Jim Breen of Bernie’s Crew says that the Royals will send Zack Greinke, Yuniesky Betancourt, and $2 million to Milwaukee in exchange for Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar, and Jeremy Jeffress. If the deal happens, it’s expected to be announced on Monday.
Breen admits that it’s just a rumor at this point and he hasn’t been able to confirm it with anyone inside the organization, but if you’ve been following along on Twitter, you’ll know that he’s been working hard to get confirmation on this all day before coming out with it. Getting to know Jim a little by working with him on a few projects, he wouldn’t put this out there if he didn’t feel strongly about being right.
Right now, all we can do is wait until Monday and see what happens. But if that’s the deal, it’s hard not to like it.
UPDATE 11:30 p.m.: Andrew Wagner of OnMilwaukee.com has his own source, and he’s saying there’s a deal pending physicals, but it’s Cain, Escobar, Jeffress, and top pitching prospect Jake Odorizzi for Greinke. If this is the actual deal, my reaction will be much different, to say the least. If Odorizzi is in the deal, let’s just hope Greinke agrees to an extension.
UPDATE 12:10 a.m.: Tom Haudricourt says he just heard about the Greinke rumors, and he’s on the case.
UPDATE: 8:36 a.m.: Talk about starting your day off in a good way — the deal is going to happen. ESPN’s Buster Olney and Jerry Crasnick confirmed the deal this morning. Tom Haudricourt and Adam McCalvy were also able to confirm the reports originally made by Breen and Wagner. I’ll have a writeup on this trade later today, but for now two things about this strike me as awesome — 1. GREINKE IS A FREAKING BREWER and 2. National and local voices alike giving Jim credit where credit is due. It’s always great to see bloggers being brought up for all the right reasons, especially when it’s a guy you’ve been talking to for awhile.
UPDATE 9:03 a.m.: Haudricourt is hearing that Jeffress might not be in the deal after all, but there could be a different player headed to KC as a PTBNL. This might be related to Peter Gammons’ tweet that excludes Jeffress. I’d much rather keep Odorizzi, but if the Brewers can get Greinke and still keep Jeffress around, that’d be pretty cool, no?
UPDATE 9:26 a.m.: Jeffress is not in the deal, according to Jon Heyman of SI. It’s apparently Greinke, Betancourt, and $2 million for Odorizzi, Cain, Escobar, and a PTBNL.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
