When Zack Greinke became a free agent this offseason, many expected the Los Angeles Dodgers to re-sign him. That nearly came to fruition as Greinke appeared to be in the home stretch of making his decision when the Arizona Diamondbacks interjected with a record offer.
Greinke ultimately bolted for Arizona, signing a six-year, $206.5 million contract that set a new Major League Baseball record for highest average annual value at $34.42 million.
While Los Angeles did replace the 32 year old with another ace, they rounded out their rotation by signing Scott Kazmir to a three-year contract, and Japanese righty Kenta Maeda to an eight-year deal.
Clayton Kershaw, the other half of the Dodgers’ one-two punch at the top of their rotation over the past three seasons was said to be disappointed, but understanding of the club losing Greinke.
Beyond what Greinke provided from the mound, Justin Turner said he would miss the close friendship he established with the right-hander. Andre Ethier shared a similar sentiment, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“It hurts big losing Zack,” Ethier said. “Personally, he is one of the better friends I had on the team. It hurts a lot to lose a guy like him, but that happens in any sport and especially baseball. But it happens and we’ve got to move on and figure a way to get better, and we’ll see in a couple weeks.
Ethier is currently the longest tenured player on the Dodgers roster as he is entering his 11th year with the club. If he is with the team on April 21 then he will earn the right to veto a trade by virtue of being a 10-year veteran who has spent the past five years on the same team.
The 33 year old enjoyed a bounce back year last season after struggling through 2014 as he hit .294/.366/.486 with 14 home runs and 53 RBIs in 142 games. Yet, Ethier’s role with the Dodgers remains unclear as he’s part of an outfield that includes Carl Crawford, Alex Guerrero, Joc Pederson, Yasiel Puig and Scott Van Slyke.
Kiké Hernandez and Trayce Thompson may be thrown into that group as well.
