Zack Greinke on Opener in Australia: "I would say there is absolutely zero excitement for it."

That certainly makes more sense than opening overseas to play games that count, only to return to spring training to play exhibition games like in years past. Nonetheless, some players aren’t exactly pleased. Most notably, Zack Greinke.

“I would say there is absolutely zero excitement for it. There just isn’t any excitement to it,” Greinke told ESPNLosAngeles.com. “I can’t think of one reason to be excited for it.”

Love the candor as well as the spoiled brat tone that emanates from the quote. But Zack Greinke wouldn’t be the first cantankerous pitcher to get up in arms about a trip overseas. Mike Mussina once whined about opening in Japan — both before and after the trip — to the point Yankee fans assumed he was force-fed cat litter for the duration of his stay.

Australian officials are apparently pissed off about Greinke’s quote, and understandably so, but they will not issue a response until they speak with the Dodgers and Major League Baseball.

Dodgers president Stan Kasten did however offer up the following quote on his cranky pitcher:

“Zack has this endearing, contrarian quality to him that we all know and love about him.”

This is really just a nice way of saying that Greinke has a tendency to come across as a colossal dick from time to time.