<i> “According to one National League executive, the Kansas City Royals and Atlanta Braves have had serious discussions about a trade that would send outfielder Jeff Francoeur to the Royals for pitcher Zack Greinke. The same source said he believed the teams were close to executing the deal.” | The Boston Globe</i></p><p> LAS VEGAS | Rumors fuel the winter meetings. It’s all part of the fun. Baseball rumors are everywhere in Vegas, like slot machines and secondhand smoke. Everywhere you look in the casino at the Bellagio these days, you find a huddle of baseball people — scouts, executives, agents, writers — drinking, laughing, telling old stories and new lies and, mostly, trying to get to the bottom of the latest rumors.</p><p> “So what have you heard?” is the common opening line.</p><p> And the later the night gets, the more openly people talk about what they heard.</p><p> This is what makes the winter meetings, of course. If not for the last hot rumor and the newest gossip, these meetings would be as boring as a national convention. In fact, when things are slow (like they are this year) the meetings <i>are</i> as boring as a national convention, but the rumors make them a little bit more tolerable.</p><p> And so, a good rumor simply will not die, no matter how ridiculous it might be, no matter how illogical it might be, no matter how many people shout it down. That’s why everybody around here — not just the <i>Boston Globe</i>, but <i>everybody</i> — still talks about the possibility of the Royals sending pitcher Zack Greinke to Atlanta for outfielder Jeff Francoeur. It is, in a weird way, a good rumor. It makes for good talk.</p><p> Now, to start: This rumor makes exactly no sense for the Royals. None. Anyone who would think about it for more than three minutes would realize this. It’s just about the worst trade imaginable for the Royals, and general manager Dayton Moore has made it clear again and again and again that he would never, ever, ever do this. Who would? This would make the Jermaine Dye for Neifi Perez deal look like gold.</p><p> But the rumor goes on and on and on. The reason is that there are a few small grains of truth in there. The Royals and Dayton Moore <i>do</i> like Jeff Francoeur. “The guy’s one of the greatest competitors I’ve ever been around,” Moore says, and he has repeated similar compliments enough times, to enough people, that everyone around the game knows Moore would like to have Francoeur.</p><p> And the Braves <i>do</i> like Zack Greinke. Well, what’s not to like? He’s just 25 years old, he’s coming off a season where he finished fifth in the American League in strikeouts, 10th in ERA, and the last month and a half he was 4-2 with a 1.60 ERA. The Braves would love to get their hands on Greinke, you know, just like every other team.</p><p> So, it’s easy to see how this rumor gets started. And it’s also easy to see how it builds up. Moore used to work for the Braves, he knows lots of people there. There is no doubt that different people have approached Moore or, more likely, one of the other Royals people and thrown out a few suggestions and propositions and thoughts. Hey, what would it take to get Greinke? Hey, what would you guys do if Francoeur were available? Would you guys have interest if we could put together a package of players? And so on.</p><p> That’s just what happens at the meetings — lots of talk, most of it going nowhere. But then the mill starts churning. Maybe one person hears about the talk. Hey, the Royals and Braves were talking about Greinke and Francoeur. Maybe he mentions it to another person who says, “Hey, that makes some sense — Moore loves Francoeur.” And maybe that person mentions it to a reporter, only when he mentions it, he suddenly sounds really confident about it. And then the reporter writes it.