Zack Greinke Rumors: Royals Decide Not to Trade Former Cy Young Winner at Deadline

The Kansas City Royals have reportedly decided against dealing veteran starting pitcher Zack Greinke before Tuesday's MLB trade deadline.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post noted that while Greinke "probably could help someone," the Royals have chosen to keep him.

In 17 starts this season, the 38-year-old six-time All-Star is 3-6 with a 4.41 ERA, 1.30 WHIP and 50 strikeouts over 87.2 innings pitched.

While Greinke has had an ERA over 4.00 in each of the past three seasons, the 19-year MLB vet put together a resume that could potentially be worthy of a Hall of Fame induction over his first 16 seasons.

Greinke owns a career record of 222-138 with a 3.44 ERA and 1.16 WHIP. He has also struck out 2,859 batters in 3,197.2 innings.

Along with his six All-Star nods, Greinke is a six-time Gold Glove winner, a two-time ERA champion and won the American League Cy Young award with the Royals in 2009.

Greinke began his MLB career in Kansas City in 2004 after the Royals selected him with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2002 draft.

He remained with the Royals for seven seasons before enjoying stints with the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Arizona Diamondbacks and Houston Astros.

Greinke spent parts of three seasons in Houston before going back to where it all began by signing a one-year deal with the Royals.

The one major missing piece from Greinke's list of accolades is a World Series title, and if he does indeed remain with the Royals this season, he won't achieve that goal in 2022.

At 41-62, the Royals are 13.5 games out in the AL Central and own one of the worst records in MLB.

That, along with Greinke's status as an impending free agent, seemingly would have made him an ideal trade candidate at the deadline.

Given that Greinke is little more than a back-of-the-rotation starter at this point in his career, however, the return likely wouldn't have been great, and that may have contributed to the Royals' reported decision to keep him around as a veteran leader.