The first of the top tier of MLB free agents are starting to sign deals.
David Price opened the big game season inking a monster 217M deal with the Boston Red Sox earlier in the week. In just the past 24 hours, we’ve seen 3 other starting pitchers locked down by new teams.
- John Lackey to Chicago Cubs (2 years | 32M | 16M/yr)
- Zack Greinke to Arizona Diamondbacks (6 years | 206M | 34.3M/yr)
- Jeff Samardzija to San Francisco Giants (5 years | 90M | 18M/yr)
Notes:
Just because Cardinals fans don’t like it, doesn’t mean it’s not true… the Chicago Cubs might be a changed organization.
They stayed the course with a rebuilding project and rode their young offense to a playoff appearance (and NLDS series win) in 2015. Their most urgent need was a reliable 3rd/4th starter to slot in behind Lester and Arrieta. And by picking up John Lackey, they’re 1/2 way home to a very successful offseason.
Is he a 16M/yr pitcher? For most teams, probably not. But for the Cubs, he’s a damn good fit. They’ve got the money spend.
If they keep spending it in the right places? Ugh.
In Arizona, the Zack Greinke news was more of a surprise.
Coming off a monster walk year, we knew Greinke was going to get paid. And odds were on either the Dodgers retaining his services or the Giants retooling for their bi-annual World Series run with a new ace. He ended up staying in the NL West, alright.
Not sure if this signing alone puts the D’Backs in a position to content for a pennant in 2016, but rumor has it that Arizona is still pursuing some other players. With Tony LaRussa at the helm and a new 1B+ TV deal in his back pocket, keep an eye on Arizona as TLR tries to do what he does best – build through the open market.
Jeff Samardzija was the safety valve for the Giants and they didn’t waste time locking him up after they missed out on Greinke.
Will they regret this singing? Time will tell.
I saw Samardzija play in a couple games for the White Sox in 2015 and he wasn’t just bad – he was really, really bad. A courtesy look of his stats proves my eyes right. He lead the AL in earned runs (118), home runs (29) and hits (228) while posting a bawdy 4.96 ERA.
He’s a career 47-61 pitcher with an overall ERA of 4.09. He’ll need to rise up to this contract instead of just maintaining what he’s done in the past like a Greinke or Lackey.
Photo: FOX Sports
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