In a somewhat surprise turn of events, the Blue Jays, who were believed to be the strongest bidders for Zack Greinke, lost out on his services earlier in the week as the Milwaukee Brewers wound up being the best suitors.
The Jays, who had a much deeper farm system than the Brewers and probably could have offered a better package than the Brewers did, ended up losing out on the former Cy Young Award winning pitcher.
The Blue Jays rotation, which could have used Greinke’s power arm, has taken quite a hit this offseason, as GM Alex Anthopolous dealt staff No. 1 Shaun Marcum for top 20 MLB prospect Brett Lawrie, a Canadian second baseman earlier in the month.
The Blue Jays rotation currently sits with Ricky Romero, Brandon Morrow and Brett Cecil taking up the top three spots with the last two remaining voids likely to be filled with rookie pitcher and the Jays top prospect Kyle Drabek and a fifth starter from within the organization.
According to some reports, the Royals were asking for both Drabek and outfielder Travis Snider, along with other prospects in exchange for Greinke. But it appears the Royals ended up taking less for Greinke, who earlier in the week fired his agent and demanded a trade, thus lowering his trade value.
The trade worked out to be Greinke and shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt in exchange for shortstop Alcides Escobar, outfielder Lorenzo Cain and right-handed pitching prospects Jake Odorizzi and Jeremy Jeffress from the Brewers.
Escobar was the Brewers’ shortstop last season but struggled at the plate, batting a paltry .235 with 41 RBIs. Cain played in 43 games with the Brewers last season, batting .306 with 13 RBIs. Neither project as power threats in an major league lineup.
Jeffress made 10 appearances for the Brewers last season, going 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA. He has been suspended twice under baseball’s drug policy.
Odorizzi was considered the Brewers’ top minor league pitching prospect and his agent Jason Wood said the team tried “very hard” to keep his client out of the deal.
The pitching prospects rank fairly low though in terms of overall prospect rankings in the majors. Odorizzi is ranked in the top 150, while Jeffress is ranked in the top 250.
While not being too familiar with the Brewers farm system, they could be better than I’m making them seem. The pitchers are former first-round picks for what it’s worth, as Jeffress was selected 16th overall in the 2006 MLB Draft and Odorizzi was taken 32nd overall in the 2008 MLB Draft and the positional players projected as opening day starters for the Brew Crew.
There is some risk with taking Jeffress though. Since he tested positive for a third time in June of 2009 for a banned substance, one more positive test will result in a lifetime ban from baseball.
For Greinke, he moves onto a team that will boast one of the best rotations in the NL Central with Greinke, along with Yovani Gallardo, Shaun Marcum, Chris Narveson and Randy Wolf. The Brewers lineup is pretty lethal with the likes of Prince Fielder (who is likely to stay put now), the Hebrew Hammer Ryan Bruan, Casey McGehee, Rickie Weeks and I wear my sunglasses at night, right fielder Corey Hart.
Greinke, last season, slumped throughout finishing with a 10-14 record with a 4.17 ERA
last season. In 2009, Greinke won the AL Cy Young Award with a 16-8 record and 2.16 ERA.
A late report came out today from the Globe and Mail’s Jeff Blair that Greinke opted to use his no-trade clause against Toronto.
So in the end, it appears he was afraid to pitch in the uber-tough AL East, and opt for a more easier pitching environment in the NL Central, hoping it would better his numbers for a greater payday in free agency.
Did Greinke chicken out of pitching in the AL East?
Personal opinion here, I think if he proved he could win on the big stage, against the likes of the Red Sox, Yankees and Rays, then it would have actually made his value skyrocket.
Also, if it didn’t work out for the two years, whose to say he couldn’t get traded or better yet, sign a one-year deal with a team in the NL Central once his contract expired so he could raise his value again.
“Just really wanted to be in a place where they were playing to win games right away,” he said. It is true you will be winning games with Milwaukee, but who says you couldn’t win them in Toronto, who actually won more games than the Brewers did last season.
In my opinion, I think he chickened out of pitching here (and in the AL East) and was afraid of the environment of the AL East. In the end, I expected this, and this was the main reason I was against trading the farm for this character—or lack thereof.
Thoughts?
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