October is always a slow time of the year in Royals Universe. The playoffs are in full swing, and our team is once again at home watching the games. The free agent market doesn’t take shape until after the World Series and then you have the winter meetings in December. Then you have the first of the year and the Fan Fests and various hot stove topics which lead you into February and pitchers and catchers. It seems like a ways off, but it’s closer than we think. Which is a good thing.
So as we count down the days to Halloween, we’re left to scour the interwebs for anything Royals. But aside from Dayton Moore saying he’s tired of losing (Hey Dayton, those of us who have been around have been saying that for the last 22 years.) and the odd Zack Greinke noise from national baseball writers, all is quiet on the Royal front.
But today, I’d like to address the Greinke rumors.
His name has started to pop up with regularity when the discussion is starting pitchers who could be available this winter. Get used to it.
I can be accused of being myopic or too close to the situation since I’ve been watching Greinke ever since he arrived in Kansas City, but I don’t think I’m over stating it when I say he’s one of the top five young arms in the game. That’s a fairly rock solid statement that even the East Coast Baseball Elite can get behind. (I also have election fever, but that’s another story entirely. You bet’cha!)
Then there’s the little situation of Greinke’s contract. He’s eligible for his second year of arbitration and is due a tidy little raise from the $1.4 million he collected this year and is now two years from selling his services on the open market to the highest bidder.
Combine his talent with his contract situation and you have the perfect storm of rumors.
This will continue all winter. The Royals would be prudent to take the steps to resolve this situation so it doesn’t hang over Greinke and the team. The longer it continues, the more of a distraction it will become.
The Royals have two choices.
First, they can trade him.
Sam Mellinger had an excellent article where he talked to an unnamed scout about Greinke’s value
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