According to Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports, the top free agent pitcher on the market will finally have a new home. Zack Greinke is reportedly close to signing a six year 145 million dollar contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Greinke, 28, put up a 15-5 record with a 3.48 ERA, and recorded 200 strike outs between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Angels. He also won a Cy Young in 2009 with the Kansas City Royals
The Dodgers now have the biggest payroll in the NL and will become the first NL team to boast a payroll of 200 million. They also may not even be done yet. The Dodgers main goal was to find two starting pitchers to fill out their starting staff.
Greinke will join a rotation that features another former Cy Young winner and arguably the NL’s best pitcher, Clayton Kershaw, while Chris Capuano, Aaron Harang, and Chad Billingsley round out the rest of the staff at the current time.
The Dodgers are clearly going all in. If trading for Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, and Carl Crawford wasn’t any indication, going after Greinke to bolster their starting staff is definitely a step in the right direction. This is especially the case if the Dodgers plan to take the NL West crown from the reigning World Series champions San Francisco Giants.
Weird fact: With the addition of Greinke, the Dodgers payroll is five times more than the entire Houston Astros.
