp. As Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic writes, this isn’t any indication of a contract between Greinke and the D’Backs, as the two sides are “not believed to have had discussions about a reunion.” Instead, the D’Backs have simply let Greinke work out at their facilities as a courtesy while he figures out the next step in his career.
That is, if there is a next step at all, since Greinke was non-committal about what these workouts exactly represent. “I don’t know if this will be my last time throwing or if I’ll throw the rest of the year and next year,” Greinke said. “I don’t really know at the moment….I’m just throwing, seeing how it works out and going from there.”
Greinke’s most recent two-season run in Kansas City had something of the feel of a coda on his excellent career, as Greinke returned to the franchise that drafted him sixth overall in 2002. Greinke’s first seven MLB seasons were spent in a Royals uniform, and highlighted with a tremendous 2009 season that saw him win the AL Cy Young Award. In between those two stints with the Royals, Greinke pitched for five other teams, and his 714 2/3 innings with the Diamondbacks from 2016-19 mark the most he has thrown for any organization outside of Kansas City.
His form from 2020-22 represented a step down from his front-of-the-rotation peak, but it wasn’t until last season at age 39 that Greinke finally had a sharp drop in performance. The righty posted a 5.06 ERA over 142 1/3 innings, and apart from a still-elite 3.9% walk rate, it seemed as though Greinke’s recent recipe of low velocity and low strikeout totals caught up to him.
According to reports during the offseason, Greinke finished the 2023 campaign considering retirement, but as of December was preparing to pitch again. However, Greinke told Piecoro that he had only started properly throwing two weeks ago and at the behest of his two sons, and indicated that it had been a while since he had done any winter prep work. “My arm feels decent at the moment. I was trying to get as good as I could at golfing the past two months, and I was like, ’Why am I trying to be a pro golfer when I’m already kind of a pro baseball player?’ So I figured I’d throw a little and see how it goes,” Greinke said.
Since the Greinke family once again lives in Arizona, the right-hander reconnected with the Diamondbacks when his sons (who are “nonstop right now” in their interest in baseball) had interest in taking part in baseball activities on a genuine Spring Training field. This has now snowballed into Greinke’s workouts, and a recent live batting practice session against four D’Backs players on injury rehab. Greinke faced each of Geraldo Perdomo, Alek Thomas, Jordan Lawlar and Jorge Barrosa twice during the eight at-bat session, leaving the opponents impressed.
“I told one of the guys I think he could still pitch in the majors….For his change-up to look like that in his first live BP, just imagine when he gets into a rhythm and is ready,” Perdomo said.
It seems like there’s still a ways to go before Greinke is fully set on pursuing a return, let alone signing a contract and getting properly ramped up to the point that he can again pitch in a Major League game. “Because it’s still early” in the process, Greinke said he hasn’t talked to his agent about exploring deals with teams. On paper, the Diamondbacks would seem a logical candidate based on familiarity and comfort alone, plus Greinke would add a lot of veteran experience to a rotation that has lost Eduardo Rodriguez and Merrill Kelly to the 60-day IL. Another return to Kansas City shouldn’t be ruled out, even through starting pitching has been a strength for the Royals in their sudden surge into contention.
Trojan Toss
Hall of good, maybe hall of very good. Definitely not a Hall of Famer. Carlos was right, grienke threw at him but couldn’t take the heat coming back to him like the coward he is. Then again, a little boy like zack greinke had *zero* chance against Carlos.
PS any team interested in a pitcher: the best pitcher in the world is pitching in Mexico and is available for league minimum.
For Love of the Game
Give the man his props. He was excellent for quite a while and posted solid numbers throughout his career. However, Father Time caught up with him. But your are right that he isn’t HOF worthy.
SODOMOJO
If you guys take all the pitchers in the hall of fame and order their war top to bottom, he would have the 25th highest war of all pitchers (77.5), right above Tom Glavine (73.94).
For the record, I don’t believe this automatically gets him in, nor do I feel strongly either way. Just chattin with you guys
LordD99
How dare you attempt “just chattin.”
highflyballintorightfield
He married a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, too. This does not affect his HOF status, and she might be as crazy as he is, but more props to him all the same.
mlb fan
“He married a Dallas Cowboys”…You’re right that that doesn’t affect his HOF status, but it also suggests he’s no fool either. Chick’s dig elite Major Leaguers.
This one belongs to the Reds
I doubt anyone is interested in Greg Maddux at his age.
PaulyMidwest
I like the guy in Mexico too but he is blackballed so it will never happen and best pitcher in the world is a stretch.
mlb fan
“But he is blackballed”…When people and teams conclude that your more trouble than your worth, that’s not exactly the definition of “blackballed”. It’s more like karma and bad decisions catching up with you, although I personally feel that Trevor Bauer likely violated no laws. Just judgement bad enough to make him toxic to businesses that rely on the good will of the general public.
DarkSide830
Um, of course he’s a HoFer. Duh.
mlb fan
“Of course he’s a Hofer”…I’ve heard a lot of people suggest that Joey Votto is a Hofer and I feel Grienke was better at his job than Votto ever was. I also feel that Clayton Kershaw & Jake Arrieta won Cy Youngs that rightfully should have gone to Zack Grenkie. For whatever it’s worth, I feel Grienke is a Hofer although probably not first ballot.
DarkSide830
Both Greinke and Votto should be IMO, but I do believe Greinke is more likely to make it.
dirtyjog
Lol you really love he who shall not be named, huh?
I think he prob does make it into the hall eventually. Over his 11-year peak: 170+ wins, 3.08 ERA, 2200+ innings, 2100+ Ks. Given the past few years, easy to forget how dominant he was, especially with the Dodgers
LordD99
Be he the Hall of Very Good or Great, I see little chance Greinke won’t make the HOF eventually.
cpdpoet
….downvote….again….
SalaryCapMyth
That first sentence you said about Verlander and now it seems you replaced that name with Greinke. I think you’re trying to pick fights.
SODOMOJO
That’s what, 50% of the online community these days?
“I’m mad all the time, so let me go take it out on a baseball chat board”
SalaryCapMyth
That is true! It gets really old. When people can’t be held accountable, they become very obnoxious. Of course, on the other hand 6 out of 5 posters that behave this way will tell you they would say everything they say online too your face.
MLB Top 100 Commenter
Trojan:
Shota, Ranger Suarez and Skenes are NOT pitching in Mexico.
PaulyMidwest
Neither is Roki Sasaki. All of them are better than Bauer. He wasn’t even the best on his team when he pitched in Japan..Shota was.
ellisd19830
Wouldn’t suprise me if he got dropped of hitch hiker style like the wild thing…. then asked if it was OK just to pitch for free.
dannysbigboi
Zack Grienke is a hall of famer. I know WAR is not indicative of hall of fame but Grineke has a 77 war. Higher WAR than John Smoltz who is 69 WAR and pretty darn close to Tom Glavine, at 80 WAR. ZackAttack is a HOF.
Eighty Raw
He’s clearly a HOFer, he moved toward Quentin, and Quentin, at full speed, barely moved Greinke.
blueboy714
I suspect the Brewers would love a reunion with him. He would be able to eat up some innings.
Johnny utah
Greinke is borderline HOF
What do you think
GareBear
77+ career WAR, a Cy Young, 4 other top 10 finished in Cy Young including a second place finish that he arguably should have won, longevity and very close to 3k strikeouts. I think he makes it pretty easily even if not on the first ballot.
Ted
He’s in.
Johnny utah
Compared to modern day SP his #s are excellent.
225 wins, jeez once he, verlander & max retire we might not see 200 W ever again forget about 300. But grienke never had a dominant stretch. He had a few great seasons peppered around a bunch of “good solid” ones. Never won a WS. Probly should have won 2nd cy young but losing to arrieta made sense. He’ll get into the HOF but It’ll take 5 or 6 ballots
C Yards Jeff
IMO, age didn’t trip him up last year, it was that crap pitch clock thing. He reminds me of Maddox. A beautiful baseball mind. Well aware of hitter tendencies, he like Greg, had a strategy against each hitter which includes varying time in between pitches.
Last year I saw an old school baseball pitcher that took longer than most to adjust to the clock, but he eventually did. He’s definitely pitching this year. The man wants a ring. He’ll choose the team he thinks will get him there. Plus 3000k club a given.
And, IMO, easily destined for the HOF regardless of if he plays again. What career.
Johnny utah
Ye grienke always took his time on the mound lol
Wasnt there that 1 video a few yrs ago when he took like 10 mins or something before a pitch
sad tormented neglected mariners fan
I think greinke will get in kind of like beltre (who I thought wasn’t HOF worthy) where he hasn’t won many individual honors and rings but gets in because of seasons and WAR
Philly J
Never had a dominant stretch? He had 2 separate 8 year stretches with a sub 3.25era and a 660 plus win percentage. Not sure how much more dominant you’d want someone to be.
Johnny utah
lol @ philly j
way to skew the #s
in his entire 20 yr career, greinke only had 5 seasons of a sub-3 era, but had 7 seasons of an era over 4. his career win % is .590. postseason era is over 4, & win % .400
there’s nothing dominant about greinke. never was. never will be. no matter how you try to skew the #s, and say in a 9 month stretch he did this or in a 2 1/2 year stretch he did that. his overall #s are BORDERLINE hof like i said in the beginning
runningwithnailclippers
I am trying to udnerstand why anyone would see him as a borderline HOF. I get your view but his combined stats over the years he has pitched can only make him a HOF’r. Does he get in on the first ballot, maybe not. Yet, there is some who will argue he does just that.
If he had pitched his entire career for the Yanks or any other bandwagon team, there would be no question. It may be seen that his going through so many teams makes lowers his odds.
Johnny utah
He developed a reputation as hard to deal with
I think thats why tms shuffled him around. His best yrs were probly with LAD but he chased $ in AZ if im not mistaken & had some of his worst yrs there
I think the bar is getting lower & lower tho
30-40 yrs ago greinke would have been an average SP
1st ballot HOFers are maddux pedro & johnson. Greinke’s nowhere near them
C Yards Jeff
Hmmm. Shuffled around? I don’t think so. If anything, he was in demand. And his behavioral health challenge was well documented early in his career. In between Royals stints, he played for GMs of contenders. He wasn’t hustled around the league to eat innings for bottom dwellers.
Johnny utah
He played for 6 different teams and was traded 3 different times. That is the websters dictionary definition of shuffled around
Johnny utah
behavioral health challenge ? Is that woke speak for antisocial weirdo?
C Yards Jeff
Young fella. Apologies if I ruffled your feathers. Not my intention. Cheers!
I think in MLB they use a similar term called “mental awareness” challenge. FYI. Mental awareness staffing is common place in professional sports. If not every team in MLB has such staffing almost all 30 do.
sad tormented neglected mariners fan
The bar for the HOF has been lowered, Helton had 5 mvp seasons in coors, Mauer was going to the HOF but would have gotten the don mattingly treatment if this was 20 years ago because he didn’t have enough prime seasons
Nowadays if Charlie hough played he would have gotten in just because of the 3000+ innings
Johnny utah
@jeff
Its all good!
Shawn W.
He dominated for 3-5 years (?) and started All Star Games.
So if that gets you in the Hall of Fame, then he’s a Hall of Famer.
If it doesn’t, then he’s not a Hall of Famer.
LambchoP
Twins need SP depth lol….
PaulyMidwest
I hope he makes it back. He is close to some milestones.
Americanentropy
C’mon friedman, pick him up and put him in the pen, like you do with so many others.
Longtimecoming
I think he could be a valuable pen addition. If he still has the old Grienke for 20 pitches every other night, that could help a lot teams get to their closer.
I’d bet he wouldn’t go for that option though.
I wouldn’t want him eating up a spot for a young developing arm (for the teams that have that guy) but if your team is throwing out has beens they never were to start with, I’d say give him a shot. At least he is a has been that was once elite for a number of years.
Americanentropy
Halos could do worse than sign him. They clearly don’t have enough young arms to develop.
MLB Top 100 Commenter
Hudler
Why would Friedman help Greinke get to 3000 ahead of Clayton?
YankeesBleacherCreature
As his family lives in AZ, he’s signing with the DBacks if he successfully makes a MLB comeback.
PutPeteinthehall
The extra rest will help him. He’s probably got 15 starts left in his arm at five innings each. Good for a team needing a fifth starter.
NYCityRiddler
Greinke is destined for the enchanted kingdom & the sooner he gets there the better off everybody will be. Ahahaha!
Johnny utah
Wait who bashes aerosmith?
Karensjer
Good riddance! Nobody seems to remember him going bonkers on Pat Neshek when Pat simply asked him for an autograph. It’s commonplace for MLB players to ask other MLB players for autographs and most of them have no problem, but Greinke just want bat s___ crazy on Neshek. Greinke has always come off to me as Bauer 2.0 (or maybe Bauer is Greinke 2.0), just because while he hasn’t had the bedroom exploits of Bauer, they both aren’t stable and will go chirp to whichever media outlet will listen to them, and they are both hotheads.
sad tormented neglected mariners fan
I never thought greinke was nice, like schilling but quieter (they both had similar careers) but greinke has social anxiety disorder which could explain why he is a different breed of cat
runningwithnailclippers
Greinke dealt with mental health issues and was a succesful MLB pitcher. Teams knew this and so did other players. The fans even knew it. He wasn’t a hothead as in he was dealing with issues that he couldn’t control like anxiety and depression.
farscott
Zack Grienke has had a great career. No doubt about it. A Cy Young, two ERA titles, Silver Slugger, and All-Star. I just do not know about the Hall of Fame. Great pitcher, but HOF is something else, something more.
The numbers are there, but the performance on the brightest stages is not.. He was on two teams that made it to the WS, but neither team won. He pitched well, but the performances are not ones people use as examples of greatness.
Not sure he makes it on writer’s ballots.
BigFred
Six Gold Gloves too.
mlb fan
“Not sure he makes it on writer’s ballot”…Grienke was never a media favorite(I believe he was diagnosed with social anxiety disorder)and some writers felt he was uncooperative, moody and surly. This will hurt him, but I think his sterling resume eventually gets him in the HOF.
YankeesBleacherCreature
He’s in by both fWAR and bWAR and then taking into account the modern standards for the HOF. It may take him two ballot years depending on his competition and barring any scandals.
Eighty Raw
“but the performance on the brightest stages is not.”
What do you call Game 7 of the World Series?
wanderslust
Pitch out of the bullpen for some anonymous team? There’s no way. This is a guy who will either pitch as a starter for a specific team for personal reasons, or he won’t have the opportunity. He’s not returning to fill a roster spot for any team needing middle relief so he can just be in the league.
gbs42
There no B-Ref link at the start of the article because his last name is spelled incorrectly.
JayRyder
HOF for sure. I would agree with some that he doesn’t have that Ace first ballot feel to his career. But the numbers are extraordinary for the time period he pitched in. And 225 career wins I believe. Success with three different teams. While having success at different points in his career. Regular season hall of fame. Postseason ? I don’t remember much from him there. Shilling is his most comparable player according the baseball reference. He should be in too, better postseason stats.
mazbilleroski
The dude had Pittsburgh Pirates written all over him
baked mcbride
The Baseball Hall of Fame needs a weirdo like Zack. Love the dude! Give Zack a chance!
This one belongs to the Reds
All he is saying, is give Zack a chance.
Ghost Pepper
His Eephus gets him in!
pharmor_loverchicagoridge
Breaking news. You heard it here first baseball fans. The whitesox (or bust out ex players of the royals) just announced that they are about to employ Zach as a hotdog vendor by the right field foul poll. Yes it’s tru as I just heard it at Dunkin on halsted st. Wow that is so cool