Does $20M a year set the bar for a no-hitter?

Does Zack Greinke’s new contract turn up the heat to toss a no-hitter?It appears that if you want to have at least one career no-hitter under your belt these days, it helps to make at least $20 million a season.

Off-season contracts have been skyrocketing lately, and it appears that the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Zack Greinke and the Boston Red Sox’s David Price owe their fans some no-nos. The other two pitchers to net big raises ahead of 2016’s Opening Day, Max Scherzer and Jordan Zimmermann, already notched their no-hitters during their time with Washington Nationals.

Pitcher
Team
Avg. Salary
Year
No-nos


Zack Greinke
ARZ
$34.4 million
2016
0


David Price
BOS
$31 million
2016
0


Max Scherzer
DET
$30 million
2016
2


Jordan Zimmermann
DET
$22 million
2016
1

Of the other pitchers to earn more than $20 million per season, only Cliff Lee, CC Sabathia and Masahiro Tanaka failed to achieve the rare feat:

Pitcher
Team
Salary
Year
No-nos


Clayton Kershaw
LAD
$32.6 million
2015
1


Justin Verlander
DET
$38 million
2015
2


Johan Santana
NYM
$25.5 million
2013
1


Cliff Lee
PHI
$25 million
2013
0


Felix Hernandez
SEA
$24.9 million
2015
1


CC Sabathia
NYY
$24.3 million
2010
0


Cole Hamels
PHI/TEX
$23.5 million
2015
1


Tim Lincecum
SFG
$22 million
2013
2


Masahiro Tanaka
NYY
$22 million
2015
0


Matt Cain
SFG
$21 million
2015
1