Ken Rosenthal has a good story about how the Arizona Diamondbacks signed Zack Greinke.
And no, it’s not “by offering him the most money.” That part we knew already. Rosenthal’s article is the tick-tock of how the Diamondabcks brass came to the decision to make Greinke an offer and how, less than six hours after the idea was first given voice, Greinke had agreed to a deal.
It’s a good article in its own right but it’s made better by the fact that we simply don’t get a ton of “how deals come together” stories most offseason. And often when we do, they’re more about the various offers between teams not about what was actually going on on the ground, who was where, etc. This one takes us right inside the Dbacks front office. And, with only cameos from their number one and number two baseball operations folks -- Tony La Russa and Dave Stewart -- it’s clear how, when the deals get really big, it’s maybe even more of a business decision than a baseball decision.
Also: there is a Bernard Gilkey shoutout. Which is always welcome.
