The Texas Rangers are looking to upgrade their starting pitching in the offseason. One pitcher they’re reportedly looking at is Zack Greinke.
“Two major-league sources said Tuesday night that the Texas Rangers have been in contact with the Arizona Diamondbacks about a swap of star right-hander Zack Greinke,” Jeff Wilson of the Star-Telegram reported. “One of the sources said that the deal is contingent upon Arizona taking outfielder Shin-Soo Choo in return, and so far the Diamondbacks are balking.”
Greinke has a partial no-trade clause in his contract. The list of teams does not include the Rangers.
I'm told the Rangers are not on Zack Greinke's 15-team no-trade list.
— Nick Piecoro (@nickpiecoro) December 13, 2017
We certainly get why Texas would be interested in Greinke. What’s hard to fathom is why Arizona would trade him — at least with that kind of return.
The Diamondbacks aren’t exactly traditional sellers. They were 93-69 a season ago, earned the National League’s top wild card spot, and won the Wild Card Game. With a 17-7 record, 3.20 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, and 215 strikeouts in 202.1 innings, Greinke was the ace.
Generally, playoff teams don’t sell their top players. They certainly don’t trade them just to take on another big contract, like Choo’s. Choo is clearly on the downside of his career and his contract would make it hard for Arizona to add talent needed to make up for Greinke’s loss.
Certainly, the Rangers have every reason to try. But from what we’ve seen, Texas can’t be close to actually landing Greinke.