Zack Greinke officially opts out of Dodgers contract, is about to get paid
Zack Greinke officially opted out of his Los Angeles Dodgers contract Wednesday, which isn’t even close to a surprise considering the land of riches and options that await him in free agency. Greinke, who is one of the top candidates for the NL Cy Young award in two weeks, now hits the open market coming off one of the best years of his career.
In 2015, he went 19-3 with a 1.66 ERA, exactly 200 strikeouts and a wow-ing 0.84 WHIP. If not for his 2009 Cy Young season, it would have been far and away the best campaign of Greinke’s 12 years in MLB. Greinke, who turned 32 recently, made $25 million in 2015 and, by electing free agency, is thumbing his nose at $71 million guaranteed over the next three seasons. Such is baseball in 2015, where walking away from $71 million is a prudent financial decision.
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Greinke will get paid handsomely as a free agent, and for longer than three seasons. The strategy here for Greinke and his agents is locking up a longer-term deal that will pay him into the twilight of his baseball days. Expect Greinke to be seeking a six- or seven-year contract worth between $150-$200 million, and maybe even more.
They’ll push Max Scherzer (who got $210 million over seven years from the Washington Nationals) and Jon Lester (who got $155 million over six years from the Chicago Cubs) as comparable players. Greinke just finished his age-31 season, like Lester. Scherzer just finished his age-30 season. Greinke has a little more mileage on him, having thrown more innings than both of them, so that could concern some teams when thinking about whether to commit for six or seven years.
| Player | Age | IP | Career ERA | Career K% | Career BB% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zack Greinke | 32.014 | 2,094.2 | 3.35 | 21.9 | 5.9 |
| Max Scherzer | 31.100 | 1,468.0 | 3.46 | 26.5 | 7.0 |
| Jon Lester | 31.301 | 1,801.0 | 3.55 | 24.3 | 6.0 |
Greinke now headlines a nice group of free-agent pitchers that includes David Price, Johnny Cueto, Jordan Zimmermann and Scott Kazmir. There are other options, but there will be no shortage of interest in Greinke. The Dodgers will certainly want him back. The Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs are all big-budget teams looking for frontline starters and the San Francisco Giants have been mentioned a lot as a team that could be a player for Greinke. Remember, they were hot and heavy after Lester last season.
No matter where Greinke decides to go — whether it’s just re-upping in L.A. on new terms or heading to the East Coast — this much is guaranteed:
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
