Milwaukee Not a Match for Greinke

The Royals traded David DeJesus to the Oakland A’s on Wednesday, so naturally, people are starting to wonder if Zack Greinke is the next one out of town.

I’m here today to ask you to please stop talking about Greinke coming to Milwaukee. Just stop.

Yes, the Royals have said they’re listening to offers. Yes, the Brewers need help in the rotation. But it’s just not a match.

If the Royals are going to trade Greinke, they’re not likely to be looking for bats in return — the popular rumor is that it will take two good starters and a bat. That wouldn’t be two good “maybe a starter if they can develop a third pitch” guys like Jeremy Jeffress and Mark Rogers. It would be two “already have everything it takes to succeed” guys like Jake Odorizzi and…well, that’s the problem — the Brewers don’t have a second guy like that.

As for the bat, just because they traded DeJesus doesn’t mean they’ll suddenly be interested in Carlos Gomez or Lorenzo Cain. They would laugh at an offer in which those guys were anything more than throw-ins. They wouldn’t want Mat Gamel, either — they have their own version of Gamel in Alex Gordon, and like the Brewers with Gamel, they don’t know what the hell they’re doing with him. As stacked as their system is when it comes to bats, it would still take a Lawrie type to get them to listen.

But for argument’s sake, let’s just say Doug Melvin calls Dayton Moore, and Moore says you can have Greinke for Odorizzi, Jeffress, Lawrie, and spare parts. That’s not a horrible franchise-crippling deal from KC’s perspective, but it’s not exactly maximizing Greinke’s value, either. From Milwaukee’s point of view, that’s probably too much to give up for a guy who’s going to leave after 2012.

Think of it this way — if the Brewers were going to trade Yovani Gallardo, would you be happy if they got anything but a couple future stud pitchers and a good bat? I wouldn’t be, and that’s not even considering the fact that Greinke is the better pitcher. The Royals are like the Brewers in that they only have one really good pitcher in the rotation. They’re not going to give him up without getting really, really good pitching in return.

For that reason, the Brewers aren’t a match. If you’re going to talk about the Brewers putting together a trade for Greinke, you might as well talk about them giving Cliff Lee $20 million a year or trading Ryan Braun, because they would be equally crippling to the future of the franchise.