The Milwaukee Brewers decided to trade for Zack Greinke last December. They agreed to pay him $34.2 million from now until 2012 to pitch. They agreed to pay him $0 to play pickup basketball games.
Yet, pickup basketball games are what he played, and as a result, he now has a cracked rib and will start the season on the disabled list. That scenario is not the one that the Brewers envisioned all winter.
Nevertheless, the team won't punish Greinke , according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, because his contract does not include anything about playing basketball.
"The contract stipulates against playing 'competitive' basketball," Brewers general manager Doug Melvin told the newspaper. "They don't want you playing in men's leagues or things like that. If he had suffered a severe injury playing in a men's league, there probably would be repercussions with his salary."
Over the past three seasons, Greinke went 39-32 with a 3.25 ERA for the Royals. His strikeout-to-walk ratio was 3.74-to-1 in that same span, and his 2.16 ERA in 2009 led the AL and helped earn him the Cy Young Award.
There's no word yet on his points and rebounds totals.
