11:30 am: Los Angeles is indeed signing Greene to a major league contract, reports Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic (on Twitter).
11:12 am: The Dodgers are nearing agreement with free agent reliever Shane Greene on a major league contract, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter link). The 32-year-old was released by the Braves over the weekend. Greene is represented by the Ballengee Group.
Despite quality work between 2019-20, Greene remained on the free agent market over the entirety of last offseason. That was a bit surprising but perhaps explainable by the difference in the right-hander’s run prevention numbers and peripherals. Greene pitched to an elite 2.39 ERA across 90 1/3 innings between those two seasons, but that came with a slightly below-average 23.5% strikeout rate. The disconnect is even more stark when looking at 2020 alone; his ERA was a still-great 2.60, but his strikeout percentage dipped to 19.3%. Teams clearly seemed reluctant to buy into Greene as a high-end late innings option despite his success keeping runs off the board.
The 2021 season has been a disaster no matter which metric one uses to evaluate pitcher performance. Signed to a big league deal by Atlanta in May, Greene was called up in early June after spending a few weeks in Triple-A to build up arm strength. He tossed seventeen innings for the Braves but was tagged for sixteen runs (an 8.47 ERA) on 22 hits, including five homers. Greene’s 20.5% strikeout rate and 10.8% walk percentage aren’t too different from last season’s marks, but he’s seen his groundball rate fall to a career-low 30.4% and served up far too much hard contact.
Clearly, the Dodgers feel his horrible 2021 numbers to date don’t reflect that Greene’s ability to be effective has disappeared. It’s a rather limited amount of time for a pitcher who had a multi-year track record of success before this season. Greene didn’t have a typical offseason ramp-up period because of his protracted stay in free agency. Perhaps most importantly, the velocity and spin on his sinker and cutter are nearly identical between 2020 and 2021. With his raw stuff still intact, Greene could be primed for a bounceback under a new coaching staff and environment in L.A.
There’s no financial risk for the Dodgers in taking that chance. The Braves will remain on the hook for the bulk of Greene’s prorated $1.5MM salary, with the Dodgers paying the veteran just the prorated league minimum for the stretch run (which will be subtracted from Atlanta’s payroll). The 32-year-old will hit the open market again at the end of the season.
Shane Greene has been terrible all season. Trying to hold out for more money really hurt him and was the dumbest thing he could do. He still only got about a million bucks so it’s not like he got paid more because of it. It also totally killed his season. How many Braves pitching rejects are the Dodgers going to try and pick up this month? Cole Hamels didn’t teach them a lesson yet?
Depth is the name of the game, and if the Dodgers coaching staff saw something they can fix, it’s worth taking a low-cost flyer.
As the saying goes, you cant teach an old dog new tricks. Dodgers keeping the meatball parade alive with another signing. The quality of pitching seems to be at lows we haven’t seen before. Would love to quantify that gut feeling, but who’s got the time? Maybe its more about the number of pitchers teams are carrying these days – quantity over quality
“meatball parade” Too funny!
The Dodgers only have 2.5 healthy starting pitchers and they already passed their record of most pitchers used in a season. They need all the help they can get.
The super team is never done signing players.
How long before Greene hits the 60 day IL?
Right!?
It seems that somehow the Dodgers have a dozen or so extra roster spots than everybody else.
Those extra roster spots are all churn. Players, mostly relievers, who are around for a few innings, then gone.
The dodgers DFA a lot of fringe guys
Just like the giants. It’s almost like they have the same philosophy on getting through a long season
Throw enough crap on the wall and see what sticks. Most don’t stick for long. Either optioned back to minors or DFA’d. They’ll keep parading unproven or recently shelled arms out there through the revolving doors. Last year’s version of Victor Gonzalez worked and Bickford this year also panning out. It’s the cheaper way to make a bullpen work. Name tags necessary for the Dodger bullpen.
I think it was last year when a Dodgers pitcher appeared so abruptly and briefly his name had to be added to the back of his uniform with tape, which started to peel off during the game.
Anyway, as of today Greene is still not on the Dodgers roster and his signing hasn’t been announced by the team, so I’m beginning to wonder if this really happened.
@bovinecrab
Where did you see he was holding out for more money? I only saw that no one signed him. I never saw that he turned down offers.
David o brien mentioned he turned down multiple multi year deals that Greene considered low offers. What the terms to these deals were nobody will know
I read the same thing.
Ditto. Here on the west coast we were wondering why the Angels nor Dodgers were signing him (in offseason). Read an article that he wanted the east coast and he wanted more money than what was being offered. Now he’s a Dodger trying to save his career. Go figure.
Thanks for the info. I was unaware.
Maybe it “totally killed” what he’s done so far, but he has an opportunity to flip the script now.
Why doesn’t anyone here understand baseball is won by depth now?
I think many MLBTR readers understand that having depth on the 40 man roster (and in the farm ready to be promoted) is the most sound way for sustained success..
Some people like playing the hindsight genius role.
Because as bad as he is, it’s hard to call what he does “depth” for a post season run.
He has the exact same underlying numbers when he had a solid mid 2 era
Relief pitching it fickle. Welcome to small sample sizes
He’s shown the ability to succeed pitching similarly to how he currently is, and the dodgers hope the fix a mechanical flaw or two and get him back on track. Given their proven ability to fix pitchers, it’s laughable that you think A prorated minimum $ is folly
A prorated 500K contract is a worry? Lmao
@BovineCrab
Actually no, he hasn’t been “terrible all season” at all. The damage came mainly in 5 games. Furthermore, you can’t do your ‘spring training’ on an MLB diamond whilst playing MLB games, that is what happened with Greene.
Perfect pickup. I hear Hamels is still laughing at them.
Hamels was a bum the last season with the Cubs. the fact he even got an offer was laughable
he had a pretty darn good ERA before he hit the IL
His ERA was 8.10 when he hit the IL
it was his Cubs tenure referenced. his last year in CHC his ERA was under 3.00 when he hit the IL I believe.
Exactly 29 other teams think that’s a good ERA
I truly question your baseball knowledge after a comment like this. He wasn’t spectacular but he was the definition of solid during his Cubs tenure.
To be fair, MilwaukeeStrong never mentioned Hamels’ Cubs tenure, he only mentioned last season. And last season Hamels ERA over 8 would indeed be bum territory
He literally said the last season with the Cubs.
His final Cubs season was fine. Braves season, while a waste of money on the Braves part, really was hard to judge on. You can say he had an 8+ era, but he also only pitched 3.1 innings while likely pitching hurt already. His Braves tenure can’t really be judged by numbers. It was almost non existent due to health issues.
Lol. Right. He is a bum with an 8.10 ERA.. in 3 innings. You can pick 98%, well 90% of pitchers in MLB and find that they had an ERA of 8.whatever at some point over 3 of their innings pitched last year.
Do you even know what the definition of “bum” is?
Usually it’s anyone who doesn’t hit .300 and it a pitcher doesn’t win at least 15 games according to anyone who calls mlb players bums.
A Yankee
I don’t get this narrative of Hamels ‘stealing money.’ It’s not like he was injured when he signed his contracts. It’s not like he misled the Dodgers or Braves. It’s not like he forced either of these teams to sign him against their will. They signed him, and he got hurt. It happens. Is Mike Trout ‘stealing money?’ Is Fernando Tatis ‘stealing money’ when he isn’t playing? DeGrom? Springer?
Great pickup
And YOU get a contract. And YOU get a contract! Dodgers so desperate lmao.
Yeah, by winning 3 pennants in 4 years and having ikr of the best records and arguably being the World Series favorite, the Dodgers are so desperate. Think before you comment 🙂
I have never seen a typo as interesting as “ikr” . I assume you meant one and “fat-fingered” every letter, but I could be wrong.
Trust your gut
It was probably an autocorrent thing. A lot of the kids now use “ikr” for “I know, right”
That was then. 2021 reeks of desperation to catch the Giants.
Idk about desperate. Then pen has been absolutely nails as of late, or at least the guys you’ll see on the playoff roster, really all season. If Greene can be better as a middle guy, then Euceta etc.., that’s huge as that pen shortens. So if the Dodgers saw something, it’s a low risk gamble.
Second best record in baseball, sooo desperate
Ah yes the 2nd best record in the sport must be desperate. At bare minimum they are getting a home wild card game
The Dodgers have the best ERA of any MLB team. And depending of what website you read the Dodgers have somewhere around the 2nd or 4th best bullpen ERA in MLB. With several players bouncing between starting and relieving I can see how there is variation there. But as for desperate the Dodgers they are not. The dodgers realize there is a shortage of arms this season with all the injuries and they stockpile them.
On pace for 100 wins…real desperate
In the dog days of summer it’s not unusual for teams to take a chance with guys on the waiver wire to fill in some innings especially when a team is playing for a playoff and they have injuries. Sometimes they workout and sometimes they don’t. Money is not the problem with some teams.
Especially since waiver deals are no more.
He gets the pro-rata major league minimum from the Dodgers. That works out to what, $150k? The strange part is that there werent a bunch of other contenders willing to risk a very little money for a potentially solid reliever.
If he made the roster today he’d get $132k
may our service members return safely
Do other teams realize that they are also allowed to make depth signings?
does LAD realize Minors deals are a thing?
He probably doesn’t take a minors deal ..If they plan on using him (and they do) like today then what’s the purpose- There re 44 days left , they aint looking to ply games they are looking for outs
Do you really think LA was the only team bidding yet offered him a major league deal?
The fact that he got a major league deal speaks to multiple teams tried to sign him
@hiflew
Without the payroll of the LAD, other teams may elect to add depth they believe will be helpful and have a different opinion than the Dodgers of what that is.
Greene, maximum, costs 132K
If a team can’t swing that, they should get McCourt’d
Dodgers signing everyone’s garbage.
At least they didn’t sign Arrieta!
True.
Go ahead and try to argue with their results. Just so you know, results are what matter.
I don’t have a dog in this fight but the Dodgers are in 2nd and it’s looking like their playoff hopes will hinge on a one game wild card against a team (SD) they have lost 7 out of 10 games to this year. There is your argument.
Flawed argument projecting the imploding Padres to finish in the wild card. Pads have been sub-.500 for a month and a half with the pitching staff getting thinner not stronger. They faced a weaker schedule the first half, now the tougher stretch is upon them and they are crumbling.
I agree the Dodgers are struggling, they’re only on pace for 100 wins…oh the Madres? They won’t make the wild card game.
The Dodgers literally have the 2nd best record in baseball, so not sure what you’re arguing? That they failed in some way? Yes it could come down to a one game playoff first, which can be pretty random, but not sure what that has to do with the results they’ve gotten despite having among the most WAR on the IL this year.
Their playoff hopes mean Walker F’ing Buehler at home in a winner-take-all game. Feel free to look up Buehler’s numbers in big games. There’s a reason the Dodgers have him start Game 1 these days whenever possible.
That is, if they don’t still take the division.
Besides, the Padres have to get there in the first place. Cincinnati is only 1.5 games back for the second Wild Card.
And Dodgers were missing half their pitching staff and 4 of 8 position players during those games. If you don’t think that affects a teams head to head record your watching the wrong sport. A mostly fully healthy team come October is scary for you to comprehend right?
Seems to work. CT3. JT. Muncy. Ugh? Still have questions?
Andrew Friedman is a very optimistic person!
Either that, or….
The Dodgers have a history of turning guys like this around. It’s a zero risk signing.
Shane Greene throw ball, batter hit ball, ball go far. Shane Greene need new baseball.
The Dodgers are basically looking for someone reliable to fill one of the last 1-2 spots in the bullpen and that’s it. It seems silly to be looking at guys like Greene or Neftali Feliz but they lost a few games earlier this year when they had to rely on a not-ready-for-prime time Edwin Uceta to hold the fort down and it failed. And they’ve done an amazing job getting Phil Bickford to be a major contributor this year so you never know. (Granted he’s younger and less mileage on the arm than these other guys.) With Knebel back, and getting great work from Vesia and now Graterol alongside Treinen and Jansen (used more judiciously this year he’s mostly been good), their biggest issue has been guys to eat innings in middle relief or in extra innings, after testing the depth of their minor league guys.
All that said, I’d be surprised if Greene can suddenly be good again, and not surprised if he’s not with them next month at their current rate of attrition. 😉
Revise to “next week” and we’re in complete agreement.
Not really hoping for “suddenly good again”. Just looking for an inning here and there in bullpen games, blowouts. A couple innings to get his confidence back up and throwing free again.
Shocking
Shane is the Braves’ secret weapon. The Dodgers and the Braves are going to meet in the Wildcard game, and Shane is going to blow it so the Braves can win. You heard it here first.
🙂
Lol. Braves in wild card game?
The Dodgers are desperate
Al Avila’s Negative WAR War Machine never fails him = Shane Greene, Daniel Norris, Daniel Stumpf, Nick Ramirez, Matt Moore, Blaine Hardy, Jordan Zimmermann, Beau Burrows…not a one of them rose to replacement level this year while sporting new laundry. Except Ol Stumpfy, whose still out there somewhere and loosening up, gang.
I’m sure there are others I’m blanking on.
Depth may win – but terrible depth? OK then. Someone, quick, get out the paddles for AJ Preller. Call out “CLEAR”, then tell him Buck Farmer is finally free from the Olde English D. If it’s negative WAR depth you’re looking for, Buck’s right up your alley.
What was Muncy’s WAR before the Dodgers got him? Justin Turner’s? Jake McGee had 4 down years before the Dodgers got ahold of him. Treinen blew up in Oakland and the Dodgers reclaimed him. Not all of them work, but the Dodgers have more than a couple on their star-studded roster that have.
This is the new August waiver wire trading. Contenders seem to grab anyone as they have no options to overcome injuries. No longer able to get someone who has gone through waivers to help you team or remedy some unforeseen injury. Just fill up the shopping cart just in case
Preller’s 3 deadline pickups have all registered a negative WAR. His trades bring in nothing but that or immediate injuries. It’s amazing really, when you look at the results. Exceptions like Cronenworth are unicornish.
If he signs F. Barmer, wrap it up. No Wild Card for the Pads. I’m calling that wacky, suicidal-signing, anyway.
Who do you guys think will perform better going forward, Jake Arrieta or Shane Greene?
Greene will do less damage to the dodgers than arrieta will do to the Padres
Instead of trying to reheat all of this burnt meat, LA should just swallow the bad PR, and put Bauer on the mound.
Bauer is on leave from MLB. Dodgers don’t have the option to bring him back, until MLB gives approval.
Cole Hamels 2.0, reliever instead of starter. It was of little wonder why Greene lasted unsigned for as long as he did this off-season. Lightning in a bottle usually doesn’t strike twice. For the Dodgers, this lightning better hope not to turn their season to toast.
Wait …the Dodgers season rests on Shane Greens shoulder???
I need a drink now…a strong one
@Eastern – OMINOUS…queue the dramatic music…
The hyperbole here is hilarious
Dear owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers, if this is how you want your organization run, then hell, hire me at a quarter of what your paying Friedman. I’ll take the savings and buy me a GM who knows what he’s doing.!!
Friedman’s sign-and-hope strategy has to be wearing thin on the owners. His knee-jerk, last-minute signing of Trevor Baurer (worst free agent signing since Andruw Jones.) and his dismantling of last year’s bullpen is not looking very good. Throw in his signing of Cole Hamels and you get the picture,.
Every dodger fan sleeps better knowing you aren’t making the decisions, so..
Agree 100%. These clowns are scary. 0 baseball IQ.
Shane Greene could be a great pick up for the Dodgers. He was just a little off with us. He would throw 2 or 3 pretty good pitches and then start missing his location, he would then overthrow and before you know it, he walked 2 and gave up 3 runs.
His first outing of the year he should have had a 1-2-3 inning, but the ump totally screwed him and he just hasn’t recovered since.
The Braves couldn’t afford to be patient with him and the Dodgers are in a pretty much similar situation, so not sure how long of a leash he’ll have.
For all the people saying Greene was bad, you definitely have to take into account his season starting in June, that means he missed so much prep work. His spring training has been on the diamond at MLB level, plus looking at his situation his first game back was a 1/3 of an inning and he gave up 2 runs, this shot his ERA to 54.00 straight away, then on Jun 16 he had 2/3 of an inning and gave up 3, then he didn’t pitch for 5 days, do you think that was good for him to get his mechanics in shape, on 21 Jun then he pitched another 2/3 of an inning and gave up 3 again, on July 4 he gave up 3 again, and then on July 21 he gave up 2. All of the damage has mainly come in 5 games out of the very low 19 games he’s participated in. He has some great pitches in his arsenal, with more work and getting in the groove he can be very good. Most people here didn’t want Luke Jackson either, he certainly has left mud on many commenters faces as he has pitched magnificently this year.
If the Braves had Rodriguez earlier I believe the Braves would have won many more of the close games including the appalling lottery that is extra innings that should not be played at this level with a free runner on 2nd-a farce.
Looks like we’ll be finding out sooner rather than later, with another bullpen game coming up tonight. We’ll probably see Feliz, Phillips, and Greene (if they add him to the active roster in time), and whoever else they can sweep out of the corners of the bullpen.