ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS

Greinke signing shows that the Diamondbacks are for real

Dec 5, 2015, 1:37 PM | Updated: 1:39 pm

Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Zack Greinke throws to the New York Mets during the first inni...

Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Zack Greinke throws to the New York Mets during the first inning in Game 2 of baseball's National League Division Series, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2015 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

(AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

A text from a friend on Friday night simply read: “You got your wish. They have money and they spent it.”

Big time. Zack Greinke is a Diamondback.

For years the D-backs were the guy who goes to Vegas on a budget. Nickel slots. Two dollar Blackjack tables. Standing and watching while their friends played at the big tables.

But now, with their new local TV deal intact and their worth-every-penny debt behind them, the D-backs can afford to let loose and play at the higher limit tables.

Have a seat boys and don’t be afraid to double down. Their pursuit of Johnny Cueto was encouraging. Landing Greinke put the D-backs at a level that many didn’t think they were willing or able to achieve.

The Diamondbacks signing of Greinke was the best kind of Christmas present. Big. Bold. Unexpected.

It’s the baseball equivalent of those fancy car commercials where you wake up on Christmas morning and find a luxury sedan sitting in your driveway with a big red bow on it. Things like this happen only in a TV commercial.

Yet today one of the best pitchers in baseball is on the D-backs. Combine him with one of the best hitters in the game and now you’re in business.

It’s exactly what this franchise, this fan base and just as importantly this market needed.

The Cardinals are the undisputed champ right now. ASU football had an untimely moment of regression. The Coyotes are hovering. The Suns are flirting with catastrophe. This town is begging for another franchise to join the Cardinals in not just relevance but real contention.

In a move that resembles their acquisition of Randy Johnson all those years ago, the D-backs announced that they are that franchise.

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