Zack Greinke listed as Diamondbacks’ worst contract by ESPN

It’s been over three years since the Diamondbacks shocked the baseball world by signing Zack Greinke to a massive six-year, $206.5 million deal, but the jury is still out on whether or not this was a good deal.

Greinke has been very good in his time with the D-backs, but the remaining three years and $104.5 million on his contract have left the team financially handicapped.

Because of this, ESPN’s David Schoenfield listed Greinke’s deal as the D-backs’s worst and the 18th worst in baseball in his column ranking every major league team’s worst contract.

18. Arizona Diamondbacks: Zack Greinke (3 years, $104.5 million)

After a less-than-stellar first season with the Diamondbacks, Greinke topped 200 innings the past two seasons with ERAs of 3.20 and 3.21 in a hitters park. His 10.3 WAR over those two seasons ranks eighth among starting pitchers, so the idea that Greinke hasn’t lived up to the contract doesn’t really add up. That said, if Greinke’s contract was viewed as a good deal, they’d have traded him this offseason — and that hasn’t happened.

As Schoenfield notes, Greinke’s contract is lower on the list because he is still a very productive pitcher. The 35-year-old ranked 17th in the majors in ERA last season and 19th in strikeouts with 199.

This is a far cry from some of the names at the top of the list like Chris Davis, Albert Pujols and Jacoby Ellsbury, all of whom have seen their production nosedive during their respective big-money deals.

Greinke’s deal still stands as the highest ever given out by average annual value, though, and for a team that doesn’t appear to be in the playoff picture for the foreseeable future, this could be seen as a burden.

The D-backs reportedly had a desire to move Greinke this offseason, but a deal is unlikely given the fact that they have not found any takers with less than two weeks until pitchers and catchers report.