Zack

Greinke

The 40-year-old hurler still has hopes of continuing his pitching career and the Diamondbacks are willing to let him use their facility to see where things go as he ramps up. He only began throwing seriously around two weeks ago, so it’s going to take him a while to get back into game shape. It’s very early in the process, but perhaps we haven’t seen the last of Greinke on a big league mound just yet.

Morosi adds that Greinke’s representatives have communicated to teams that he’s aiming to pitch in 2024 and is open to contract talks. Royals general manager JJ Picollo told reporters last month that that the 40-year-old righty had yet to make a final decision, but it appears that he’s preparing to return for a 21st season in the big leagues. He finished the 2023 campaign with a lackluster 5.06 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and 97/23 K/BB ratio across 142 1/3 innings (30 appearances, 27 starts).

The 40-year-old right-hander made 30 appearances (27 starts) for the Royals during the 2023 season, registering an unappealing 5.06 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and a 97/23 K/BB ratio over 142 1/3 innings. He’s currently a free agent, so if he does decide to pitch another season he’ll have the added luxury of choosing where he wants to do so.

Maybe the biggest positive player news of the day. Greinke had been stuck on one win since May 3, and he had accumulated 15 losses pitching for an awful Royals team. He hasn’t said what his future plans are. He was of some interest around the league a year ago after a respectable first season back in Kansas City, but 2023 saw him finish with a 5.06 ERA. If he wants to continue his career at age 40, it’ll probably take competing for a rotation spot somewhere.

If this is it for the 39-year-old Greinke — and we have no idea whether it will be — he finished up nicely, even on a night on which he didn’t seem to have his best stuff. It’s too bad for his stats that Greinke chose to return to Kansas City two years ago, but if he’s happy, who cares? We’re already looking forward to his Hall of Fame speech.

The fourth strikeout moved him past Bret Saberhagen and into fourth place in Royals history with 1,093 in his career. While it could be pushed back, Greinke is currently slated to make his final appearance of the season on the road next week, so he got a little sendoff from the Kansas City crowd today. He hasn’t said whether he intends to continue his career in 2024.

The 39-year-old hurler struck out one batter on the night — officially that is — as he made a perfect 3-2 pitch to Martin Maldonado that was horrifyingly called ball four. That loaded the bases for Jose Altuve in the second inning, but Greinke rallied to get him to ground out to third base — the final batter he faced. On the season, Greinke sits at 1-15 with a miserable 5.39 ERA, 1.31 WHIP and an 85/20 K/BB ratio over 128 2/3 innings. He’ll do battle against the Guardians his next time out at home on Wednesday.

Greinke is 1-15. His career winning percentage was .624 when he opted to return to Kansas City two years ago. He went 4-9 the first year to drop to .613. Now he’s down to .589. Greinke also lost more than he won during his first seven years with the Royals. In all, he’s 65-91 with the Royals and 159-65 elsewhere.

The 39-year-old followed an opener on Sunday, but it didn’t seem to matter. He allowed five hits and one walk without registering a strikeout in 3 2/3 innings. He now has a 1-14 record and a 5.34 ERA and it has become clear that we’re likely witnessing the end of what has been a tremendous career. He should not be on fantasy rosters.

Greinke fell behind early on, giving up two runs in the first three frames, and wound up being out dueled by Pirates starter Johan Oviedo, who spin a two-hit shutout. The soft-tossing 39-year-old right-hander is in line to face the Red Sox on Sunday in his next outing.