An unusual signing that the Miami Marlins might consider for a good reason

This has been a disaster of a season for the Miami Marlins. Injuries have been piling up and starting pitchers are out for the season. If that's alarming enough, some others could still miss significant time. Sandy Alcantara, Eury Perez, Braxton Garrett, Jesus Luzardo and hopefully the list will not go on. With the season going down the drain, there could be one interesting way to get some interest....

What if the Miami Marlins signed free agent starting pitcher Zack Greinke?

Why should the Miami Marlins sign Zack Greinke? I've seen suggestions on X to sign him to fix the team's declining pitching depth. It seems pretty pointless to do so, as there is a big reason why he's currently an unsigned free agent. The reason? He pitched to a 5.06 ERA/4.74 FIP, with 6.1 K/9 and 1.5 BB/9 in 30 games and 142.1 innings pitched.

He's also 40 years old, so it's hard to see what advantage there would be in signing him for The Fish. He's not much better than any other depth option based on his 2023 results. Worse, he probably could be even worse. There is a reason why the Kansas City Royals weren't that interested in bringing him back after that season.

So why should the Miami Marlins sign him then? Maybe to eat some innings and protect the arms of the team's young pitchers? That actually could be a valid reason in my view. It's not however the reason why signing him might actually make some sense. Let's get something else out of the way, he's going to get a 1-year deal for a few million dollars.

The answer is to be the team that gives him a chance to reach a personal career milestone. He has 2979 career strikeouts, he doesn't need that many more to reach 3000 strikeouts. It's a chance for the Miami Marlins to be in the history books, give him a nice career milestone and pehaps fill some seats with fans interested in seeing a rae historical moment happen. Is this a "reach'? Possibly, but what else do we have this season?