Greinke is a Goner

Rough day for Royals fans as a 27 year old former Cy Young Award winner has been traded. A local fan favorite has been dealt and it will feel like Beltran, Damon, Dye all over again for some people. At first blush I think the Royals could have received a little more for Greinke, but there are some intriguing players coming back in this deal. We’ll get to those players in a bit, but first I’m going to sit in my ivory tower for a minute. There is nothing more annoying to me than a prima donna in sports. No one likes A-Rod or T.O. because of their “me-first” attitudes. You can now famously add Derek Jeter and LeBron James to that list. You see fans don’t like it when players give the impression that they don’t play for you and your home team first. Fans want their players to respect the name across their chest and act like they care about the tradition it brings. Hey, many of them don’t – I know that, but when they constantly remind you of it, it’s hard to cheer for them. The other type of prima donna fans tend to hate is the one that reduces his effort when times get tough (Randy Moss, Jose Guillen, T.O. (again), Albert Haynesworth, etc). I think this type of player is even worse than the A-Rod types who are just pure narcissists. These guys take their talent and waste it, because they would rather pout in the corner than work hard to overcome adversity. I despise these players. The reason I’m talking about all these jack-asses is because sadly, that is what Zack Greinke had become to the Royals.

You may write off Zack’s recent transformation to prima donna as Zack being goofy, crazy, nutty, etc. I don’t. Yes Zack is whack, he is very unique and no one will ever be able to grasp what is going on in his head. It used to be funny and kind of a cool story and people would love to hear his crazy post-game interviews and off the wall comments. Last year though, it started to get more depressing than funny. Zack openly questioned why he should care and try hard down the stretch when the Royals were in their usual pathetic end to the season. Some will say that Greinke hates losing and that he has a right to bitch and complain about our performance. Yeah, to an extent, but when you can see him dialing it in on the mound in a meaningless August game, that is when I take exception. That is unprofessional and when you are given a $38M contract, you have obligations. I can’t just take days off whenever I feel like it at my job, why should Zack be able to do it? Because he throws 95 MPH? Because he says funny things? That was the start of my Greinke decline. The next thing he did was leak out that he wanted to be traded in the offseason. After the Royals stuck by him during all of his mental issues that made him walk away from the game, this is the thanks they get. When Greinke retired from baseball in 2006, the Royals easily could’ve have let him go and chalked it up as a tough break for our system. They stuck by Zack, the PERSON, not the ballplayer. Buddy Bell will always deserve tremendous credit for treating Zack like a person and not a commodity. He helped him find the joy in baseball again (and in life for that matter). Thanks to the Royals support, Zack resurrected his career, won a Cy Young, and got a $38M contract. Thirty-eight million dollars. Let that sink in. Then when times get tough and losses pile up, he tells Dayton that he wants out? Thanks for the loyalty Zack – real stand-up guy. There was a report about a month ago that Zack asked Dayton to explore trade options and said (threatened) “You won’t want me around the team in 2011” insinuating that he would be a bad seed in the clubhouse. Then it surfaced this week, that Greinke fired his agent and had upgrade his trade request to a trade demand. Wow, thanks again Zack. You really helped our leverage in negotiations with other teams. Now, when Moore tries to hold out for more of a return, the other team can say, “C’mon, Dayton. This kid wants out and has said you don’t want him around next year, you got to move him for your clubhouse, take the deal.” Yeah, that makes Dayton’s job much harder and therefore dings the return you can expect. That’s a chicken shit move, Zack. Dayton now has to trade a malcontent who has mental issues that caused him to leave baseball before, who probably couldn’t handle a handful of the markets that are after him, who can waive a trade to half of the MLB teams, who is coming off a 4.00+ ERA, and who has announced to the world that he doesn’t want to play in KC. So, with all that being said, what did he get?

You will see this phrase often in the Greinke trade analysis – “quantity over quality”. People will be quick to say that Dayton Moore looked to fill position needs (SS, CF) rather than go after best available talent. Well those people are right because that is exactly what he did – however, the debate will rage on over the type of “quality” he got. I was debating this the past few weeks – Should Dayton go for a blue chip prospect return or fill organizational holes? Very valid argument and I see both sides. Part of me thought that you need big names if you’re going to move Greinke. I get worried when I hear GM’s announcing what they want in return for a player. You see, back in the day Allard Baird told the world he wouldn’t trade Carlos Beltran unless he got a C and 3B back in the deal. Then every team patched together an offer with a C and a 3B and who knows what kind of premium talent was omitted from offers going forward. Now, if Mark Teahen and John Buck didn’t suck at baseball, maybe I wouldn’t point to this example, but I just don’t like announcing what you want in return. Seems to limit your options a bit. While Dayton didn’t come out with a worldwide telegram like Baird, there were rumblings behind the scenes that he was looking to build this team up the middle. Ok, that’s not as narrow as Baird’s statement, because it includes C, 2B, SS, and CF. Also if you look at our talent in the minors its Moose (3B), Hosmer (1B), Myers (will move to RF) so I guess you could kind of figure what Datyon needed any way. Well apparently the rumblings were correct as Dayton traded Greinke for pieces to help build our 25 man roster up the middle. Ok, let’s get into the return.

Alcides Escobar – The central piece of the deal. For all intents and purposes, Escobar is our SS of the future. He measures 6’1” and 175 lbs; he throws and bats right handed. Escobar was a very highly touted prospect before his 2010 rookie season for the Brewers. He was the #1 prospect in their system and ranked #12 in Baseball America’s Top 100 (for comparison our number #1 was Mike Montgomery and he was #23 in the Top 100). He was also the #1 ranked SS in the minors, so this guy has had a very good track record. His tools and makeup compare to Elvis Andrus, the stud TX SS who was part of the Mark Teixera deal when ATL gave up the farm for him. He will not hit for power, but he is Gold Glove caliber for sure. If he can get on base at a decent clip and steal bags and play his great defense he will be a very good MLB SS. The problem is that he had a rough rookie season - his line last year in Milwaukee was .235/.288/.326 which is not good. It’s actually really bad, but that is where the divide is on Escobar. He was 23 last year and a consensus top prospect and then he had a bad rookie season. Does that make him Tony Pena Jr.? I hope not - and Escobar, unlike TPJ, had a minor league track record of hitting well. At AA (2008) he had an OBP of .363, at AAA (2009) he had an OBP of .353 and is a lifetime .293 hitter in the minors. The question for Escober is can he bounce back from his rookie campaign. If he can just give us .330 OBP he will be an above average MLB SS. Shortstop is a premium position right now and there is a definite lack of talent in the MLB – if Escobar can give us that it will make this trade look much better.

Lorenzo Cain – dude has a sweet name, sounds like he should’ve been a Linebacker at ESU in The Program. Zo plays CF, bats and throws right handed, and has a nice frame at 6’2” 200 lbs. This is another guy who has a high ceiling, but may just be another 4^th OF in our stable. Last year in 84 games split between AA and AAA, he put up a slash line of .317/.402/.432 and his minor league career line is .291/.366/.416 which is pretty good considering that his best talents are his speed and defense. I won’t compare him to Joey Gathright because he is not a toothpick, but he is a speedy CF. He has proven that he can hit in the minors and last year he spent a little time in Milwaukee and in 158 PA’s his slash line.306/.348/.415 and stole 7 bases. He doesn’t project to hit like that in the majors, but it’s nice to see he had some success. I could see Cain as a .280/.335/.400 guy who plays good defense and steals bases. If he can do that, then he is a very good piece considering he will be very cheap for the next 5 years. Some might wonder what this means for Dyson or Blanco, but all it does is give us more options and more depth. I would bet that Cain starts the year in CF (Dayton said today that he will be given an opportunity in spring training) and Melky is our 4^th OF. Not sure what this means for Blanco as he is out of options – you’d think there would be another trade for one of our OF’s. Dyson will be up in the summer at some point after we have traded Melky to a contender. My favorite thing about Cain is how he is similar to Carl Crawford. No, he will not be as good as Crawford, that’s not what I’m saying. However, both Cain and Crawford picked up a bat for the first time in high school. They are raw athletes who came to the game late and they have potential to improve later in their development. Some people are very high on Cain, some think he is just average. Like all trades, time will tell. I know that I’m very excited to watch him play baseball. Start with this.

Jake Odorizzi – 20 year old RHP who became the #1 prospect in the Brewers system when Escobar became an MLB player. He was the minor league pitcher of the year for the Brewers and is a 4 pitch guy with terrific makeup. He was a 1^st round draft pick and scouts love his ability. He is 6’2” 180 lbs and has similar style to Greinke actually (He will not be another Greinke, but he is similar to him and has 2-3 starter ability at the MLB level). He immediately moves to the top of the RHP rankings in our system. Odorizzi will make it the major leagues, it’s just a matter of when and in what role. He should stick as a starting pitcher though he wore down a bit last year but he is only a couple years out of high school. His numbers last year in A ball – 3.42 ERA 120 IP 99H 40BB 135 K. Very good numbers. He has a very smooth delivery and throws low 90’s consistently and can pop 94-95 (sound familiar). His plus fastball with sink goes with a plus curve and a slider as well. He needs to work on his changeup like all young pitchers, but he should start the year in High-A and then go to AA as the season carries on. Look for him to debut in 2013 and be a piece of the Royals 5-man rotation. Scouts say that Odorizzi would be a top 3 prospect in any teams system right now, any team but the Royals. He is probably the 5^th best pitcher in our system right now behind our crazy LHP talent. Another thing to be excited about.

Jeremy Jeffress – This guy brings the smoke out of the pen. This guy also loves to smoke outside of the pen. He has been busted for pot twice in the minors and one more strike like that and he gets a lifetime ban. However, the good news is that the MLB union doesn’t allow pot testing so as long as he is on our MLB team, he can continue to get high every day. This guy throws 100 MPH and will immediately be a flamethrower out of our pen. Our bullpen is going to be filthy in the next couple years. With Tim Collins, Louis Coleman, Blaine Hardy, Robinson Tejeda, and now Jeremy Jeffress we are pretty stacked with POWER arms. This is good because it gives us trade chips at the upcoming trade deadlines. We did this with Ramon Ramirez and Leo Nunez (though the return was weak) and should be able to move some of these arms for a talented return. More bullpen depth is never a bad thing, especially for small market teams who can use that as a weapon (the Devil Rays did this in the WS run).

After trades like this go down, people want to see a grade assigned, but it’s too early for that. We really have to see how these young guys pan out. However, we have supplemented the wave of Moose/Hosmer/Myers/Montgomery/Duffy/Lamb/Crow/Colon with these 4 players. Unfortunately, our rotation is going to be hurting as Hochevar looks to be our opening day starter (gulp) but we are getting more young, cheap players in place. I will say this – 2011 just got more exciting in my book, that may sound crazy since a Cy Young pitcher will no longer pitch every 5 days. However, I prefer to watch ballplayers who want to win and play hard 100% of the time, I’m old fashioned I guess. After being obsessed with Greinke’s every start in 2009 and watching every pitch with excitement, my feelings for Zack took a nose dive in 2010. No, not because his numbers slipped, but because his effort slipped in a big way. That being said, he is still an excellent pitcher with an affordable contract so he was certainly a trade commodity. Though who knows, maybe Zack would've flaked out if we kept him and that would've killed any future trade value. I think its a decent return considering that he forced our hand and every day we kept him was a risk that his value could plummet with another freak out. I’m not sure how I’ll feel about Zack a few years from now, will there still be a bad taste or will I remember the Cy Young and Chipotle comments? I don’t know, but just like my thoughts on this trade - time will tell.

One more thing... YUNI IS GONE. Praise Jesus. First Hillman, then Guillen, now Yuni. Who is left to hate???

Exit Question: Sound off if you feel like it.