Headlines

  • Red Sox Place Hunter Dobbins On 15-Day IL Due To ACL Tear
  • Astros Promote Brice Matthews
  • Red Sox Likely To Activate Alex Bregman Tomorrow
  • Phillies Reportedly Targeting Controllable Relievers
  • Yankees Prioritizing Pitching, Also Searching For Infield Help
  • Orioles Trade Bryan Baker To Rays
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

Remove Ads
  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2025 Trade Deadline Outlook Series
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Dodgers To Sign Zack Greinke

By Mike Axisa | December 10, 2012 at 12:07pm CDT

Zack Greinke is headed back to Los Angeles, but he won't be re-signing with the Angels. The Dodgers announced today that they have signed the free agent right-hander. He'll obtain a six-year contract worth $147MM from the Dodgers, according Gina Miller of TXA21 (Twitter links). Greinke is represented by Casey Close of Excel Sports Management.

Jim Bowden of ESPN.com and MLB Network Radio has the contract breakdown (on Twitter). Greinke will receive a $12MM signing bonus with a $17MM salary in 2013, $24MM in 2014, $23MM in 2015, $24MM in 2016, $23MM in 2017, and $24MM in 2018. Bowden reports (on Twitter) that Greinke did not receive a no-trade clause with the contract. Greinke has a full player opt-out clause after the third year of the deal, Bowden reports (via Twitter).  Furthermore, if Greinke is traded during the course of the contract he can opt out at end of year.

Because he was traded at midseason, Greinke was not eligible to receive a qualifying offer and will not require draft pick compensation. The Dodgers don't surrender a pick and the Angels don't obtain one.

Uspw_6497586Greinke, 29, was the free agent market's top pitcher and top overall player according to MLBTR's Tim Dierkes. The Angels and Rangers were among his suitors. The 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner pitched to a 3.48 ERA with 8.5 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 in 212 1/3 innings split between the Brewers and Angels in 2012, his fourth 200+ inning season in the last five years. Tim predicted Greinke would re-sign with the Halos. Check out where you rank in our Free Agent Prediction Contest.

Greinke's deal smashes Matt Cain's record for the largest contract given to a right-handed pitcher in baseball history. Cain signed a five-year, $112.5MM pact with the Giants earlier this year. Greinke's contract is comparable to the six-year, $144MM deal given to Cole Hamels by the Phillies this summer. It's worth noting that neither Cain nor Hamels were free agents at the time of their deals. Greinke's $24.5MM average annual value is the new record for a pitcher on a multi-year contract, surpassing CC Sabathia's $24.4MM average annual salary with the Yankees.

The Dodgers have become baseball's biggest spender since Guggenheim Baseball Management purchased the team from Frank McCourt for more than $2 billion back in March. They absorbed over $300MM in payroll obligation in July and August alone, most of which came from their blockbuster with the Red Sox. Los Angeles will become the first ever NL team with a $200MM+ payroll this year and they figure to boast the largest payroll in MLB history. They will also be the second team ever with four players making $20MM+ annually (Greinke, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Matt Kemp).

With Clayton Kershaw, Josh Beckett, Chad Billingsley, Ted Lilly, Chris Capuano, and Aaron Harang already under contract, the Dodgers figure to trade one and possibly two starters before Spring Training. Both Harang and Capuano have been on the block this winter. Greinke's contract figures to have a direct impact on Kershaw, who is scheduled to become a free agent after 2014 and is in line for a massive nine-figure contract of his own.

Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (Twitter links) helped break the news while Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports, Dylan Hernandez of The Los Angeles Times, and MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan reported the two sides were close to a deal. Photo courtesy of US Presswire.

Share 75 Retweet 203 Send via email0

Los Angeles Dodgers Transactions Zack Greinke

Tigers To Sign Brayan Pena
Main
Tigers Designate Matt Hoffman For Assignment
View Comments (0)
Post a Comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.

Log in Register

    Top Stories

    Red Sox Place Hunter Dobbins On 15-Day IL Due To ACL Tear

    Astros Promote Brice Matthews

    Red Sox Likely To Activate Alex Bregman Tomorrow

    Phillies Reportedly Targeting Controllable Relievers

    Yankees Prioritizing Pitching, Also Searching For Infield Help

    Orioles Trade Bryan Baker To Rays

    Yankees Release DJ LeMahieu

    Trevor Williams To Undergo UCL Surgery

    Nationals Fire PBO Mike Rizzo, Manager Dave Martinez

    Brewers Activate Brandon Woodruff

    Clarke Schmidt Expected To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

    Bobby Jenks Passes Away

    Braves Release Alex Verdugo

    Top 40 Trade Candidates For The 2025 Deadline

    Rays Reinstate Ha-Seong Kim

    Yankees Have Shown Interest In Ryan McMahon

    Royals Interested In Bryan Reynolds

    Rangers Option Josh Jung

    Kevin Pillar Announces Retirement

    Braves Place Spencer Schwellenbach On IL With Elbow Fracture

    Recent

    Royals Receiving Interest In Catching Prospects

    J.C. Escarra Drawing Trade Attention

    Cristian Javier Begins Rehab Assignment

    Multiple Teams Showing Interest In DJ LeMahieu

    Rafael Devers Suffering From Disk Injury In Lower Back

    Mets’ Dedniel Nunez To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

    Trade Deadline Outlook: Seattle Mariners

    Reds Activate Jake Fraley, Option Christian Encarnacion-Strand

    Red Sox Place Hunter Dobbins On 15-Day IL Due To ACL Tear

    Cubs Select Brooks Kriske

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Sandy Alcantara Rumors
    • Luis Robert Rumors
    • Alex Bregman Rumors

     

    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android App Store Google Play

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Remove Ads, Support Our Writers
    • Front Office Originals
    • Front Office Fantasy Baseball
    • MLBTR Podcast
    • Trade Deadline Outlook Series
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • RSS/Twitter Feeds By Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

    hide arrows scroll to top

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version