Astros Land Zack Greinke In Trade With Diamondbacks

The Houston Astros have emerged from Wednesday’s trade deadline as both the biggest winner and perhaps as the World Series contender.

The Astros on Wednesday acquired Arizona Diamondbacks star right-handed pitcher, Zack Greinke, for a plethora of prospects including J.B. Bukauskus, Seth Beer, Corbin Martin, and Josh Rojas.

Greinke, 35, leads all pitchers in WHIP this season at 0.93 per inning. In 23 starts, Greinke has gone 10-4 with a 2.90 ERA as well.

“Zack Greinke’s one of the best pitchers in baseball. We had him high on our list,” Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said. “We didn’t know if this was even remotely possible, and it really wasn’t until the last 48 hours, really the last 24 hours that we started to get traction on something. [Astros owner Jim Crane] supported us and agreed that we could make the appropriate investment dollar-wise, and it became a matter of finding the right prospects, the right mix of players, to go back. We really don’t have any holes right now. If we stay healthy, this team is as good as any team I’ve ever seen.”

“I don’t know him personally, but I think he’s not a guy that seeks the limelight, and that actually works well for us here in Houston,” the GM said. “And slotting in with Verlander and Cole, he’s gonna not have to be the guy that’s in front of the camera the whole time.”

“Every year going forward there’s going to be multiple good players reaching free agency, so you just don’t know when you’re going to assemble a group this talented again,” Luhnow said. “So you have to take advantage of that, and that’s something Jim believes in and so do I. It’s a balancing act … but we are definitely going for it this year.”

The Astros are responsible for paying the final $53,000,000 of Greinke’s contract.

Article by Jason Hirsch