The trade that brought Zack Greinke to the Brewers from the Royals in December 2010 is still making an impact on multiple franchises over six years later, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes. The players involved in that deal (Greinke and Yuniesky Betancourt for Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar, Jeremy Jeffress and Jake Odorizzi) have since been involved in several other blockbuster trades and transactions, such as the Royals sending Odorizzi to Tampa Bay as part of the package that sent James Shields and Wade Davis to K.C., or the Brewers parting ways with Greinke in 2012 and getting Jean Segura back from the Angels. It’s quite a remarkable list of trades linked to that original deal, with the Royals of course standing out as the big winner thanks to their 2015 World Series title.
Here’s some more from around the baseball world as we head into the new week…
- While some reports have suggested that the Diamondbacks would be open to trading Greinke, A.J. Pollock or Patrick Corbin even if the team is in contention, GM Mike Hazen told Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic that such a major trade wouldn’t make sense for a team in the playoff race. “If the opportunity has passed on trading one guy or two guys as opposed to the opportunity to win? To me, I’m going to take that tradeoff. That’s a tradeoff that I think we have to take,” Hazen said. None of the aforementioned three players are free agents this winter, Hazen noted, so the club doesn’t have any specific need to trade any of them immediately. Even after today’s loss to the Brewers, the D’Backs are still 31-21 on the year and they hold a 4.5 game lead on the second NL wild card slot.
- Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma are tentatively scheduled to return to the Mariners rotation in mid-to-late June, MLB.com’s Greg Johns writes, though both pitchers are still in the very early stages of their recovery process. Hernandez (righth shoulder bursitis) and Iwakuma (right shoulder inflammation) each threw their first bullpen sessions today, and still have multiple more bullpens and then minor league rehab outings to undertake before leaving the disabled list.
- Teams interested in the Royals’ trade chips are being told that K.C. is still trying to contend, ESPN’s Buster Olney writes (subscription required). At 21-28, the Royals have the worst record in the American League but they sit just 4.5 games out of a wild card spot and 6.5 games behind the AL Central-leading Twins. Given the parity within the league and the Royals’ natural resistance to break up their longstanding core until they have to, it could still be some weeks before we know whether the Royals are clear buyers or sellers at the deadline.
- Several contenders have been boosted by players capable of playing multiple positions, and the next step could be players who can provide bench depth both on the field and on the mound, Peter Gammons writes in his latest GammonsDaily.com entry. The Dodgers are toying with the idea of using Brett Eibner as both an outfielder and reliever, and teams could consider grooming their own two-way players if Eibner succeeds in this role.
It would definitely be interesting to see more 2-way guys enter the league. I’m sure all it will take is one or two guys to succeed, and in the copycat league that is professional baseball, and all other professional sports for that matter, I’m sure we would start seeing more and more 2-way guys.
Some players are definitely talented enough to pitch, hit, and play defense, it’s just those players are forced early on in their professional careers to solely choose to focus on either pitching or hitting and finding a primary defensive position..
I love how all these “Two way” players are guys who cant hit. What’s the point of having a pitcher who can “sort of” hit if they aren’t going to really provide much else anyway?
Having a relief pitcher be a replacement level outfielder even has benefits. You get to exhaust another roster spot to try and find value, diversifies your roster in the event of injuries, double switches, there’s a lot to gain.
What 25th guy on a roster can hit everyone and field a position anyway? Sounds like a starter. Eibner throws 95, and he is OPSing .864 at the major league level against lefties, while being able to play all three OF spots. May as well utilize all of those skills, right?
That Grienke trade was rare simply because every prospect turned out to be a solid major league player to one extent or another. It is what every seller hopes for, but very few actually receive.
The Rangers did really well when they traded Teixeira to the Barves as well. You’re right, it isn’t very often that a seller hits on a quantity prospect return like that.
It didn’t work out with the angels since they traded Segura , what if they kept him and didn’t trade for Greinke
Yuni. He was about as serviceable as a Plymouth Acclaim. The way management tried to encourage the fan base on him instead of finding a replacement was frustrating. They had a chance to win now and let Yuni be Yuni. My toilet has/had more range. I do remember him hitting well, I believe, late in season and in the playoffs, but still not the guy you want out there. Granted, they traded their biggest chips but should have found a way to either keep Escobar or go another route to find a SS.
It sounds good in theory, but the truth is that succeed in one role is already difficult at the MLB level and judging by the numbers less than 3% of the players signed make it to the big leagues as one role player ,imagine trying to be at least MLB average in two roles, the odds are not particularly good. I just don’t see every MLB team with one two role player.
Royals better be careful, if they don’t start shopping soon, it could become a buyer’s market if other sellers get a head start.