New York Yankees Rumors: Will the Yankees Pursue Zack Greinke?

Last Friday MLB Insider Jon Heyman reported that Zack Greinke has opted out of his contract, leaving a three-year commitment and $71 MM on the table to test free-agency.

Despite Greinke turning 32-years old this week, Heyman reported that one anonymous GM suggested that Greinke should get multiple offers for $125 million over five years, at a minimum. The same GM predicts the winning bid to be about $150 million over five years, which will one up the $147 million deal over six-years that he signed three years ago with the Dodgers.

Though many of the early predictions insist that Greinke re-signs with the Dodgers, Heyman listed 12 other mid-to-big-markets teams that should be interested Greinke’s services, including the San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers, Arizona Diamondbacks, Philadelphia Phillies, Miami Marlins, St.Louis Cardinals, Texas Rangers, Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, and of course, the New York Yankees.

So should the Yankees really pursue Zach Greinke?

Aside from an every-day second baseman and a fine-tuned outfield, the other off-season need the Yankees must address this winter is starting pitching. Once again, their 2015 rotation was injury-riddled all season long. Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda and Nathan Eovaldi were all sidelined with forearm strains. CC Sabathia‘s knee flared up again and Ivan Nova is clearly having trouble rebounding from Tommy John surgery. Even pitchers who made spot starts for them throughout the season were injury plagued, including Chris Capuano who suffered a groin injury in spring training and Bryan Mitchell who suffered a concussion after being struck in the head by a line drive.

All these injuries have left the Yankees without a true ace, and if the Yankees aren’t confident in the 21-year old Luis Severino to lead their rotation next year, they should look no further than bringing in Zack Greinke.

The right-hander pitched to a career high 19-3 record with a 1.66 ERA and an incredible 9.3 WAR this year in Los Angeles. According to Brooks Baseball, despite his four-seamer sitting at an MLB average 92 mph, it still generated many more strikeouts when compared to other four-seam fastballs around the league. When he decided to pull-the-string and toss his change-up, which averaged 89 mph in 2015, he generated a ton of ground balls thanks to the natural sinking action equipped to the pitch. His slider, which averaged out at 87 mph is one of the best in the game and his arsenal also features both a curve-ball and a slow curve that both completely fall off the table and help keep hitters off balance.

When all was said and done, Greinke recorded 200 strikeouts to just 40 walks, and despite out-pitching his teammate Clayton Kershaw and posting one of the best single season performances in the game, he’ll likely finish as the runner-up to Jake Arrieta for the National League Cy-Young award, who had a career year in ‘South Side’ with the Cubs.

However, if the Yankees were unwilling to open the checkbook and sign big-name free-agent pitchers to long-term deals in the 2014 off-season like Max Scherzer, Jon Lester or James Shields, they might not be interested in doing it this winter either.

With many MLB insiders predicting Greinke to land a five-year deal, the question now becomes whether or not his arm will hold up through age 37. Since his debut in 2004 with the Kansas City Royals, Greinke has tossed a combined 2,152.3 innings including the postseason. This year he tossed over 220 innings for the first time since 2009 and 2010 when he did it in back-to-back seasons with the Royals. He also pitched 200 innings or more six different times in his MLB career to date, which is a lot of wear and tear for a pitcher. The last thing the Yankees need is a huge financial commitment going horribly wrong. It’s also important to note that when the Yankees were linked to Greinke in the past, it was revealed that his social anxiety disorder might not bide well with the New York fan base.

Still, all these factors aside, Greinke might just be worth the risk. Imagine a big-three that includes Zack Greinke, Luis Severino and Masahiro Tanaka? On the plus side, Greinke is represented by Casey Close and Excel Sports Management, the same agency that represented Derek Jeter and Masahiro Tanaka through their negotiations with the New York Yankees.

Zack Greinke in pinstripes?

What do you think Yankee fans? Let us know in the comments below!

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