A look back to Dec. 19, 2010, the day the Royals traded Zack Greinke to Milwaukee
Right-hander Zack Greinke is returning to the place his career started 20 years ago.
The Royals selected Greinke with the sixth overall pick of the 2002 MLB draft, and he made his big-league debut two years later. After briefly leaving baseball while dealing with social anxiety disorder, Greinke won the 2009 Cy Young Award.
But he soon became discontent pitching for a team that wasn’t close to contending for the postseason.
Dayton Moore, who was the Royals’ general manager at the time and is now their president of baseball operations, worked out a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers that allowed Greinke to pitch for a playoff team the following season. Greinke would go on to pitch for the Angels, Dodgers, Astros and Diamondbacks.
Now 38, Greinke agreed Wednesday to a one-year deal with the Royals. Here’s a look back to how things ended in his first go-round with the Royals.
Final start of 2010
Greinke won his final start in a Royals uniform before the trade to Milwaukee as Kansas City topped the Rays 3-2 on Sept. 30, 2010.
Here are the lineups from that day, and you can see why Greinke believed the Royals weren’t close to contending.
Eighty days later, on a Sunday afternoon, Moore finalized a deal that sent Greinke, shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt and $2 million to the Brewers for outfielder Lorenzo Cain, shortstop Alcides Escobar and pitchers Jeremy Jeffress and Jake Odorizzi.
“I like the deal because the players we got are skilled, athletic middle-of-the-field guys,” Moore told The Star after the deal was made on Dec. 19, 2010. “And they improve our team going forward (by) blending in with what we have.”
Little did Moore know, but those middle-of-the-field guys would be American League Championship MVPs in the coming years: Cain in 2014 and Escobar the following year. And both would be key contributors to the club’s 2015 World Series championship team.
Coming to KC
Ned Yost, who was the Royals’ manager at the time, had a good idea of what the Royals were getting.
“The first time I laid eyes on Alcides Escobar, the impression I got was this kid is going to be an All-Star,” Yost told The Star after the trade.
“This kid will probably be our most athletic player, and Cain is right behind him. Escobar will knock your eyes out defensively. He’s a kid who is still developing his offensive capability, but he’s going to hit.
“Lorenzo Cain is the same type of player, and he’s really starting to come into his own. He and Escobar have great speed and great instincts on the bases. They’re going to add to our offense just with their legs alone.”
Odorizzi would be dealt two years later to the Rays as part of a six-player trade that brought in Wade Davis, a key bullpen component in 2014 and 2015, and James Shields, who started the 2014 AL Wild Card Game.
“There’s no perfect deal out there,” Moore told The Star in 2010. “And the history of these deals will tell you, you’re not going to get another Cy Young Award winner, and you’re not going to get players that are going to compete for the MVP.
“But what we tried to do is get the right players that fit with who we are and what we have coming.”
Alex Gordon, who would hit a big home run in the 2015 World Series, was in the lineup in Greinke’s last start for the Royals. Ditto for first baseman Billy Butler, who was on the 2014 team that won the AL pennant, and outfielder Jarrod Dyson, a key part of two league championship teams
Catcher Salvador Perez, the 2015 World Series MVP, would arrive in 2011. Same for Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas.
All those pieces came together and helped the Royals win their first World Series in three decades.
That championship was a crowning achievement for Moore, but on Dec. 19, 2010, he was a bit melancholy.
“A big part of my heart will always pull for Zack,” Moore said at the time. “What he overcame, the success he had here, to the point it’s not easy to make these types of deals. You would prefer to have him here and sign him long-term but it just wasn’t something we could do.”
Now Greinke perhaps will finish his career with the Royals, and Moore can once again can cheer for him.
This story was originally published March 16, 2022 at 4:53 PM.
