Yankees Trade Rumors: Zack Greinke is on the trading block

Expect every starting pitcher added to the trade block rumor mill to end up on the New York Yankees radar this summer. We have a new ace in the pool of potentially available pitchers; perennial Cy Young candidate, Zack Greinke.

Another summer, another plethora of Yankees trade rumors for starting pitching. According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Arizona Diamondbacks ace Zack Greinke will be a name to watch this trade deadline season.

“If money was no object, Greinke would head the list. He may no longer have the same blazing fastball, but he’s the modern-day Greg Maddux with his brilliance. He’s 6-1 with a 2.12 ERA since opening day. The biggest detriment is his contract. He’s in the final three years of his original six-year, $206 million deal, paying him $31.5 million this year, $32 million in 2020 and $32 million in 2021. The remaining contract is deferred by $32.5 million, but still, there are few teams willing to swallow the contract in its entirety, much less provide prized prospects to go along with the huge paycheck.”

Greinke won the AL Cy Young award in 2009, and he’s finished in the Top-10 of Cy Young votes four times since 2013 with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks. Money aside, the addition of Greinke would be great for the Yankees because he would immediately become the ace of the staff, at least until Severino comes back.

The veteran will turn 36 in October and would be a fantastic addition for the postseason. He may have lost a few ticks on his fastball, but he’s still among the elite starting pitchers in the league. Through 11 starts this season, he has a 6-2 record, 2.89 ERA, 0.865 WHIP, and 67 strikeouts through 71.2 innings pitched.

The roadblock for the Yankees and general manager Brian Cashman will be Greinke’s salary. According to Spotrac, the 14-year league veteran will not be a free agent until 2022 and will be owed an approximate amount of $64 million in salary over the 2020 and 2021 season.

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Cashman will have options to choose from this summer. It’s possible that Mike Minor of the Texas Rangers and Trevor Bauer of the Cleveland Indians may be pitchers available for New York to make a run for as well. However, Greinke is the biggest fish in the pond. It also wouldn’t be the first time the Yanks and Dbacks made a trade.

In recent history, the Yankees, Diamondbacks, and Detroit Tigers made multiple three-team trades that brought quality players to the Bronx. In December of 2014, the Yankees acquired Didi Gregorius, and in December of 2009, the Yankees acquired Curtis Granderson. Also, I know some of us Yankee fans want to forget this, but who can forget when they acquired Randy Johnson heading into the new year in 2005?

If Brian Cashman can convince the Diamondbacks to eat some of Greinke’s salary, I believe a reasonable trade can be accomplished.