The Astros have made a trade for Zack Greinke of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Astros get Greinke while sending prospects Seth Beer, Josh Rojas, Corbin Martin, and J.B. Bukauskas to the Diamondbacks in return. The Astros get a third ace to their rotation and do so without giving up the coveted prospects of Kyle Tucker and Forrest Whitley.
#Astros' haul: Zack Greinke, Aaron Sanchez, Joe Biagini.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 31, 2019
To dbacks for Greinke: Corbin Martin, jb buskauskas, 2 other recent high picks of theirs in system
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 31, 2019
Greinke is 10-4 in 2019 with a 2.87 ERA and 128 strikeouts. While his strikeout numbers don't come close to those of Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole, he is still a reliable arm that can go deep into games and get outs. He also sits second in the league in WHIP, currently at 0.94 which is second to only Houston's own Verlander.
Greinke has a great resume; he is a seven-time All-Star, five-time Gold Glove winner, and 2009 Cy Young winner in the National League. He currently sits 31st on the all-time strikeout leaderboard with 2,563 in his career. Zack also has plenty of experience in the postseason, starting in eleven games over five playoffs dating back to 2011. He has not, however, had great success in those starts, posting a 3-4 record and 4.03 ERA accumulatively.
His best start in the postseason came in 2014 with the Dodgers when he went seven shutout innings against the Cardinals in an NLDS win. This season, his best start was arguably the July 5th game at home against the Rockies where he went seven innings without allowing a run while striking out nine.
Greinke is far from a rental, he will be under team control through the end of the 2021 season, marrying him with the Astros for the same amount of time as Justin Verlander, should they keep him through his current contract.
The acquisition of Greinke is a strong move for Houston, who is vying to not only improve their chances to win in 2019 but in the coming years.
*Update:
The Astros also acquired Blue Jays pitchers Joe Biagini and Aaron Sanchez in exchange for Derek Fisher. Earlier Wednesday, Houston traded OF Tony Kemp to the Cubs for catcher Martin Maldonado.
