With Don Mattingly taking the Marlins manager job, he left Dodgers fans with a good sense of where the organization stood with another team member.
Mattingly said he has no doubt that Greinke will opt out of his contract with the Dodgers, which has three years remaining and $71 million, as reported by several media outlets.
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But the former Los Angeles skipper sounded as if the Dodgers are still in control of whether they can retain the Cy Young Award candidate next season, according to The Los Angeles Times.
"I think he's opting out. I would think that's 100 percent sure," Mattingly told The Times. "To get Greinke back, I would think you have to make a commitment to five, six years, and then you're into a 38-year-old starter. And the back end of those deals don't look very good sometimes. A lot of people think Zack can pitch for a long time because his motion is good and he knows how to change speeds."
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The Times did not report whether the Dodgers were among the "people" who think Greinke still has several years left as a dominant pitcher.
Greinke, who turned 32 last week, had the best season of his career in 2015, going 19-3 with a 1.66 earned-run average for Los Angeles.
In his three years in Dodger blue, Greinke has gone 51-15. The 2009 Cy Young Award winner with the Royals has a 91-78 record combined over the remainder of his career.
No other free-agent pitcher has Greinke's résumé, and the Dodgers know that they always will have an opportunity to get to the World Series with Greinke and Clayton Kershaw on their roster.
Unless the free-spending Dodgers suddenly decide to curb their budget expense, they have reason to retain Greinke. If they don't, it will because they don't believe he'll be able to pitch for a lot more years.
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