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Is Greinke finally poised for a breakthrough season?
By BOB DUTTONThe Kansas City Star
And from his teammates.
Not that he’s like everyone else. Nor anyone else, for that matter. Planet Zack still follows its own orbit. Even a quick conversation confirms this.
Nonetheless, Greinke’s spring this year centers primarily on his ability to prepare for the only duty the Royals envisioned when they selected him with the sixth overall pick in the 2002 draft.
Becoming a reliable, perhaps dominant, member of the club’s starting rotation.
“This year,” he said, “I’m just trying to get ready for the season.”
Greinke made his spring debut Saturday by yielding three runs and three hits in two-plus innings during a 15-7 loss to the Texas Rangers. He worked two scoreless innings before exiting after allowing three straight singles to start the third.
“Hopefully, I won’t throw that badly again for the rest of the season,” he said. “I mean, it wasn’t good. Hopefully, it gets better every time.”
How Greinke does this spring, in reality, probably matters little. The Royals already have him slotted alongside Gil Meche and Brian Bannister as locks for their rotation. It’s hard to see that changing no matter what happens here in Arizona.
Greinke earned that status by compiling a 1.85 ERA in seven starts last season after returning from an extended tour of bullpen duty designed to ease his return to the big leagues.
One opposing scout, in fact, points to Greinke, still only 24, as the key to the Royals’ season. A Greinke in top form, the reasoning goes, elevates the rotation to a formidable collection.
“Look, Greinke has No. 1 stuff,” the scout said. “We’ve all seen it. Put that alongside Meche and Bannister and if (the Royals) get anything from four and five, that’s a pretty good rotation.”
“Now if (Greinke) blows up for whatever reason, take him away, and that group looks less than average.”
That such heightened expectations might be unfair doesn’t make them less accurate.
The Royals, publicly at least, are seeking 200 innings from Greinke — “I don’t see why he can’t do that,” general manager Dayton Moore said. That frames him as a steady contributor, then.
Anything more would be a bonus.
“You can say potential all you want,” pitching coach Bob McClure said, “but it’s a learning curve. How do you pitch? There are a lot of guys who have potential but don’t quite know how to use their stuff. His stuff is there. There’s no question about that.”
Here, then, is a crossroad.
McClure contends Greinke must learn to mix an increased number of off-speed pitches to his repertoire in order to succeed as a starter. Greinke is not only unconvinced. He admits to doubts in matter-of-fact candor.
“It’s always tough for me to believe something until I see it,” he said. “In the bullpen, I was so used to throwing a lot of fastballs and some sliders. When I was starting again, still, the fastball and slider were working.
“Mac keeps telling me, though, that I will have to use other pitches. And I know that. But until I see it, I won’t 100 percent believe it.”
This is the Greinke that former manager Buddy Bell once described as honest to a fault.
“Ask him a question,” Bell said, “and he won’t lie. Even when he should.”
That brutal honesty also surfaces when Greinke declares he would rather play on a winning team in the minors than endure another hopeless summer in the big leagues.
Who else says that?
“Well, I’m getting tired of it,” he said. “At first, it’s almost OK because you’re just happy to be in the big leagues. Even then, you’re upset. And after a while, it gets to you and you wonder, ‘How long can this actually last?’ ”
Greinke said the “only two times I really, really enjoyed playing” were on playoff teams at Class A Wilmington in 2003 and Class AA Wichita in 2006.
“The whole team comes together,” he said, “and it’s just a lot more fun. I would rather be down in the minor leagues and having one of those experiences than up in the big leagues and not winning.
“It was that much fun, to be honest.”
Mention that the twice-monthly paychecks are a lot more fun in the big leagues, and Greinke offers a wry smile.
“Yeah,” he said, “but I don’t have to worry about that too much anymore.”
Greinke just avoided an arbitration hearing by agreeing to a one-year deal for $1.4 million. Also, he admits to being financially, ah, conservative, which suggests his $2.475 million signing bonus from six years ago is still mostly intact.
All that said, Greinke makes it clear that he shares the optimism that permeates manager Trey Hillman’s first camp. This year, he believes, will be different. From someone else, that might easily be shrugged off as typical spring hyperbole.
Except this is Zack.
“When last season was over,” he said, “I was really starting to think our team was on the right track. We still are, obviously. But some guys need to be able to step up and carry the team.
“Every good team has at least a couple of superstars who can carry the team. Then you fill in around them with the role players. We don’t have anyone who has proven they can carry a team.”
There are candidates, of course.
The Royals are gambling $36 million over the next three years that Jose Guillen is such a player. Club officials expect Alex Gordon and Billy Butler to be such players at some point. A resurgent Mark Teahen is another possibility.
“You saw what happened last year,” Greinke said. “There were teams that made the playoffs and the World Series that, a year ago, you didn’t know they were capable of doing that. All it takes is a couple of people to step up and do better than you expect. If that happens, we definitely have a shot.
“Every year, some team does that. The Marlins were expected to do terrible one year (2003), and they went off and won the World Series. I think our team looks way better than their team did at the start of that season.”
Stop there and it’s a commercial for season tickets. Of course, Greinke doesn’t stop there.
“The only tough part for us is Detroit is so good,” he said. “And Cleveland is as good as it was last year, which is pretty darn good. And Chicago is the same team almost that won the World Series in 2005.”
The best news is Greinke shows no signs of the clinical depression and social anxiety that once threatened his career. It was just two years ago that he walked out of camp, convinced he would never return. Last spring centered on his ability to conquer those challenges. Now, it’s no longer an issue.
“Ever since I’ve been on the medicine,” he said, “it’s been completely different. I mean it’s really a big difference. I’m OK. I really don’t have a better way of describing it, but I’m not worried about anything.”
Maybe this is the year it all comes together.
“I just want to do well enough to keep the team in games,” he said, “and I want to win a bunch of games. Not just me individually but as a team. Winning is what makes everything come together.
“That’s the key. If that happens, a lot of good things are going on.”