Written by Dave Tobener at The Comeback
The National League’s biggest blood feud is moving to a new battleground this winter: the free agent market.
The Giants and Dodgers, two old rivals who have combined to win eight of the last nine NL West championships, are fighting it out again. Though this time it isn’t the division that’s up for grabs, but rather one of the best pitchers on the market in Zack Greinke.
It’s widely assumed that the two teams are the front runners for Greinke’s services, with the Dodgers looking to keep their imposing one-two punch together while the Giants are trying to create one. And at a rumored price tag of $30 million per year or more, Greinke isn’t coming cheap. But he makes so much sense for both clubs it’s easy to justify the cost.
For the Dodgers, the fit is obvious. Greinke combined with Clayton Kershaw to give Los Angeles the best top of the rotation in the league last year, finishing 2-3 in the Cy Young race and both finishing in the top 10 of the MVP race. Losing Greinke would create a huge hole in the rotation; granted, the Dodgers would probably just throw money at another free agent pitcher, but Greinke just finished a historic season and has been tremendous for the Dodgers over the past three years. Plus, the rest of the rotation behind the big two isn’t exactly murderer’s row. They need a pitcher of Greinke’s caliber to slot behind Kershaw.
The Giants are in the same boat, though their situation is a little different. They have their ace in Madison Bumgarner, but there’s no one else comparable to him in the rotation. The Giants struggled to find any consistency with their pitching last year yet still remained in contention through late September. If they had someone like Greinke (or, Greinke himself) going every fifth day, their chances of making it back to October would have been much better. And with an already dangerous offense returning to full strength next year, upgrading the rotation with one of the best pitchers in the game would seem to make the Giants prohibitive favorites in the National League.
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