KC Royals: Fans Should Be Grateful For Zack Greinke Trade

By Leigh Oleszczak | Oct 26, 2015

The KC Royals are headed to their second consecutive World Series. It’s been a fun two years following this team, but a large part of this team’s recent success is due to a trade that occurred in 2010.

Some of the new Kansas City Royals fans might not know this, but current free agent starting pitcher Zack Greinke was once a member of the Royals. Drafted by Kansas City in 2002, Greinke went on to compile a 60-67 record with a 3.82 ERA in over 1,100 innings pitched.

Greinke was a Cy Young Award recipient with the Royals in 2009 where he went 16-8 with a 2.16 ERA. He was the best starting pitcher the Royals have had in years, there’s no question about that.

The problem with Greinke was he was with the team back when the Royals were terrible. Greinke wasn’t happy being a member of the Royals and wanted to be apart of a winning team. He wanted to play for a championship.

That’s why in December 2010, Greinke requested to be traded to a different team. He was eventually traded to Milwaukee along with Yuniesky Betancourt for Jeremy Jeffress, Jake Odorizzi, and some guys named Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar.

People were angry with Greinke when the trade occurred and a lot of Royals fans still aren’t fond of the guy due to the way he left KC. In all honesty, Royals fans need to be thanking Zack Greinke for wanting to be traded. Greinke leaving brought Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar to Kansas City, and they’ve become two of the biggest stars for the KC Royals in the past few years.

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Both guys each have an ALCS MVP honor to their name (Cain won in 2014 and Escobar won this year), were voted as starters in this year’s All-Star Game, and have been defensive studs the last two years.

Escobar has an Ultimate Zone Rating of 7.1 this season while Cain had an impressive 14.3 Ultimate Zone Rating, according to FanGraphs. These two guys are the heart of the Kansas City Royals and it’s difficult to imagine this team without either of them.

Since he departed Kansas City in 2010, the Royals have been to two World Series and Zack Greinke hasn’t been to any. Maybe I just enjoy irony, but that’s comical to me. He left to go to a better team, and has yet to reach a World Series.

I doubt Greinke cares that much though. He was making $147 million with the Los Angeles Dodgers and recently opted out of his contract for next season. I won’t be shocked if Greinke does indeed return to Los Angeles, but earns more money with them. The Royals weren’t (and still aren’t) the type of team who can afford big time pitchers like Greinke, and that was always a known fact.

I can’t imagine anyone still being upset with Greinke, as him being dealt brought two of the best players the Royals have had in recent years to Kansas City. Maybe it’s time to let the Greinke anger go.

Dayton Moore sure has a way of winning big trades, at least in the past few years. He also did a good job in the James Shields/Wade Davis trade in 2013, as Davis has become an absolute stud in the bullpen in the last two years. Shields also was a critical piece in getting this team to the playoffs in 2014.

Let’s hope the big trades this past summer in getting Johnny Cueto and Ben Zobrist end up paying off as well. Moore has done a great job getting the right pieces for this team to succeed, and trading away a big time pitcher like Zack Greinke had to be difficult.

I can’t imagine anyone still being upset with Greinke, as him being dealt brought two of the best players the Royals have had in recent years to Kansas City. Maybe it’s time to let the Greinke anger go, and start being grateful that he made that decision. I’m over it.

So, thanks Zack! We all wish you the best wherever you end up next season (just don’t play for an AL Central team or the Cardinals please).

Next: Times Sure Have Changed For Royals Fans

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