Per MLB Trade Rumors, he’s going to the Snakes. Surprising indeed. The Diamondbacks had just jumped in the conversation in the last couple of days. It’s a six-year deal, number of $206.5 million. (Per a Twitter commenter, no idea why the extra half-mil, but that’s what the word is.)
This should shake up the whole division, with both subtraction from the Dodgers, blocking the Giants, and adding to the D-backs.
And, with Greinke and David Price both signed, especially once Greinke’s $$ are known, probably a fair amount of other free agent movement, at least for clients not represented by Boras, should start happening, I would think.
One other note, per discussion here: MLBTR notes that Arizona got a new local TV deal in February. It is worth $50M a year more than the old one. The team still has money to burn.
ScoutsEdit: Updated info on the contract. While Grenkie’s total contract value is lower than Price’s, because of the length of the contract, his average annual value is greater than both Price and Miguel Caberera’s at 34.42M.
I’m told Greinke’s deal is for six years and $206.5M.
— Nick Piecoro (@nickpiecoro) December 5, 2015
Fan Interference 
Question – How the shit did this happen?
Answer – Money.
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Well, we know it’s more than 3/$71! I’ll randomly guess, based on Price’s contract, 5/$150 with an opt-out after 2.
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There’s a link in the MLBTR article to a tweet suggesting that LA’s reluctance to give him a 6th year is why they didn’t get him.
I’ll ballpark a guess around 6y/$185M.
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Nah, the AAV is going to be higher than for Price.
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Good, stay the eff out of the AL.
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Apparently, 6 years…if he got near $35M per…that is crazy…and also fun to see a non-usual suspects team make a big signing.
I think he’ll age well, and he has added value with the bat and glove.
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I heard 6 years $192M.
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That sounds about right. All reports say six years, and a straight six; none mention an opt-out.
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If that’s accurate, I’m calling my 6y/$185M estimate a bullseye.
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In this baseball economic system, that doesn’t seem like that bad a deal. If Zimmerman gets $22M….I’d give an extra $10M/season to upgrade to Greinke, better pitcher, better fielder, better hitter.
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Greinke’s bat compared to the typical NL pitcher is worth almost a full WAR point a year itself.
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Thought you were chasing Heyward, not competing with us for Gordon.
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I think the Cardinals are just going to sit there with their thumbs up their assess. The whole point of having a system that develops a crap ton of average to above-average players is so that you can save money to overpay for stars. They seem to have set their comfort level too low and are just not going to spend any of the money they allegedly have to spend.
Gordon is old. Why pay for his decline years when you could sign Heyward and get both his peak years and decline years? Makes no sense.
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Exactly, on my “thumbs” worry too.
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This is the first paragraph from a post on Viva El Birdos yesterday:
“You know, I have to say, the relatively constant stream of stories coming off the front page of the Cardinals’ official website proclaiming the Redbirds to be poised to make a splash at the Winter Meetings, or ready to shake things up in the free agent market, or possessing unprecedented spending power/payroll muscle/financial flexibility/whatever other euphemism you like is starting to piss me off. It’s one thing to shop at Goodwill; it’s another to shop at Goodwill while loudly proclaiming you could buy this whole shitty store with what you make in a month, then haggle over whether that quesadilla maker with the non-working ON indicator light is really worth six dollars, or only $4.50.”
That pretty much sums up my frustration with the Cardinals alleged ability to sign top end talent. They just sat on their asses and missed every worth while rotation piece….none of the remaining guys are much better than their current options…signing them would be a relative waste of money to sign a league average guy…who are valuable, to be sure, but a horrible way to manage assets and opportunities.
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Did yo write that?
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Nope. Sounds like I could have though, doesn’t it?
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Admit it. I won’t tell anyone. No one reads this stuff anyway.
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The guy that wrote it has been producing high quality VEB content for about a decade. Probably has 1000s of people read most of his stuff.
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Too bad. It was funny.
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Yeah, he writes some pretty funny (and often insightful) stuff. It also perfectly captures the attitude of a lot of Cardinal fans….year after year we keep hearing about “payroll muscle” and “spending power”…..and it never manifests. Their all-time high contract is still the one Holliday signed 6 years ago, and that was only like $117M.
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I think I’ll make quesadillas…
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Mmmmmm….sounds good. This weekend I made Punjabi Butter Chicken on Saturday and pasta all’arrabbiata with Italian sausage on Sunday….probably enough food that I won’t have to cook again until next weekend.
How was your family weekend?
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It was nice. We were even able to get out to do some Christmas shopping, which my brother loves to do. We all decorated the tree together and hung out too. Parts of it were odd, but that’s just kinda where my family is right now.
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Cool. How’s the weather been down there?
Here it is like mid-October weather. High from 57-62 over the weekend with night-time lows only around 30. Supposed to be like that a couple of more days and then WARM UP!
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It’s hot. I hate it. 😦 It’s supposed to hit 79 by the end of the week. It’s freaking December. I really don’t like being back in the warm belt. We couldn’t even have a fire this weekend because it was like 60’s.
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Yeah, I hear ya.
For Thanksgiving, the Drink of the Day was a spiced mulled wine, which was fantastic….and would have been better if it wasn’t 60 out and we could have fired up the wood stove.
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We stuck to cold beer — at least, the non-Baptists among us.
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What did the Baptists drink? Bourbon?
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Water or root beer, mostly. My brother can’t drink anymore, so he doesn’t count.
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oh, and a snooty family member that I don’t like locked her genius self in the bathroom…which I enjoyed like a petty person.
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Did you leave her in there? Or did someone eventually have to use the facilities?
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It took us a bit to hear her banging on the door with all of the doings. he he
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It’s beautiful. Upper 70s by end of week in East Texas too. And, with the 3-4 extended fall color season.
https://picasaweb.google.com/108891649959454176587/EastTexas
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Yeah, i’m a pretty regular reader over there myself. And I agree with the sentiment.
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Agreed on value. One of the best bats among pitchers in the game.
Give him a cautious 5 WAR a year, subtract that from LA, and keep that from SF, and if all else is equal, the whole division changes.
And, yes, I like another team making a splash.
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I just hope this doesn’t make the Dodgers go, “Fuck it. Let’s buy Heyward.”
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Rosenthal is reporting that La Russa and Stewart might not be done, either. He says they’re still interested in Leake.
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Interesting considering that they essentially sold Tousant last year.to save about $10M.
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Yeah, the whole dynamic of the NLW changes now.
I suspect Goldschmidt is one of the happiest people in the game right now. He might actually get a chance to play on a contender again…he hasn’t done that since his rookie year.
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Apparently it made the Dodgers interested in Cueto. Lol
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I did not see that coming.
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If I could edit my FA Prediction picks….I’d put the Dodgers down for Cueto and Samardzija and Iwakuma and every other pitcher on the list.
They’ve got a fat stack of cash to throw at someone. It will be thrown.
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D-Backs also give up the 13th overall pick, which is worth $10M+
Woooo, best thing to happen to StL today is having their 30th pick move up 2 spots and getting a comp pick.
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Apparently, 6 years for $206M…$34.33M/year.
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Holy sheeeet.
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Per my update on the post about their new TV contract, they’ve still got $15M or so in “new money” they can burn.
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While I agree this is a big shake-up in the NLW and I’m happy for Zack – get it while the getting is good! – I see everybody in the NLW still chasing a dream. Yes, anything can happen in a short series and you have to get to the short series for anything to happen. However, the Cubs just spent less than half this AAV on Lackey (and I hate Lackey!) and made the team that much better. The team, by the way, that had the third best record in the league. Whenever teams make a big signing it seems to be promoted as the finishing touch when gaping holes are left to be filled. NOT signing Greinke may be a blessing in disguise. Gadfly above grants a “cautious” 5 WAR added to AZD and subtracted from LAD, but a couple of decent signings for $10-$15 mil may well replace the 5 war in LA, and $15 million dollar free agents won’t be on your roster for six years. My biggest takeaway is that these “small market” teams still have the cash and can compete in dollars when necessary – but dollars spent efficiently will ultimately lead to more success, and be more sustainable. Not a Cards fan, but they are a good example of not tying up loads of money in Pujols and seemingly always ready with a reload. Notice they lost their #1 pitcher early and their entire season fell apart (/s). Again all kudos to Zack for an outstanding career and best wishes for continued success. If the LAD and SFG can find a couple of 3 war guys for less AAV and less length of contract the AZD will continue to place third fourth or fifth, able to reload only with $5mil, -1 to 2 WAR players.
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