ONE FOOT IN FUTURE
Diamondbacks hedge against .500 season, trade Greinke for prospects
NEW YORK – In a move nearly as stunning as when they signed him four years ago, the Diamondbacks traded right-hander Zack Greinke to the Houston Astros on Wednesday afternoon, the last in a flurry of deals executed by General Manager Mike Hazen that he hopes better positions the organization for the future without entirely punting on the present.
In return, the Diamondbacks received four prospects and shed a little more than two-thirds of the $77 million remaining on Greinke’s record contract. The deal was made in concert with the acquisition of right-hander Mike Leake from the Seattle Mariners, a starter whom they hope will help shoulder some of the workload Greinke had carried in parts of four seasons with the Diamondbacks.
The Diamondbacks also acquired another starting pitcher earlier in the day, landing young right-hander Zac Gallen from the Miami Marlins.
The club went into Wednesday’s trade deadline expected to be a clear seller. Instead, the Diamondbacks both bought and sold.
“I’m sure there were deals we could have done in other places, but I never really looked at going into today thinking this was, ‘Tear it down to the studs.’ It was let’s see if we can figure out a way to satisfy some long-term pieces and figure out a way to maybe make the team deeper even if we maybe took a little tick back in trading a number one starting pitcher.” Mike Hazen Diamondbacks GM
It’s not hard to see how the trades could help the organization in the long run. Whether they’ll allow the Diamondbacks to remain competitive in this year's wild-card race remains to be seen.
In comments to reporters, Hazen seemed to sort of toe a line between acknowledging that his team’s uneven play in recent weeks – the Diamondbacks are 54-55 after losing 7-5 to the New York Yankees on Wednesday – played a hand in his willingness to part with Greinke, while also suggesting he expects his team to remain in the hunt for a wild card despite losing its best pitcher.
“I know where we are relative to the standings,” Hazen said. “We haven’t played very well recently. But I also feel like we were able to satisfy some longerterm needs, spread out some of those needs, while at the same time we didn’t touch our position-player group, and we feel like this team has a chance to compete.”
Hazen drew parallels between the Greinke deal and the December trade of slugger Paul Goldschmidt, in which the Diamondbacks gave up a perennial star in exchange for three players and a draft pick.
“Much like we did with the Paul trade,” he said, “understanding that we were giving up what is certainly the best player in the deal, but knowing that in time we would recover some of that and spread it out in ways that will impact our 25-man roster more thoroughly than, say, one Zack Greinke.”
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said that sometime during the sixth or seventh inning on Wednesday he got a tap on his shoulder and a message to call Hazen. When he did, he was told to summon Greinke and call him back.
Moments later, Lovullo found Greinke in the video room, and the two walked to the visiting manager’s office. Lovullo said Greinke did not say a word. But Lovullo knew Greinke realized what was happening.
“Mike was the one that delivered the official news,” Lovullo said. “But I think Zack knew once he came in this office in the middle of the game that something was going on.”
In the bullpen, relievers had the game on a television when they heard the broadcast mention the deal.
“I was like, ‘Hold up. Did they just say Greinke?’ ” Diamondbacks reliever Archie Bradley said. “And then they showed who (the Astros) traded for and it was like, ‘Whoa. There goes Zack.’ ”
The move could be a tough sell in the clubhouse. Greinke remains, despite advancing age (he’s 35) and diminishing velocity (his fastball averages 90 mph), one of the better pitchers in baseball. He also was a linchpin to the rotation and staff as a whole.
Leake and Gallen, both of whom are expected to move into the rotation, will have a hard time approximating Greinke’s value.
Hazen did not dispute that the deal could be viewed as something other than a true commitment to this year’s roster.
“Fair,” Hazen said. “I am open to that criticism. I am prepared to explain my thinking on Friday when the team gets back. … I don’t feel like the way we played for the last four months that we were one player away from turning this from where we are to where we need to be. And as such we reacted, making these deals.”
Still, there were trades Hazen did not make on Wednesday. The club entered the day widely expected to move lefthander Robbie Ray; sources with multiple clubs said the Diamondbacks’ asking price on Ray was extremely high, with one describing it as “crazy.”
The Diamondbacks also did not part with various other veterans whose names were floating around in rumors throughout the past week, including Bradley, lefty Andrew Chafin and outfielder Jarrod Dyson.
“I’m sure there were deals we could have done in other places, but I never really looked at going into today thinking this was, ‘Tear it down to the studs,’ ” Hazen said.
“It was let’s see if we can figure out a way to satisfy some long-term pieces and figure out a way to maybe make the team deeper even if we maybe took a little tick back in trading a number one starting pitcher.”
The Diamondbacks will send the Astros $24 million to help offset what’s remaining on the six-year, $206.5 million deal Greinke received in December 2015. The club will be on the receiving end when it comes to the Leake trade. They will pay only $6 million of the roughly $20 million owed to Leake this year and next, and the Mariners will cover Leake's $5 million buyout should the Diamondbacks decline his 2021 option.
Leake, 31, is an Arizona State product who is said to have wanted to pitch for the Diamondbacks for years.
He is a quintessential inning-eater, a durable, pitch-to-contact starter with mediocre results – he has a 4.40 ERA in 137 innings this season – who can be counted on to soak up innings over the course of a season.
Dumping Greinke’s salary should allow the Diamondbacks to spend the savings in a variety of ways in the future, but Hazen said it was far from the only consideration
“We would never have considered trading Zack Greinke without talent (coming back),” he said. “That would have been a nonstarter.”