Zack Greinke unlikely to pitch in Australia following calf injury?

Zack Greinke exited today’s Spring Training game with a right calf strain. To some that timing might seem convenient since Greinke is publicly unhappy about his obligation to pitch baseballs in Australia next month. We do have video evidence, however, that the injury occurred…kinda.

As for whether or not this affects his status for the aforementioned games in Australia, Mark Saxon of ESPN LA writes that he believes it is unlikely that Greinke will make the trip (and possibly ace Clayton Kershaw as well). The reason, of course, is that the Dodgers do not want to take any risks with their two biggest investments:

"Those two Australia games carry as much weight as any other regular-season games, but the Dodgers are probably wise to pull Greinke from them if he’s not comfortable ramping up his season that way. Truth be told, none of the Dodgers starting pitchers is particularly keen on having to rush to get ready that soon, but Greinke and Clayton Kershaw represent a bigger chunk of the Dodgers’ future than any two other starters, specifically $362 million of the team’s future commitments.When in doubt, the Dodgers are probably going to lean toward keeping those two guys happy.”"

With this early injury, that certainly seems the likely course of action with Greinke. It will be interesting to see what the Dodgers decide to do with Kershaw as they prepare for their unusual season opener.