MLB Free Agency: 5 potential landing spots for Zack Greinke

New York Yankees

While the Red Sox may be hesitant to sign a big free agent arm, the rival New York Yankees may have no choice but to do so. The team simply cannot afford to go another season without a reliable arm to anchor the rotation.

New York used 10 different starting pitchers in 2015, as the team failed to get 30 starts out of a single starter. Masahiro Tanaka missed 11 starts with lingering elbow issues, C.C. Sabathia lost six with knee problems, and various ailments hampered Michael Pineda, Nathan Eovaldi, and Ivan Nova last season.

The Yankees will be after an arm that will not only make their start every five days, but can also consistently give them 200 innings. The good news is that there are arms capable of doing so, with David Price and Zack Greinke both consistently hitting that mark nearly yearly.

That said, Price may be far outside the scope of the Yankees desire to spend. New York is hampered by bad contracts and age, and the current ownership group is not the Steinbrenners of old. While they are willing to spend, Brian Cashman isn’t given free reign to do so unabashedly.

That likely puts Greinke into their price range, as does his durability and pitching style. Six years of Greinke would also be easier to swallow than spending an extra $10 million annually on Price. That may also become more affordable if Sabathia is unable to secure his vesting option for 2017, which triggers if he doesn’t end 2016 on the disabled list.

The Yankees will be players on the free agent market in 2016, and if they can unload one of their bad deals, they’ll certainly be in the mix for a top tier starter like Greinke.

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