Lack of Greinke deal apparently holding up entire market

Somebody is going to get Zack Greinke started on his first billion, and this likely before the week is out. The Rangers and the Dodgers have unbelievable stacks of local TV money, and the Angels aren't exactly poor, and those teams are apparently happy to get into a bidding war for Greinke. Which leaves the rest of the market waiting for the signal from on high.

Which leaves the Twins... nowhere.

After two days of what we expected was going to be the 2012 Twins Free Agent Signing Carnival, the Twins have done exactly nothing to shore up their terrible pitching staff, in part because everyone's waiting to see whether the rising tide of Greinke is about to lift all pitching boats across the league. Dan Haren is already off the market, but Anibal Sanchez stands ready to be the consolation prize for the losers of the Greinke sweepstakes, and a clutch of pitchers are waiting to be the focus of their own private bidding wars as desperate teams throw around money for whoever is left.

Perhaps Terry Ryan will surprise us tomorrow, by swooping in for Brandon McCarthy or one of the other moderately-big names in the market. But it's increasingly looking likely that the Twins will be scavenging at the pitching buffet after the big-money teams have eaten their fill and pushed themselves away from the table.

As the days tick by, trading for Alex Meyer and his high upside but limited immediate impact seems like a better and better move from the Twins. Free-agent pitching seems like it may never be cheap again. The Twins' only hope is to develop young pitchers to fill the holes they need - but unfortunately for fans sick of losing, that won't happen for a few more years down the road.