Zack Greinke is on his way to the Angels and the ripple effects of this big move are reverberating throughout baseball. Here is some of the early reaction to the big deal and how it will impact other clubs as we approach the trade deadline…
- Los Angeles paid a "significant" price for Greinke, especially given that he's only under contract through the rest of this season, writes ESPN's Keith Law (Insider subscription required). As for the minor league package going to Milwaukee, "it's only marginally less than the Brewers initially gave up for two years of Greinke, but has a lot more risk, as all three of the prospects involved have fairly low floors," says Law.
- The Angels "must be thrilled" over acquiring Greinke without having to deal Peter Bourjos or Garrett Richards, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.
- The Greinke trade could it for the Angels' deadline moves. "This in all likelihood will be all we do," GM Jerry Dipoto tells Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times (Twitter link).
- Dipoto also told DiGiovanna that he hasn't discussed an extension yet with Greinke, who can be a free agent after this season. An AL executive tells Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link) that the Angels must have gotten "at least [an] inkling from [the] Greinke camp he can be re-signed" or else they wouldn't have made the deal.
- Greinke told reporters (including Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) that he enjoyed his time in Milwaukee and would be open to returning if the Brewers pursued him in free agency. The right-hander described his choice to not sign an extension with the Brewers as "a business decision."
- Brewers GM Doug Melvin told reporters (including Haudricourt) that he "zeroed in" on three suitors for Greinke before narrowing the field down to just two teams. "We got a lot of phone calls. When you have a player of Zack's caliber, a lot of people are instructed to make a phone call to get involved," Melvin said.
- The Angels were reportedly high on Greinke's list of preferred trade destinations, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (via Twitter). Greinke also would've liked to pitch for the Braves and Cardinals.
- The Rays were hoping that if Greinke was dealt to the Angels or Rangers, it would move the other to "pay big" for James Shields, reports Sherman (Twitter link). Other executives, however, think the Rangers prefer Josh Johnson over Shields.
Nasty rotation.
Segura is a very nice prospect, but it seems to me he is being overrated by everyone now that he was considered the #1 prospect in an Angels organization that has many recent MLB graduates: Trout, Trumbo, Walden, Richards, Bourjos.
Hellweg and Pena are fine pitchers with some upside as well, but the Angels did not deal from a particularly deep farm, and this needs to be acknowledged.
I’d call the trade fair now, and a win for LAA if Greinke resigns. Of course, it’ll take a couple years until we really know who wins. Makes sense for both teams now.
unless Greinke resigns in the short term, I don’t think him resigning(lets say in the offseason) affects who wins the trade. It will make fans happier, but think of it this way… When the Dodgers traded Carlos Santana for Casey Blake, did them resigning him make it a better deal? No, it was a bad deal for the Dodgers, but some fans thought it wasn’t so bad because he eventually resigned. But they had no guarantee that Blake was coming back
Agreed, however Greinke>Blake, and Carlos Santana>Segura. I’m cool with the trade, Angels weak farm system is even weaker, but they have many starters locked up for many years already. Plus they have money to spend to fill needs.
Yeah not comparing the trades other than the whole resigning part. But it’s a similar premise, unless greinke signs now his potential resigning shouldn’t be considered part of the trade
Yea, I agree. I don’t think that should be considered since it is not part of the deal that is in place.
This.
Segura was the highest rated guy given up, and even he was ranked at #55 overall on the top 100 prospects list even though he was our “#1 prospect”. I don’t consider this an overpay even if Greinke doesn’t extend.
Hellweg has potential, but it’s likely in the bullpen. Segura was blocked. Sucks to lose Pena, but he’s pretty much the only one I’m sad about.
I think you’re underrating Hellweg, he has massive upside, like, frontline starter upside, will he ever reach that? Who knows. But he’s 6’9 and can throw upper 90’s and has a good chance of remaining a starter, and if he doesn’t start, he has the potential to close.
I really don’t see how people can think the Brewers didn’t get a good return, they got a fine return for 2 months of Greinke.
Front line starter? You’re insane. Career 6.5 BB/9, Career 1.5 WHIP, drastically reduced K rate this season (almost 1/2 of last year’s). A decent ERA helped by a nice BABIP. Has trouble repeating his delivery and being 6′ 9″ won’t make that much easier. How many guys have you seen that tall in the history of the game become a solid, front line starter? Randy Johnson maybe?
He’s having a good year, but let’s be realistic. His ceiling is probably a 3-4, more likely to end up in the bullpen because of control issues.
to be fair, his numbers from the bullpen are a big reason for some of those numbers. i can’t recall his numbers off the top of my head, but his numbers as a starter aren’t bad.
I’m not insane, every scouting report I’ve read on Hellweg (Baseball America, Kevin Goldstein, etc) has his ceiling as a number 2 starter or closer. Also, Hellweg started slowly this year but has been very good lately, and overall his numbers as a starter the past 2 years has been fantastic.
Don’t doubt Rick Kranitz, one of the most underrated pitching coaches.
Keith Law is the Skip Bayless of talent evaluators, so its not surprising he thinks the Angels paid way too much. I was expecting more for Greinke but it is a pretty decent haul.
Wow, Keith Law amazes me with his evaluation of deals and of talent. To me, this is a steal. The Angels only gave up 1 Top tier prospect and two B Level Prospects. And to boot, the Top Tier guy was only 55th overall according to BA. I would have expected Grienke to command AT LEAST TWO Top Tier prospects in addition to two more B Level Guys. Nice Job Halos, but it makes you wonder why more teams werent in on Grienke with such an affordable price. To me, this is the Hanley Ramirez deal all over again. Perennial All Stars going on the cheap. Take into consideration this is not much more than the Pirates paid for Wandy Rodriguez.
“Take into consideration that this is not much more than the Pirates paid for Wandy Rodriguez.”
Yeah… I beg to differ. Talent-wise, it’s not real close at all. Also, “take into consideration” that Zack Greinke is far from a lock to be in an Angels uniform for more than a couple months.
Considering the Angels were high up his list of teams he wanted to be traded to, I don’t know if I’d go so far as to say he’s ‘far from a lock’ to be resigned. Ultimately the angels have money coming off the books after this year and I doubt they make this trade if the don’t think they have the chance to resign him.
Considering he also said he likes Milwaukee and had more fun playing baseball there than he’s ever had in his life, I wouldn’t read too much into it. You have to play politician as a soon to be free agent. If the Angels offer him the best deal in the offseason, he will remain an Angel. If not, he won’t. Zack is a smart guy… He’ll do what’s in his best economic interest.
Not to hate on the royals but anytime you go from an every year out of contention team to a playoff team you’re going to enjoy yourself, like grienke did going from the royals to a good brewers teams. As a very biased angels fan I feel like anahiem is the perfect fit for greinke. It’s a big market team, in a more relaxed, almost small market atmosphere.
Well, he did say “in his life,” which I imagine would include his baseball life up to that point. I’d be surprised if he signs an extension given the Hamels deal. I guess if the Angels were to go 6/145M, it could happen. I don’t know if that’s actually feasible for them, but I bet it’d tick Weaver off! Anyway, I’ll always be a fan of his – that said, I’ll be rooting against you guys.
Melvin/Attanasio will make room to bring Greinke back in FA.