Zack Greinke’s blockbuster new deal with the Diamondbacks broke Friday evening, so there will be undoubtedly be many more reactions emerging throughout the weekend. For now, though, here’s a collection of news and reactions that focuses a team that didn’t sign him — the Dodgers.
- With Greinke no longer available, the Dodgers are reaching out to the rest of the pitching market, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal tweets. They spoke today to representatives of Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija and Scott Kazmir, and a source tells Rosenthal they’re “intrigued” by Cueto. Earlier today, Rosenthal tweeted that Hisashi Iwakuma also figured prominently on the Dodgers’ list of backup plans.
- The Dodgers have been forthright about their intentions of building good teams in 2017 and beyond, so perhaps it’s no surprise that they didn’t top the Diamondbacks’ winning bid, Mark Saxon of ESPN Los Angeles writes. They did make a substantial offer of five years and $155MM, but they didn’t want to push themselves financially with an even riskier, lengthier deal. Since the Dodgers hired Andrew Friedman, Saxon writes, they’ve focused on making smart business moves, and perhaps in their minds, signing a thirtysomething pitcher to a boundary-pushing deal wouldn’t have qualified as one.
- “We made a very strong offer to retain Zack, but clearly he found a deal that fit better for him and his family,” says Friedman in a statement released by the Dodgers. “We are now hard at work on our alternatives.”
- The Dodgers are also trying to sign righty reliever Ryan Madson, MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick tweets. The 35-year-old Madson is coming off an excellent comeback season with the Royals (with a 2.13 ERA, 8.2 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9), and he would figure to be an asset in the Dodgers’ bullpen. Obviously, though, signing Madson right now would come as little comfort to Dodgers fans upset about losing Greinke.
I expect the Dodgers to make a splash during the Winter Meetings
For a Dodgers fan, how can you be mad about this? Is this not why you pursued analytical geniuses like Friedman and Zaidi to realign this ridiculously imbalanced, underperforming team?
This was the right move, not bending over for Greinke’s circus ransom. Let them go to work, there’s a plethora of ways to utilize all of that money for a more sustainable run.
yup with the money build the farm, fix the pen and replace starters with decent cheaper options. that 30 mill can go to 2 or 3 players instead of one. zack will be miss but this will not in no way hurt the dodgers in ways some might think
Agree
Jbravo, you think Friedman and Zaidi realigned the team last year? Not a chance. Realigning this year? No. They have to repair the damage from last offseason’s failed attempt and replace the parts departed from misguided one year deals. They need to have their models validated. Something’s not working.
What damage and what misguided one year deals are you referring to?
Well there was paying Dee Gordon to play somewhere else. Then there was the resounding failure of their deadline trades to address the teams needs leading directly to the resounding failure in the postseason. For starters.
Wrong. They had too many holes right up the trade deadline so they can’t fix the team on just one season/one tradedeadline. The team is badly contructed thanks to Ned Colletti and McCourt so it will take a while to fix this team.
Right, their trades really worked out, we unenlightened just haven’t noticed it yet.
You still don’t get the big picture at all. Wow man come back with a better understanding what the direction the Dodgers are really doing and then come back. What the Dodgers are doing is the smart way.You’ll catch up.
I totally get the big picture, and in the center foreground of that picture is a 27 year championship drought that figures to roll to 28. Go ahead, show me how any of their moves improved the team so far or will in the future. I’ve been specific in my criticism. You need to be specific in your defense.
I actually think this is a critical moment for the use of analytics vs money in baseball. Friedman won’t be employed with the Dodgers by 2019 if the team doesn’t get to the World Series. If the D-Backs do get to the WS with Greinke as their ace, does that not justify a team simply going for it? In my humble opinion, I think for a rich team like the Dodgers to let a pitcher like Greinke sign with a division rival that has much shallower pockets – serious mistake.
Glad the Dodgers didn’t make this horrifically bad move of signing Grenkie. Now they can focus on making smart moves.
I think the Giants will sign Cueto just to ruin the dodgers season.
His decline last year after the trade deadline and his injury probability doesn’t seem like a ruined season to me if the Giants signed him.
frees up money to sign hayward? Deal joc to the braves for Miller? and look to sign Leake or Kazmir?
If they trade Joc I bet they could pry Sonny Gray, wouldn’t you think? Then sign Heyward and Leake or Kazmir. That’d be solid. How about Leake and Kazmir or Cueto and one of Leake or Kazmir. All purely wishful thinking of course.
according to rumors. Braves/Dodgers have talked Shelby for joc. Missing out on Greinke could open up Shelby talks again.
keep dreaming…
ha. MOST dodger fans thought the Dodgers had all the money and it would win the Rights to Greinke. it makes sense. joc and shelby swap is not far off.
Makes sense to who? The Braves? The dodgers do have lots of money. They offered Greinke 31 million dollars a year. Just because they have a ton of money doesn’t mean they are just going to be stupid with it.
Joc wouldn’t be able to headline a deal for Gray. Joc has a lot of potential and showed promise, but his dismal second half probably turned his value from an All-Star into a still developing prospect (not that thats bad but, he has less value after that second half). Any deal for Gray I imagine would have to include at least of Urias/de Leon/Seager plus Joc and maybe another piece or two.
Forget Gray he is not going anywhere
did you think Greinke was going to Zona? ha. joc/Shelby has been discussed earlier.
Yeah, they were discussed, and the dodgers said no.
that was before they missed out on Price and Greinke. we shall see. joc was horrid his 2nd half. Miller is young and controlled for a few years.
You really think Andrew Friedman is going to make some knee jerk reaction? There are other trade targets and solid free agents that are still available.
And for the 1billionith time to you braves fans….no one wants Miller at the ridiculous price the Braves are asking for him. Not every single pitcher move means that some team is going to cave to these crazy demands.
If you are the only people who think Shelby Miller is worth some of these crazy proposals, don’t you think that tells you something about how much you are overrating that player?
Getting Miller for Joc would be a steal for the Dodgers. Joc is garbage.
Well, they seem to disagree with you, since they said no when the braves asked.
you act like joc been in the league a few years. he only a rookie what he cant struggle. dude showed he can play CF very well and have good pop in his bat.
Joc sucks
2.3 war in a rookie season with clear room for improvement is anything but “sucks”
he sucks how? he can play good defense in CF showed pop. sure he struggle with the bat towards the end but come on he a rookie.
The diamondbacks have put all their eggs in one basket. They will be good with Greinke, Corbin, and Bradley. Their bullpen is still a question mark. They have one of the best offenses in the league, but still a poor attendance rate and now that a lot of the tv revenue is dedicated to greinke, this doesn’t seem like a sustainable investment.
Well how bout mets trade Harvey and Duda for goldshmidt Makes both team shoe ins for the nlcs
Not even close to enough for Goldy.
*D-backs hang up phone and never field calls from the Mets again*
That sounds like a terrible trade at first, but then the more you think about it, the more it makes sense. I still don’t see the D’backs trading goldy though. Espicially after they got greinke
How about Harvey, Duda, one of deGrom/Syndegaard/Matz and maybe one other player/prospect? Goldy was an MVP candidate. As good as Harvey can be, he’s not yet an MVP candidate and Goldy is signed to a nice team friendly deal.
Hahaha no thanks. We’ll just keep the third-best player in baseball
Hoping LA doesn’t sign Cueto. Sign Chen or Iwakuma which will cost 50 million or less. Trade Ethier and Crawford. Sign J.Upton.
ill miss zack since he was a beast but did we really need to throw 30 a year at him. with how the farm is and guys like cueto still out there it was worth it. dodgers still need to figure out 2nd base and SS, fix the pen and now find a replacement for zack. just because the dodgers have money doesn’t mean they need to spend what ever to get a player. spending big doesnt always get you wins. just ask the giants and cards even KC. dodgers need to start being smart with who they trade for or sign
will the Dodgers and giants bid for Cueto or let him go? Shelby. Shields.seem like good targets. 10 times cheaper. heck, Shields deal looks pretty good right about now in this crazy Sp Market.
Except for Shields’ opt out. That makes his value zero.
zero. not hardly
He’s paid at pretty much market rate, is older, and his skills seem to be in decline. Add in that a team likely only keeps him past this year if he’s worth less than he’s paid…it doesn’t seem very valuable.
This won’t hurt the Dodgers at all. They’ll just go out and sign a couple 2nd tier guys like Maeda and Iwakuma and probably be in better shape than if they kept Greinke. The teams this hurts are the ones waiting in the wings for those 2nd tier guys, who are now going to be bid up insanely. I’m thinking the Mariners, Cardinals, Royals and similar. Makes the Tigers and Cubs really smart for wrapping up reasonable deals when they did.
Don’t trust Cueto’s elbow. A McCarthy re-do all over again. Not enamored with Freidman’s brief but unimpressive track record. Last offseason, last trade deadline. This offseason so far. They now must piecemeal together a rotation, but I sense a few panic signings. It’s a paint-by-numbers, Strat-O-Matic approach. 2016 might be a long, disappointing season. Watch out, Dave Roberts.
You still don’t get the Dodgers plan do you. Look it doesn’t matter the Dodgers have a long-term plan, not short term plan. So stop whining and stop acting like they are competing for short term because they already said they are building a winning team long term.
Which they will keep telling us even as they don’t win.
Friedman was with the team for just a year. What the heck are you talking about?
Paying the winner of the NL batting title to play somewhere else in exchange for someone who they now need to replace. Not improving the bullpen. Not getting what everybody with a pulse knew they needed to advance in the postseason, with completely predictable results. Then placing the blame on the manager and coaches. In general a failure to improve the team in any way, shape or form. That’s what the heck I am talking about.
You still don’t get it. Dodgers made the better trade anyway. They improved in multiple areas instead of one. They got a setup man, super utility player, a starting catching prospect (Austin Barnes) and Heaney which they traded for Kendrick (in which they can get a draft pick when signed elsewhere) They have Peraza anyway to man 2B long-term. I doubt Gordan will continue his success moving forward and will for sure not repeat what he did this year. Gordan will have never done that same thing if he where with the Dodgers, even Gordon said it himself that the trade made him a better player. So i doubt he would have done good with the Dodgers. Gordon is that type of player that is a high risk to falter. So the Dodger still made the right move.
So all the blab we heard last year about the Dodgers having sold high on Gordon is gone, only to be replaced with predictions of his ultimate collapse? Sorry not enough grains of sand on the beach to take that with. The rest is even more far-fetched.
Gordon didn’t exactly put up NL batting title numbers before his trade. To say that’s a reason the Dodgers have failed is insane. Not many people would have said before last year that Gordon would be the NL batting champ and look like one of the top 5-6 second basemen in the league. Hindsight is everything.
Dodge fan your owner ship has said they cutting payroll from around 300 to closer to 200 million and if you sign two free agent pitcher you won’t able to do that because know one going to trade for players like ethier , Crawford or even puig ( his play on the field and hi attitude of the field with out you paying a lot and that goes into you budget that you all ready have 80 million in dead money so you going to have to trade for 2 pitchers to try to make up for loss of Greinke and Cleveland is not going to trade you one of ” great young pitcher with out outfield who can play this season and puig is down and u will have though in hole lot more for them no way they going trade for Crawford or ether . And that would mean you still have to trade for another pitcher who would be less then what you have . And hey need more bull pen help that more money . The trade i put out there makes more since Dodgers get at less a number two pitch in miller who make less then 6 million for next 3 year and and Tehran at worse is 3 and he only make 12.5 for next 4 years and you get Perez who pitch very good in most of his starts and at worse give you spot starter and long relieve a very good left in marksberry a ground ball pitcher who all can strike hitter out on cunniff and for great vet pitch like grilli you have to pay a lot more then 3 million . I give you good c in bethancourt and a good prospect in 3b in Ruiz and get that your going to have give up something and think free agent class next 3 year you goon to tell me you wouldn’t bloke team of sp staff of kershaw miller theran wood and Urias and bull pin of Jansen champmen back of your bull pen and have 1b Gonzalez 2nd base Walker ss paraza 3b Donaldson outfield of Harper mcCutchen and cargo if they sign a free agent pitch which will cost you a lot more then sign hitter and not have patrol to go after them think and heck in year puig get better you could trade him with to get another top pitch next season you need to realize that it cost more for pitcher la then hitter look at list of top salaries 7 of top 12 are pitchers
Your grammar and spelling are so bad that I can’t actually understand what you are saying, but if you are trying to say that no team would trade for Puig, you’re absolutely mistaken. Despite his struggles and attitude issues, he offers a ton of potential and is signed to a good contract. There are many teams that would not only trade for him, but would give up a decent package to get him.
Wait what? Despite your incoherent statement and trade scenarios that aren’t mentioned prior, despite you claiming to do so, how do you get from ripping the Dodgers for being unable to trade Crawford, Ethier or Puig (Puig does have value btw) to saying the Dodgers will somehow have Chapman, (Neil?) Walker, Donaldson, Harper, McCutchen and Cargo?
I am disappointed, but Dodgers are paying Kershaw $32 million and could not give more to Greinke. It will be a long term savings. Dodgers were burned by the JD Drew opt out and now Greinke’s opt out and will face Kershaw opting out and wanting $40 million soon. I think it is time for Dodgers to stop offering opt out clauses
I’m not sure they were really burned by Greinke’s opt-out. It just means that they signed him originally on a 3-year deal, which was extraordinarily successful. Ended up being mutually beneficial I think
The Dodgers have $71 million going to 4 starting pitchers next year even without Greinke.
Zack Greinke and Johnny Cueto have near identical career numbers, once you account for park adjustments. And Cueto’s three years younger.
Dodgers (sad to say) are going to get better not worse because of this, if they grab Cueto and use the difference in dollars to get something else (like another SP).
What leads you to believe that the Dodgers will program that money for other contracts? What’s to stop them from simply keeping it in their wallet?
Has anyone heard any rumors as to what the Giants offered?