Trading Greinke

Dealing established stars for prospects used to be the bane of a Royals fan existence so I'm just a little surprised to see so many wanting Greinke to get moved (some even want Soria dealt too). I appear to be in the minority when it comes to KC dealing Greinke this winter though I understand why others think this is necessary. Maybe he won't be part of the next competitive Royals team and maybe prospects the Royals get in return help speed up the rebuilding process, maybe, maybe, maybe. KC has been down this road before and here they sit after another 90+ loss season.

Reports are that Moore has to be blown away by an offer but let's be honest, it doesn't exactly take much to wow him and he does have a fetish for defensively challenged low OBP guys. So in theory a Greinke could trade could help KC but if done wrong it could set the rebuilding process back. And my money is not on Moore getting back equal or greater value.

But that's not why I'm against Greinke getting dealt. I'll give you three reasons, no I take that back, I'll give you twelve.

• Rick Anderson (47 IP, 61 ERA+)
• Mauro Gozzo
• Ed Hearn (39 PA's, 91 OPS+)
• David Sinnes
• Tony Medrano
• Chris Stynes (134 PA's, 56 OPS+)
• Gregg Jefferies (657 PA's, 103 OPS+)
• Kevin McReynolds (838 PA's, 105 OPS+)
• Keith Miller (614 PA's, 85 OPS+)
• Jeff D'Amico (13.2 IP, 56 ERA+)
• Brad Rigby (29.2 IP, 53 ERA+)
• Blake Stein (355.2 IP, 99 ERA+)

That, my friends, is the entire haul the Royals received for trading David Cone (twice), Bret Saberhagen, and Kevin Appier. This collection of garbage is all KC received for trading arguably the three best starting pitchers in franchise history. A lot of good has been done in the minors since Moore arrived but his moves at the major league level have been less than inspiring. This is pretty much a unanimous consensus so if he's asking for major league ready talent in return for Greinke, well, that worries me.

Moore's strategy of loading the farm system with potential superstars while simultaneously acquiring below average talent for the major league team may still payoff, in fact I'm almost certain it will. As long as Moore stops signing turds (for lack of a better word) 2012 and beyond should be entertaining for Royals fans. Hopefully next season will be the springboard to competitiveness making a Rangers/Giants type turnaround imminent.

Here's a little three year comparison to this years World Series participants with their respective payrolls in parenthesis (courtesy of Cot's).

Year	Royals	Rangers	Giants
2008	75-87 (58,245,500)	79-83 (67,712,326)	72-90 (76,594,500)
2009	65-97 (70,519,333)	87-75 (68,178,798)	88-74 (82,616,450)
2010	67-95 (74,985,210)	90-72 (64,810,570)	92-70 (96,277,833)