I honestly think Kershaw has a good chance of hitting the Free Agent market, ofcourse the Dodgers could make him a huge offer and keep him, but I don't see Kershaw as a guy who would take a deal based on the dollar signs attached to it. I see him as a guy who is going to play where he is comfortable/ can win/ and wants to be there. He still drives an 04' dodge pickup for goodness sake.

Like stated earlier if he is going to go away from Los Angeles I think the Rangers have the best shot of doing it, and that is a very very good thing.

Whether or not Kershaw ever becomes free - and right now it seems less likely - eric is right. The Dodgers do seem to have a huge pile of money, but the luxury tax is still in effect, and it's not something to just be ignored. The Yankees are trying to get under the threshold soon, because it's getting more and more expensive. The Dodgers are already projected to be over this year, and adding Greinke at, let's just say they backload it only a little and in 2013 it's $20m, that's essentially $24m. And it goes up from there. While theoretically they can just pay all that, like the Yankees have been doing, at some point someone will realize it's a waste of money and try to curb it. I'd like to think that, even though they are on a spree, that there is a limit to how much they will actually spend a year. And, if that's the case, eric is right; they should consider what they'll do with Kershaw in a couple years when debating how much they can throw at Greinke.

Of course, I'm not sure the Angels are out of it. That just doesn't seem right. I fully expect we'll hear their name in the conversation more.

I think JD is going to pay for Greinke and then trade for Price, giving the Rangers the best rotation in baseball overnight.

My answers to 1-3

1. No
2. Yes
3. No

A career 3.77 ERA pitcher isn't an ACE and definitely not worth $25M.

@ NC17

Except Greinke has put up a FIP of 2.98 and 3.10 the past two seasons, and MIL's infield D the past two seasons and LAA's last season weren't terrible but they weren't that great either.

You might be able to question how "clutch" he is though by looking at how he has done against the better AL teams during his career. He has owned DET (13-6, 2.74 ERA) and OAK (6-1, 3.12 ERA) but they're going to be much improved over the previous versions he has faced, and against LAA, NYY, CHIWS, and TB he's only a combined 12-22 with a 3.92 ERA.

You could go back and forth on Greinke. If we land Greinke that means we can't afford to re-sign Hammy, and if we re-sign Hammy, that means we can't afford to sign Greinke. Greinke would be more valuable to the team than Hammy would, but I wouldn't be hugely disappointed if we didn't land him.

MLBTRADE posted an interview with Pete Gammons. Here is the portion dealing with Greinke. Incidentally, elsewhere in the interview there is speculation the Dodger payroll will reach 220mm and could break 300mm. With what I believe is more than a touch of irony Gammons mentions the owners know a lot about entertainment.

Does Zack Greinke have a shot at topping C.C. Sabathia's $161 million contract?

I think there's a chance. It's going to be really interesting. It's been brought up to me a couple of times recently that, first of all, Greinke is having Casey Close and the people at Excel do a great deal of background checking on each team. Zack is a fascinating guy in a lot of ways, and he wants to know everything. I'm sure you've read tke stories that Doug Melvin told about when they were preparing for the draft and Greinke would go down and look at video of high school and college pitchers and break them down and give his advice, he was really into it. It's stuff that we don't really know because Zack doesn't open up to us. Which is fine, he doesn't owe me anything. I'm told he's very detailed on where he wants to go. I'm sure catchers are going to be very much in it.

I don't know about the Angels. It's been said to me that they're not going to go over the $17.5MM that Weaver gets [annually] over the next four years. If that's the case, then they won't get him. I don't know where Texas is going to go, and I don't know if Washington could do it or not. One thing I've been told is don't underestimate Zack Greinke looking at Clayton Kershaw and saying, "There's a guy I'd really like to have for a teammate." Kershaw is one of the finest people in the game, incredible preparer, there's a lot of Chris Carpenter in him. If you're going there for five or six years, you want a pitcher that can be the number one starter and take a little pressure off. Kershaw is one of those guys that players want to play with.

Does Zack Greinke have a shot at topping C.C. Sabathia's $161 million contract?

I think there's a chance. It's going to be really interesting. It's been brought up to me a couple of times recently that, first of all, Greinke is having Casey Close and the people at Excel do a great deal of background checking on each team. Zack is a fascinating guy in a lot of ways, and he wants to know everything. I'm sure you've read the stories that Doug Melvin told about when they were preparing for the draft and Greinke would go down and look at video of high school and college pitchers and break them down and give his advice, he was really into it. It's stuff that we don't really know because Zack doesn't open up to us. Which is fine, he doesn't owe me anything. I'm told he's very detailed on where he wants to go. I'm sure catchers are going to be very much in it.

I don't know about the Angels. It's been said to me that they're not going to go over the $17.5MM that Weaver gets [annually] over the next four years. If that's the case, then they won't get him. I don't know where Texas is going to go, and I don't know if Washington could do it or not. One thing I've been told is don't underestimate Zack Greinke looking at Clayton Kershaw and saying, "There's a guy I'd really like to have for a teammate." Kershaw is one of the finest people in the game, incredible preparer, there's a lot of Chris Carpenter in him. If you're going there for five or six years, you want a pitcher that can be the number one starter and take a little pressure off. Kershaw is one of those guys that players want to play with.