An ace turns up at end
Greinke arrives in deal made at last minute to lift rotation
CLEVELAND — Jeff Luhnow and his small group of front office lieutenants gathered inside the Union Station offices high above Minute Maid Park. Thirty-five minutes remained until Wednesday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline. Baseball games from around the majors played on various televisions and laptops.
Attention turned to Zack Greinke, the Arizona ace almost no one thought was tradeable. Pitchers about to be dealt do not normally make scheduled starts. Yet here was Greinke, delivering five innings of two-run baseball at Yankee Stadium.
“We were working on other things,” said Luhnow, the Astros’ general manager. “Some stuff that (we thought), ‘Eh, that’s probably not going to happen.’
“But then it all sort of came back together.”
The next half-hour handed the Astros baseball’s best rotation and expectations of nothing but a World Series title. They acquired Greinke, a six-time All-Star and former Cy Young Award winner, for a highly regarded foursome from their once-fertile farm system.
“Zack Greinke was at the very top of our list in terms of players who we thought could impact our chances to win the World Series
this year,” Luhnow said on a conference call Wednesday afternoon. “(He) could really fit in well on this club for the next couple years while we still have our whole offensive club together.”
The trade transfixed baseball and brought a stunning end to Houston’s frenzied deadline. The team made four deals, acquiring catcher Martin Maldonado from the Cubs before getting two Blue Jays pitchers — Joe Biagini and Aaron Sanchez — as the deadline drew to a close. Additionally, backup catcher Max Stassi was sent to the Los Angeles Angels in exchange for two minor league prospects.
Greinke will join the Astros this weekend with a 2.90 ERA and a National League-low 0.943 WHIP. It is unknown when he will make his Astros debut. Because he pitched Wednesday, a logical next turn would Tuesday against the Colorado Rockies at Minute Maid Park.
When Greinke joins Justin Verlander (2.73), Gerrit Cole (2.94) and Wade Miley (3.06), Houston will have four of the 13 lowest ERAs among qualified major league starters.
“We acquired him because of how good he is, and certainly we expect him to be a big part of our push to win the division and into October,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “He’s an incredible pitcher. … We feel like we can have one of, if not the, best rotation in baseball.”
Unlike Cole, under control
Like Verlander, the 35-year-old Greinke is under club control for the next two years. His addition alleviates a looming concern within the Astros’ starting rotation, which could lose Cole and Miley to free agency following this season.
News of Greinke’s addition did not trickle out until eight minutes after the deadline. Teams are only required to submit their trades to the league office by 3 p.m. CDT, so some deals don’t get reported until the deadline has passed.
Minutes before the trade broke on social media, Luhnow informed Hinch it was done. The manager immediately called a team meeting. He raced to turn off the television sets in the clubhouse. He wanted to be the first to deliver the news.
“(Hinch) came in with a big smile,” Cole said. “We were very excited. A lot of hooting and hollering.”
Cole could not contain his excitement. He and Greinke have grown close after meeting at an AllStar Game. Cole and his wife, Amy, coincidentally ran into the Greinkes in Europe this summer. Zack enjoys wine. Cole is a connoisseur himself.
“I have an Old World buddy,” Cole quipped.
Referring also to the 2017 deadline deal that brought Verlander to Houston, Cole said: “We had some deadline acquisitions in Pittsburgh but not quite like this. We never acquired two Hall of Famers in the span of three years.
“(Greinke) strengthens us. He allows us to spread the load, both from a bullpen perspective and a rotation perspective, with highquality, elite innings. The guy is just a monster.”
Greinke is playing on a six-year, $206.5 million contract he signed in 2016. Arizona reportedly sent $24 million to the Astros in the deal, leaving Houston to cover the remaining $53 million. The addition boosts the Astros’ 2019 payroll to $171,108,290, according to spotrac.com.
“I have to commend (owner) Jim Crane for stepping out and be willing to take on a salary,” Luhnow said. “We’ve already taken on not only the extensions we did, but we’ve got the highest payroll in the history of the Astros, and that’s only going to go north.
“It was really Jim’s … I wouldn’t even say it was cooperation … it was Jim’s collaboration and desire to see another championship in Houston that motivated us to get in touch with Arizona.”
Luhnow did not contact the Diamondbacks or general manager Mike Hazen until Tuesday. Arizona
presented a four-person return package on which it would not budge. Luhnow and his army of analysts attempted many “permutations” and “replacements” for the prospects Arizona desired. None were accepted.
“At the end of the day, that was the deal they insisted on, and that was the only deal that was going to get done, and we conceded at the last moment,” Luhnow said.
Three prospects in deal
The package included three of Houston’s top eight prospects, according
to Baseball America. Pitchers Corbin Martin and J.B. Bukauskas were dealt along with corner infielder Seth Beer, the team’s first-round pick in the 2018 draft.
Beer is the only member of the return ranked in Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects. Luhnow said Wednesday he told teams throughout the deadline that the organization’s top two prospects — pitcher Forrest Whitley and outfielder Kyle Tucker — were “off limits.”
Class AAA utility man Josh Rojas was thrown in, completing a deal Luhnow once doubted could come together. It fluctuated between what he called a “5 and 60 percent chance” all afternoon.
“We ended up stretching a little further than we thought we would,” Luhnow said. “But at the end of the day, I think it was the right move for us.”
Cutting it close
Reviewing medicals on all involved parties and sending the deal to the commissioner’s office took up the final 20 minutes of the deadline.
Luhnow said it was all complete “with less than a few minutes to go.” The deal evoked memories of the late-night coup for Verlander two Augusts ago.
The timing of a deal such as that is impossible now. Only one trade deadline exists. If no action is taken in July, a season can be stagnated and playoff hopes diminished. The Yankees chose this route, acquiring no help for their fading rotation. Their offense was handcuffed Wednesday by Greinke — in his final act as a Diamondback.
“Incredible day for our organization,” Hinnch said. “The energy in our room after something like that happens is palpable. You know that what you have in front of you is one of the greatest opportunities to keep our winning ways alive.”