5 Bold Predictions for the Arizona Diamondbacks in Spring Training

Tony La Russa and company made a huge splash in free agency by inking Zack Greinke to a six-year, $206.5MM deal in the offseason. With a bonafide ace and a youthful yet talented lineup, the Arizona Diamondbacks will now look to make a huge splash from the dessert in the National League West standings.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have won the division three of the last four seasons, with the Giants rounding things out. Arizona last won an NL West crown in 2011, mostly on the strength of their pitching and defense. The D-backs had four starting pitchers on the rotation that year who hit double digits in wins.

An interesting storyline to watch this year will be how Greinke matches up against his former teammates. The 2015 Cy Young runner-up spent his last three seasons pitching for the Dodgers and helping contribute to those division crowns. Dodgers hitters should have just as strong a personal scouting report on Greinke as he will have on the likes of Yasiel Puig, Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford.

An extra treat for D-backs and Dodgers fans in 2016 would be seeing Greinke and Clayton Kershaw listed as the same probable pitchers in a game this summer.

Next: Filling out the rotation