Starting pitcher Zack Greinke signed a 6-year contract worth $147 million with the Los Angeles Dodgers Tuesday, This is the largest contract in baseball history for a right-handed pitcher.
Greinke, 29, was selected with the 6th overall pick for the Kansas City Royals in the 2002 Major League Baseball Draft. He made his major league debut in 2004 and pitched for the Royals through the 2010 season. In 2009, Zack Greinke finished the season with a 16-8 record and a 2.16 ERA, the lowest in the majors on his way toward winning the American League Cy Young Award. Following the 2010 season, Greinke expressed his desire to be traded as the Royals were a “rebuilding” team and wanted to pitch for a team capable of contending for the postseason. With shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt, Greinke was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers.
In his first season with the Brewers, he finished with a 16-6 record and a 3.83 ERA. The Brewers won the National League Central division and Greinke got to pitch in the postseason for the first time in his career. In Greinke’s 23 starts at Miller Park, the Milwaukee Brewers ballpark, Greinke had a record of 15-0 and was 1-0 at Miller Park in the postseason. In July of the 2012 season, he was traded back to the American League in exchange for 3 minor league players as he would pitch for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. For the Angels, Greinke would have a 6-2 record with a 3.53 ERA in 13 starts.
The signing of Greinke is another example of the Dodgers new capabilities to spend money. Greinke joins a starting rotation that includes 2011 Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw.
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