Your mind and Twitter just exploded as Ken Rosenthal just reported that the Angels have pulled of a trade for Zack Greinke, thus filling their need for another front-line pitcher:
#Brewers getting shortstop Jean Segura and two Double A pitchers from #Angels for Greinke. “Finishing touches” being applied. Deal is done.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 27, 2012
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As of right now, it appears that the two Double-A pitchers are Ariel Pena and John Hellweg who are the Angels’ best two pitching prospects after Garrett Richards. That report has not been made official as of this writing, but it makes the most sense given what the Brewers were known to be asking for Greinke.
While this deal does weaken an already thin Angel farm system, Jerry Dipoto should be applauded for pulling this off without giving up arguably his two biggest trade assets Peter Bourjos and Garrett Richards. That being said, he did pay a large price for a player who could be long gone in two months. Obviously, the hope would be that the Angels can use those two months to get Greinke re-signed, something reports suggest that he is amenable to with the Halos. It is worth noting though that Milwaukee allegedly discussed a $100 million extension with Greinke and it went nowhere, so a long-term deal is hardly a slam dunk.
But that is all about the future, what this trade is mainly about is the present. Greinke is was arguably the best pitcher left on the market and someone the pitching-needy Texas went hard after themselves, so this is something of a double bonus for the Angels since they get an excellent pitcher to solidify their rotation while keeping him away from the Rangers. And make no mistake, Greinke is an excellent pitcher. There is some concern over an anxiety order that has troubled him in the past, but it has not been an issue for years. But, that aside, he should only benefit from moving to the Angels. He has pitched in the AL before, so that should not be a tough transition for him. He’ll also get a nice bump from moving to a pitcher-friendly home park with a strong defensive infield as opposed to the hitter-friendly Miller Park and the Brewers’ miserable infield defense, which is important for a groundball pitcher like Greinke.
I’m trying real hard to think of some sort of caveat to add here, but I can’t. This seems like a big, BIG win for Jerry Dipoto and the Angels.
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