One Los Angeles team joins the other in being made to look bad by Donald Zackary Greinke, as the 32-year-old made the stunning decision last night to sign a six-year, $206.5 million deal with the Diamondbacks. The Dodgers, playing with Monopoly money, saw Greinke predictably take advantage of the third-year opt-out in the six-year contract they gave him in December 2012 — but instead of agreeing to a new landmark deal to stay, the righthander signed with a division rival for money LA surely had the wherewithal to pay.
Back when the Dodgers sign Greinke to that six-year deal in December 2012, he was coming off a failed pennant race with the Angels, who had picked him up that July from Milwaukee by stripping its farm system (which would be ranked dead last by Baseball America going into 2013) of Jean Segura, Johnny Hellweg, and Ariel Pena.