Zack Greinke, bust?

Zack Greinke. Zack Greinke, Zack Greinke, Zack Greinke. What in the world is going on with Zack Greinke? We didn’t expect you to come over and be the 2009 version of yourself, we did however expect decent production.

WARNING: Irrational fan rant.

Dipoto sent three of our top ten prospects to Cream City for at least 13 starts from you. But if the next 10 are anything like the last three, I’m gonna try to use a gift receipt for this sweater to return you back to Doug Melvin along with a very nasty note.

Your Angels innings pitched only amount for 15% of your total innings pitched this year, but 22% of your seasons entire walk total has come in those 19 innings (2.0 BB/9 for the Brew Crew, 3.8 BB/9 in the land of Mickey Mouse). What gives? Are you afraid of the strikezone now? 8.9 K/9 for the Brewers, 7.1 K/9 for the Angels? You’re a strikeout pitcher. Are you easing up? Trying something new? Because for me, this whole “pitch to contact” thing doesn’t fit you very well. 49 runs (47 earned) in 123 innings in the National League, 12 runs (all earned) in 19 innings in the American League. It’s not as if you’ve never pitched to a DH before, you did win a Cy Young Award in 2009. Be honest with us, you’ve been getting tips from Ervin Santana and Dan Haren haven’t you? Haven’t you?

The prospects given up for you were in our top ten, but let’s be honest, they’d be in the 20-50 range if they were in a farm system that had an abundance of talent in it. They also aren’t costing roughly six million dollars. I know it’s not my money being spent for your services, but a lot of fans really appreciate the low cost for beer at the stadium, and that cost is going to need to stay there if you continue to pitch like you have been. So, will you do us a favor? Get back to doing what you do best, what you were doing before you put on an Angels uniform, and that’s setting up hitters and sitting them down. It’s not that much to ask is it?