For Dodger fans, Zack Greinke’s opt-out clause is a no-brainer – pay the man … and do it now. But for Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi, their “wait and see” approach is all but guaranteeing that the 31-year-old right-hander will not be a Dodger next season.

How is it that the two guys calling the shots for the richest team in professional sports and responsible for assembling the best team on the planet would allow the current best pitcher on the planet (sorry Clayton) and leading 2015 NL Cy Young award candidate to leave without so much as a fight?

While many consider Clayton Kershaw the overall best pitcher on the planet, it’s hard to argue that Zack Greinke isn’t the current best pitcher on the planet. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Now granted, it is extremely rare for teams and players (through their agents) to negotiate extremely high-end contracts during the actual season; in fact, you’d be hard-pressed to name three who have. But if Friedman and Zaidi have any hopes of keeping Greinke in Los Angeles – at least north of the 110 freeway – they’d be well advised to get the ball rolling, right now, while they are still the only team allowed to negotiate with him; because the longer they wait, the more expensive Greinke becomes.

But do Friedman and Zaidi even want to keep Zack Greinke? By every indication, they might not. There are rumors almost daily that the Dodgers have already accepted the fact that Greinke will walk the minute the 2015 season ends – and why wouldn’t he if he can land a multi-year career contract that will provide him financially secure for the rest of his life and those of the next five generations of Greinke’s? But are these rumors based on the belief that the Dodgers have already conceded that Greinke is a goner or are they perhaps a sign that they plan go after guys like Cole Hamels, Johnny Cueto and Scott Kazmir (to name only three) and make a play for Greinke after he opts out to make their rotation even better? Again, we’re talking about the richest team in professional sports here.

For now all of this is, at best, prognostication and, at least, anybody’s guess. But one thing is as sure as death and taxes – with each passing second, the price tag for Zack Greinke will keep going up. In other words, he will never come any cheaper than he is right this second.

Tick… tock… tick… tock.