There has been some smoke surrounding the Chicago Cubs and a certain National League West, Cy Young winning pitcher. No, oh no, we aren’t talking about Clayton Kershaw – although that would be awesome. No, the rumors have been around current Arizona Diamondback, Zack Greinke.
If you recall, there was some buzz around the Cubs’ interest in Greinke when he opted out of his deal after the 2015 season. Which was an extremely smart move. Zack was coming off his best season as a pro, in every measurable area, and had a scoreless inning streak of 45.2 innings – essentially 25% of his season.
He turned that success into a 6-year $206 million contract.
After a rather disappointing 2016, Zack has rebounded so far in 2017. Carrying a 1.029 WHIP, 3.09 xFIP, 68 ERA-, .223 BA, is striking guys out at a higher rate than ever, and is walking guys near career averages again. While his ERA is about double his insane 2015 mark (1.66), Zack is playing in the second most hitter-friendly park in baseball.
So now to the rumors…
On Twitter, David Kaplan posed a question to his tweeps.
Are the Cubs scouting Zach Greinke? Does he make sense as a fit in the Cubs rotation?
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) May 16, 2017
If you follow his rabbit hole, David mentions that sources have confirmed the Cubs have been scouting Zack. While he didn’t go too far into those rumors, I could only imagine he is talking about the Keith Law and Buster Onley conversation on Buster’s Baseball Tonight Podcast.
During the cast, Keith tells Buster that the Cubs were more than just scouting Zack, they were doing so with explicit interest.
“I’d heard specifically they were scouting Zack Greinke pretty heavily in spring training; more than just ordinary spring training coverage. And that, that was part of a plan to go out and scout pitchers with multiple years of control remaining and potential to be a one or two starter in their rotation.”
The Cubs certainly do have a need for a top line starter, not only in 2017 but beyond. With question marks surrounding Jake Arrieta‘s future with the team, and John Lackey likely leaving as well, two of the top three starters could be gone in 2018. It is and should be expected that Kyle Hendricks steps into a number two role if this were to happen, but Jon Lester, Hendricks, and maybe Eddie Butler isn’t a formidable championship rotation.
This lends validity to the Cubs potential pursuit of Greinke. But does he really fit the mold? He is a 33-year old starting pitcher that is owed an average of $31.625 M over the next four years. If one of the biggest arguments against giving Arrieta a huge deal is his age, Zack is two years his senior.
I really believe the Cubs had/have “interest” I just don’t know if it is as strong as implied. If that makes sense.
I would be willing to bet the Cubs were mostly scouting guys that have multiple years control and can be a top line starter. I don’t believe their interest runs much past that. While many things can change between now and July 31st, a Greinke deal makes little sense unless Arizona covers a hefty portion of his contract. If the Cubs did make a run at Zack, it would most certainly mean 2017 is Arrieta’s last in Chicago as well.
The Cubs will most definitely complete a trade, and it will certainly be for a starting pitcher. I’m betting it will be for someone south of 30 and not north of it.
