New Astros starter Jake Odorizzi and Zack Greinke have a long history, despite only having met each other once before recently becoming teammates.
Notably, Odorizzi has modeled his game after Greinke's since entering the Major Leagues.
Odorizzi was also a piece in the Greinke trade from the Kansas City Royals to Milwaukee Brewers in 2010.
Eight years later, when Odorizzi went through arbitration with the Tampa Bay Rays, the two finally met.
Greinke sat in for Odorizzi's arbitration hearing in 2018, when current Astros general manager James Click worked in the Rays' front office.
"He sat in and wanted to know about the arbitration hearing, so I met Zack that day. He helped do some research on my hearing itself," Odorizzi said when introduced to reporters Tuesday. "I'm looking forward to getting to know him on a personal level and talking pitching with him because he's got a great mind for pitching. It's something I'm really looking forward to, having that relationship with him.
Click explained Tuesday the Odorizzi signing was not a reaction to Framber Valdez's fractured left ring finger, which is expected to sideline the lefty for a significant period of time.
Odorizzi was the top free agent remaining on the board, Click said, and their prior relationship in Tampa factored in.
"Certainly, the prior relationship always gives you some comfort about the player, as well as the person," Click said. "Whenever you enter into these contracts, you're signing a person and not just the guy on the field. But it was a combination of we know how talented he is and bringing that in was something we felt was valuable to the team."
Odorizzi, 30, was an All-Star in 2019, his last full season, posting a 15-7 mark in 30 starts for the Twins with a 3.51 ERA. In 159 innings of work that season, he tallied 178 strikeouts and allowed just 139 hits.
Odorizzi was limited to just four starts in the abbreviated 2020 season due to rib and blister injuries.
"The 2020 season was difficult to assess for a wide variety of reasons," Click said. "Jake battled some blister issues last year and maybe the shortened season didn't give him the ability to prove he was beyond that. But that is something we got comfortable with over the course of the conversations to make sure he's beyond that.
"He's never had an arm or shoulder injury in his entire career. So we're expecting him to be fully beyond that."
For his career, Odorizzi, 30, is 62-56 in 195 appearances (192 starts) with a 3.92 ERA in parts of nine seasons pitching for the Royals, Rays and Twins. His 182 starts from 2014-19 ranked third in the American League in that span (30.3 starts per season).
Odorizzi also made a postseason start for the Twins in the 2019 American League Championship Series against the Yankees, allowing two runs in 5.0 innings of work with five strikeouts.
Odorizzi's contract is structured to keep the Astros under the $210-million luxury-tax threshold, guaranteeing $23.5 million over three years with a player option and performance bonuses and escalators that could raise his earnings.
The average annual value of $7.83 million brings the Astros' luxury-tax payroll to about $208.5 million, just $1.5 million under the threshold.
The Astros should feature a starting rotation with Greinke, Odorizzi, Lance McCullers Jr., Jose Urquidy and Cristian Javier.
