According to SI.com’s Jon Heyman, the Royals have traded starter Zack Greinke and Yuniesky Betancourt to the Brewers in exchange for Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar, pitching prospect Jake Odorizzi and a player to be named later.

Commissioner Bud Selig must approve the trade since the Royals are also sending $2 million to the Brewers to offset the buyout they’d have to pay for Betancourt’s 2012 option, but it looks like it’s a done deal.

None of the prospects in the deal outside of maybe Odorizzi are blue-chippers, so it appears as though Kansas City accepted quantity over quality. They wanted to move Greinke for a couple of middle infielders, which is why the Yankees and Rangers weren’t fits. As accustomed with all trades involving multiple pieces, it’ll be a while before we see which side won this deal.

Of course, it’s a win for Greinke. The Brewers weren’t competitive last year but they weren’t competitive in large part because of their faulty pitching. If the 2009 Cy Young winner can rebound from a rough 2010, he’ll give Milwaukee a nice 1-2 punch along with Yovani Gallardo. Milwaukee is also a perfect low-key place for Greinke, who has dealt with anxiety problems in the past and was reluctant to go to a big city like New York.

Maybe a deal like this could catapult the Brew Crew back into contention next season.

Yankee fans that were hoping Royals’ ace Zack Greinke would be the club’s fallback plan if the Bombers couldn’t sign free agent Cliff Lee are going to be disappointed with latest reports.

According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, even if the Yankees miss out on Lee they won’t attempt to trade for Greinke. Come to your own conclusions as to why, but here’s mine: Despite their usual spending habits, the Yankees are trying to restock their farm system and trading prospects to acquire a risk like Greinke would be counterproductive. The Bombers are also well aware that Greinke has a history of anxiety problems so bringing him to the Big Apple isn’t a prudent move.

ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark hears that the Yankees wouldn’t have been a good trade partner for the Royals anyway. Kansas City has a couple of top-tier prospects such as catcher Wil Myers, first baseman Eric Hosmer and third baseman Mike Moustakas. What they want to do now is acquire a young shortstop, second baseman and centerfielder to add to that core and the Yankees can’t meet those needs.

Per Stark’s report, neither can the Rangers. So it appears as though the two teams that would make the most sense for Greinke aren’t fits for the Royals. That leaves the Blue Jays, Nationals and Brewers as three teams that may be able to land the young right-hander assuming he stays on the trade market.

The bidding war between the Yankees and Rangers over Cliff Lee is about to begin. According to the New York Post, the Rangers are prepared to make an official five-year offer to Lee, but the Yankees are ready to go as high as $23 million annually to secure the lefty’s services.

But for a moment, let’s assume that Lee wants to return to the Rangers. Let’s assume that the millions of dollars that the Rangers are offering are more than enough to by-pass the trillions of dollars that the Yankees are willing to fork over.

What is the Yankees’ fallback plan?

The postseason proved last year that the Bombers need pitching. Who knows what kind of production they’ll get from A.J. Burnett next year and it appears as though Andy Pettitte is set to retire. CC Sabathia and Phil Hughes aren’t going to cut it by themselves.

So what about Zack Greinke? The Royals seem ready to trade the righty in order to restock their farm system and the 27-year-old won the Cy Young two years ago. Up until recently he wasn’t willing to waive his no-trade clause to play for a big-market team (which includes the Yankees, obviously). He’s had anxiety problems in the past and we’ve seen the Big Apple chew up and spit out pitchers like Javier Vazquez and Jeff Weaver before.

But a source told Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports that Greinke is now open to moving to a big-market club. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s ready to take on New York, but if the Yankees miss out on Lee you can bet they’ll at least pick up the phone and see what it would take to land the right hander. He’s coming off a bad year but he has a 3.82 career ERA and a 1.26 WHIP, not to mention he’s only 27. (Compared to Lee, who is 32.)

The winter meetings get kicked off next week, so it’ll be interesting to see how the Cliff Lee situation plays out. It’ll be even more interesting to see what the Yankees do if Lee decides to return to Texas.

The Royals have let it be known that Zack Greinke is available this winter and the first club that has come knocking on their door (that we know of) is the Blue Jays.

According to Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun, the Jays have inquired about the availability of Greinke, who struggled last year after winning the 2009 AL Cy Young Award.

With Cliff Lee the top free agent on the market, Greinke would appeal to also-rans in the Lee sweepstakes such as the Texas Rangers, Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels.

The Royals are looking for two “can’t-miss prospects” as a starting point in talks on the 2009 American League Cy Young award winner.

Greinke’s contract includes a limited no-trade clause through the 2011 season and he has a “no-trade list” that includes big market teams like the Yankees and Red Sox. It’s not known if Toronto is on that list.

The Jays have to do something if they want to compete with the Yankees, Rays and Red Sox in the ultra-competitive AL East. Greinke is coming off a down year but obviously he has the talent. With more help around him, one would think that he would blossom into a consistent performer so we’ll have to see if Toronto can put something together.

It must feel like an eternity to Zack Greinke since he won the 2009 American League Cy Yong Award. That’s probably because the poor bastard pitches for the Royals.

Greinke recently expressed his frustrations to the Kansas City Star about the Royals slow rebuilding plan. While KC has a strong farm system in place, Greinke wonders how long it’ll take before the Royals’ young prospects will be able to help the club win.

“Every system has something,” he said. “The biggest problem is I have two more years on my contract. Are those guys supposed to make it up by the beginning of next year?”

“Very rarely do guys come straight into the big leagues and make an impact, especially hitters,” he said.

“It’s probably more of a grind than any year since 2005,” he said. “This one has been like that one for most of the season.”

“It’s not real exciting to have to go through it again,” he said. “It’s been six years with me, and most people (who are Royals fans) have been through a lot more than I have. But for me, it’s the third complete re-start/rebuilding phase.”

Players aren’t stupid – they know when their front office is trying to win and when they’re just trying to turn a profit. Baseball is a business and organizations are run as such, but players like Greinke deserve better. It’s obviously the Royals haven’t been trying to win over the past decade or so.

And as Greinke alluded to in his comments, fans have had it worse than he has. It’s been eight years since KC has had a winning record and 26 years since they’ve made it to the playoffs. Talk about giving your fan base nothing to cheer about.

While he was probably just blowing off steam, Greinke’s comments make you wonder whether or not he’ll be the face of the Royals for much longer. His contract is up in 2013 and while that’s still a long ways off, his future in Kansas City will likely be a topic of discussion over the next couple of years.

I read yesterday that one of Pete Rose’s bats was being auctioned off, the one he used for his last hit, number 4256. And it made me wonder if that will ever be topped. I can’t imagine it will be, but stranger things have happened. Of course, the Baseball Hall of Fame still fails to recognize what Rose did on the field because of what he did as a manager off the field. But that’s for another post. Here is a look at the Top 10 active leaders in base hits:

1. Derek Jeter, New York Yankees (2824)—The classiest player by far in the big leagues today, and the epitome of someone who plays the game right and just gets it. I look forward to Jeter notching his 3000th hit, which will likely be next season.

2. Ivan Rodriguez, Washington Nationals (2781)—In his twentieth season this year, I-Rod is batting .331. No loss of bat speed with this guy, that’s for sure.

3. Omar Vizquel, Chicago White Sox (2724)—Amazingly, Vizquel is in his 22nd season and still looks like he’s 28 years old. I got to see him play in his prime in Cleveland, and he was/is the best defensive shortstop I’ve ever seen. But he has clearly racked up hits too.

4. Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees (2596)—Well, duh. The question is, though, will he eventually be the all-time home run king?

5. Manny Ramirez, Los Angeles Dodgers (2530)—Yeah, he juiced, and so did A-Rod. But these two guys still have to be incredibly talented ball players to rack up this many hits.

6. Garret Anderson, Los Angeles Dodgers (2515)—Steady and classy as well, but it’s just hard to believe Garret Anderson is 38 years old. Didn’t he just break into the bigs?

7. Johnny Damon, Detroit Tigers (2482)—Scrappy, solid player, and he just keeps on grinding. But do any of you remember Damon’s days with the Royals? I sure don’t.

8. Chipper Jones, Atlanta Braves (2444)—Another guy who defines playing the game the way it was meant to be played, and he just keeps on hitting well into his thirties.

9. Vladimir Guerrero, Texas Rangers (2326)—He’s hitting .339 with 53 RBI on June 11. Vlad is another ageless wonder.

10. Edgar Renteria, San Francisco Giants (2213)—It’s kind of amazing that Renteria is on this list, even though he’s never had a 200-hit season. But he’s been reliable and consistent all these years.

Source: Baseball Reference

It’s getting down to pennant race times and there are some incredibly tight races and a lot of teams that are at least in contention. Here we’ll take a look at who we think the Top 5 teams are right now and who the Bottom 5 are as well.

Top 5

1. New York Yankees (73-43)—Not only did the Yankees sweep the rival Red Sox last weekend and make quite a statement, they’ve won 10 of 11 and are 22-6 (.786) since the all-star break. That is just scorching.

2. Los Angeles Angels (68-45)—You have to feel for the surging Rangers and even the Mariners, because neither one is going to catch this fundamentally sound team. If Mike Scioscia isn’t the best manager in baseball, he’s surely the most underrated.

3. St. Louis Cardinals (65-52)—The Cards grabbed Matt Holliday before anyone else could and he’s batting .493 with a slugging percentage of .813 in his first 75 at-bats with St. Louis. Pujols/Holliday has got to be the most fearsome 3-4 tandem in baseball.

4. Los Angeles Dodgers (69-47)—The Dodgers hung on without Manny for a few months, and then cooled off when he returned. They’ve lost 7 of 11 but still lead their division by 5 games and are 32-14 against NL West opponents.

5. Philadelphia Phillies (65-48)—Suddenly with Cliff Lee and Pedro Martinez, and Jimmy Rollins finally finding his stroke, the defending champs are poised to make another run deep into October and possibly November.

Bottom 5

1. Washington Nationals (41-75)—They recently won eight in a row but still trail the Phillies by 25.5 games and the fourth place Mets by 13.5. So yeah, they’re still the worst team in baseball.

2. Pittsburgh Pirates (46-69)—The Pirates actually looked half decent early in the season, but they did what they always do in July—made a whole bunch of trades and pretty much surrendered the season as well as the next three seasons, as they’ve lost 11 of their last 13 games.

3. Kansas City Royals (45-70)—Remember the Royals were 14-12 and everyone started talking about this team being decent for the first time in two-plus decades? We remember, but then they remembered that they were the Royals.

4. Baltimore Orioles (48-67)—This team has some great young players like Adam Jones and Matt Wieters and Nick Markakis, but playing in that division is almost unfair.

5. Cleveland Indians (49-66)—Once again, the Indians have disappointed and started selling off players. Cliff Lee, like CC Sabathia last year, is the reigning AL Cy Young winner, and the Tribe also dumped popular catcher Victor Martinez and infielder Ryan Garko. Next year sure has a familiar ring on Lake Erie.