Brad Cesmat
Zack Greinke lost at Philadelphia on Wednesday night. The Diamondback right-hander is not pitching like the third highest paid player in Major League Baseball. He hasn’t shown in the first month of the season that he’s worth the $34-million that the Diamondbacks are paying him(who is?). General Manager Mike Hazen has done a very good job of assembling a roster that has jumped out to a quick start. Does he have enough equity built up within the ownership group to move Greinke at some point this season, even if the team is a playoff contender? “Hazen is his own man,” ESPN Baseball Insider Pedro Gomez told me on Wednesdays show. “He (Hazen) has already had a lot of success in a short period of time, he’s already built up in his bank account with Ken Kendrick, he’d had to have Kendrick sign off on it because there would be money eaten.” click here for entire interview
https://www.sports360az.com/2018/04/pedro-gomez-on-d-backs-success-talk-to-the-lopes/
Greinke won 17 games in 2017, but beat just 6 teams with winning records in those 17 victories.. 2-2 here in 2018 with an earned run average approaching 5 isn’t what Ken Kendrick should be paying north of 30 million dollars for in a starting pitcher. Remember, Patrick Corbin and A.J. Pollock are free agents after this season. Paul Goldschmidt is STILL playing with a below- market contract that sorely needs to be addressed.
The Diamondbacks have captured the attention of the community. The Suns haven’t had a playoff game in over 2,880 days(Yes, I did the math), The Cardinals are retooling, the Coyotes are making progress, Arizona State football and basketball are interesting, and there may be Major League Soccer joining the pro sports market soon.But for right now, the Hometown 9 could rule the market. They have something good happening between the lines, but they also have big business obligations to figure out sooner than later. Greinke and his contract are going to be central in the equation in the coming months, if not sooner…
