The Kansas City Royals rebuilt their rotation this offseason, leaving Bruce Chen to compete for a spot in order to continue being a starter for the team.  On Tuesday, Chen removed himself from the rotation.  Not for the Royals, but for the team being fielded by China for the World Baseball Classic.

Many players have expressed interest in playing for their respective national teams during this year’s exhibition of top players from around the world.  Bruce Chen was excited to announce that he would join team China for the March tournament.

Chen has pitched in past WBC tournaments for his native country, Panama, who failed to qualify for this year’s competition.  Chen, who was born in Panama, is the grandchild of two Chinese immigrants who moved to Panama to work on the Panama Canal, eventually settling into permanent residence in the country that became the birthplace of the Royals’ pitcher.

During a January interview, Chen expressed what an honor he considered it to be represent China:

“It would be a great way for me to represent my ancestry. Everyone knows I’m of Asian descent and it would be a tribute to my grandparents and a tribute to my ancestry.”

There was some question on whether or not Chen could pitch for China since he had previously expressed interest to pitch for the Panama team until they were eliminated in pool play.  The process proved to be a long and drawn out affair that threatened Chen’s own preparation for the upcoming season.

On Tuesday, Chen shared with Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star that he had waited long enough and would withdraw his request.  Dutton shared the news via his Twitter account:

#Royals LHP Bruce Chen days he still hasn't been certified to pitch for China in WBC. Says he's waited long enough. Won't participate.

February 12, 2013 11:25 am via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@Royals_Report

Bob Dutton

It would seem that Chen either grew tired of the process or identified his need to be in camp with the Royals throughout Spring Training to ensure his spot in the rotation.  With the overhauled look of the rotation this year, which will feature new comers Wade Davis, James Shields, and Ervin Santana as well as returning Jeremy Guthrie, Chen will be left to compete for the final spot in the rotation.

It appears he is taking that competition seriously and will give the Royals a long look at him going into 2013.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball
Follow him on Twitter here.

I know this makes me far from unique, but as a young man growing up in Kansas City that dreamed of being a journalist, I became quite enamored with Joe Posnanski. Posnanski, of course, was a star columnist at the Kansas City Star along with Jason Whitlock. Both went on to bigger and better things in far different ways, and both were incredible columnists. While Whitlock had a way of dividing a city on seemingly any topic, Posnanski was much more subtle. He could write something you already knew, something you were already thinking, and make you care about it more than you ever had. Whitlock could make you feel things about him….Posnanski made you feel things about you.

Okay, if you’re still with me I’m sure you’re wondering what this has to do with our Kansas City Royals. Well, seemingly because the current English language cannot fully express his literary genius, Posnanski has on his blog started JoeWords. This is awesome, and I encourage you to read it, but for the purposes of this article I just want to focus on one of them:

Clemenate (KLEM-a-nayt), verb, to hate an athlete in an entirely healthy, fun sports way (rather than hating them in a crazed, stalking, loaded gun, insane sort of way). Ex. Jonathan Sanchez is making himself far too easy to clemenate this season.

This week saw a flurry of commentary about Sanchez. 610 Sports ran a gag trying to get him blocked from Twitter, Ryan Lefebvre and Rex Hudler bother questioned how much Sanchez loved baseball, and Bob Dutton wrote a scathing piece about the Royals refusal to consider shipping Sanchez out. However, the one that really caught my eye came from Minda Haas. Minda is an outstanding photographer and a good friend of I70 baseball, and this week she wrote this.

Minda is right in many regards, most notably that baseball players are people too and their life need not revolve around baseball for them to be successful. I also agree that personal attacks against baseball players based on their performance are unwarranted, and I think this is what Posnanski was trying to capture when he created the word clemenate.

I don’t hate Jonathan Sanchez, but I clemenate him with ounce of my baseball loving soul. I clemenate his attitude, because it’s hard to watch him play the game and think he cares even a little. I clemenate his methods, because watching him pitch, even when he’s getting people out, is equal parts maddening and sleep inducing. Mostly though I clemenate what he has done to this Royals season.

The Royals are 3-7 in his ten starts this season and he’s given them an average of 4 2/3 innings per start. Every time it seems like the Royals are about to get on a hot streak, Sanchez kills all momentum an uninspiring walk-filled performance. Young teams are streaky, and this Royals team has lived up to that billing, but it’s tough to streak too far in the right direction when you know you’re sending Sanchez to the mound every 5 days.

The bottom line is, Sanchez must go…quickly. We’ve seen far too many young stars grow disenchanted with the Royals version of “trying” to win. You can not in good faith tell Eric Hosmer or Mike Moustakas that we’re trying to win when you continue to send Sanchez to the mound.

On Friday the Royals made their speculated radio and television broadcast moves official with this press release. Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star, being the Royals beat reporter, followed up with this story. These moves in the broadcast booth have received a little more attention than normal because of the firing of Frank White.

I don’t think they’re getting enough attention. From an entertainment standpoint the talent on the broadcast team is almost as important as the talent on the field. Even if you have a full-season ticket package the majority of your baseball consumption will be through a teams “Voices”. When a season is 162 games long you will see and listen to the broadcast team; television and radio, more than some of you talk to your parents. They are a part of your family. I’ve listened to enough Royals baseball games what the first time I hear Denny Matthews voice in the spring, the temperature automatically raises to 90 degrees regardless of the actual weather. From my childhood I remember Denny graveling out the play-by-play on hot and humid evenings. Denny Matthews’ voice is as much a sound of summer in Royals Nation as tornado sirens and the long buzzing of cicadas.

A few weeks ago I touched on this situation. I think we can all agree that firing Frank White was a bad public relations move. From hearing Frank White speak in radio interviews I’m not sure he’d go back even if the Royals wanted to kiss and make up. This probably means Frank White isn’t coming back. Because of that I guess we as Royals fans will have to adjust to our “new normal”

Here is what jumps out at me from reading the available public information:

Rex Hudler, Analyst, 120 TV games: As I mentioned a few weeks ago Rex Hudler is a cheerleader. I would be shocked if he ever said anything critical of the Royals on the field or off. Maybe that’s what the Royals front office wants? If you’ve played MLB The Show video game for any length of time you know what you’re in for. I think I’ll think he’s funny for the first week of the season. After that I’ll be looking for twitter handle @FakeRexHudler to get me through the season. As of this writing that account does not exist. Some one who is funny please make that happen. It’s your chance to become legend.

Jeff Montgomery, Analyst, 20 TV games: Montgomery has filled in as the analyst before. He’s capable, professional, and has ties to the city and organization. He has that going for him. He usually drops a bit of pitching knowledge on me. Which makes me wonder: Is he not the first string analyst by his own choice?

Steve Physioc, Play-by-Play, 50 TV, 112 Radio: This came out of nowhere. I knew Physioc was a Kansas City native before this was announced. I have always enjoyed his calls, mostly of Pac 10 (It was the Pac 10 then) College Football. I have not heard all that much of him calling baseball. He has a deep, booming, professional voice. I think I’ll enjoy having him as part of the broadcast team.

Ryan Lefebvre, 90 Play-by-Play TV, 72 Radio: There were a few weeks in December that I thought Ryan Lefebvre would be heading back to the Twins organization. That’s his home, and it’s not uncommon for people to return home given the right opportunity. From reading the articles Ryan wanted more of a radio role. Which is good, I think he’s better on the radio side. Nothing unique stands out to me in his broadcasts. However, I know what I’m going to get, he’s a familiar voice, and most of all he works really well with…

The Voice of the Royals, Denny Matthews, 110 Radio: 110 games seems like a reduced roll for Denny. I could be wrong, I didn’t take the time to look it up. Either way he deserves to keep his job and get some time off through out the season. Out of all the broadcast teams we see/hear with the Royals I enjoy Denny and Ryan together on the radio the most. They seem to have a good chemistry and I enjoy their dry sense of humor, probably because I have a dry sense of humor.

You’ll notice I have not talked about Bob Davis. According to the articles his roll will be reduced to pre and post game duties, and fill in when needed. To KU Fans Bob Davis is legend. However, I did not enjoy him calling baseball. He often left out key information like whether a batted ball was a line drive, a fly ball, or even which outfielder was coming in to make the catch. This will never come out in public. When Bob was calling games with Denny the chemistry seemed strained as there was no banter between the two creating a that dreaded awkward silence. Bob Davis having a reduced roll is a good thing.

Other Notes: The total television broadcast package with FS Kansas City is 140 games. I touched on this last September when I noticed that the Royals were abandoning any day they had to compete with College or NFL Football. It is the same this September. That’s one thing when you’re confident that September games will not mean anything. However, September games may mean something this year. I hope there is contract frame work to add games should the Royals be in contention. It would be very Royals of the Royals to not televise games in a divisional chase.

FS Kansas City will televise two Spring Training Games. Friday March 30th against the White Sox in Surprise. 8pm local start. Tuesday April 3rd against the Padres from Petco, 9pm local start. Note the Cardinals and Marlins open the regular season the next evening. My only complaint, can they braodcast a game earlier in Spring Training? By the time these games are televised all the prospects will be sent to minor league camps and most of the depth chart battles will be decided. I know advertising dollars is what drives these types of things, but I’m a lot more likely to watch an early Spring Training game than a later one…Who am I kidding? I’d watch baseball whenever it was on. However, it’s disapointing that once again if I want to watch the Royals in Spring Training I’ll have to do it on another teams network. Because you know, other teams get on TV more than twice during Spring Training.

Once I get passed how the Royals fumbled the Frank White situation I can see that they did improve the broadcast team. At least I think they did. I know I offered criticism of Rex Hudler earlier but something to consider. Steve Physioc and Rex Hudler worked together in the Angles booth for 11 years. That is a long time, and it’s a really long time in the broadcast industry. They must do their jobs pretty well to last that long. There is less Bob Davis and Denny Matthews, and more Ryan Lefebvre and Denny Matthews. That is a good thing. All I know is, just writing and thinking about baseball on television and radio makes it seem like that snow outside is melting faster.

Until the Royals open the 2012 Season I will start each article with important statistics: 16 Days until pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training. 30 Days until Cactus League play starts. 62 Days until Opening Day (I guess night, late night). On to the article. I’m impressed that I made it this far into the off-season without having to resort to this. I have three thoughts on the Royals, but none of them long enough to create an entire article. So here is 2012’s first Royals Potpourri:

Silence From the Front Office – Coming into this week, Edwin Jackson & Roy Oswalt were the two remaining free agent starting pitchers that anyone feels can make a difference. Roy Oswalt has been covered here. I’m confident Oswalt would not have come to Kansas City based on his public statements of not wanting to go to Cleveland or Detroit. That left Edwin Jackson, who signed with the Washington Nationals this week.

I did not think Dayton Moore was going to sign either of these pitchers. That doesn’t mean I was hopeful of some surprising un-fiscal responsibility from the Royals front office. I get why the Royals are waiting to see what they have in Mike Montgomery, Danny Duffy, and Felipe Paulino. That’s the most cost effective way to go. If all three take steps forward this season, which is optimistic. The Royals still need to spend some money or prospects to get a front line starter if they want to have prayer of getting past Detroit in the AL Central. If all three flame out it will be time to call for an end to “The Process”. It’s something to keep an eye on. Especially if the Royals get off to a good start this season.

Royals: You’re Doing it Wrong! – Bob Dutton had an article in the Kansas City Star this week listing possible replacements for Frank White as the Royals television Color Commentator. It seems the leading candidate is former big league, and Angels Broadcaster Rex Hudler. I’ve heard Rex on Jim Rome’s show a few times. I like him in the interview setting. He’s kind of goofy, and brings the motivational speaker cheese. That’s fine for a radio interview every few months. I have a feeling if I had to listen to that shtick game, after game, after game that it would get old by Tax Day. If Rex Hudler is Frank White’s replacement I will have to mute or turn off the television and let Boulevard Brewing Company sell it’s beer to me on it’s own merits. Some baseball blogs contend that Hudler is one of the worst commentators in Major League Baseball.

I’m becoming more irritated with this situation knowing that Rockies Commentator George Frazier didn’t get the job. I used to live in Denver and always enjoyed Frazier as part of the Rockies broadcast. I think he would have been an improvement over White. I know that’s blasphemy in Royals Nation, but that’s just how I feel.

But, let me redeem myself. I have been on the fence about the whole Frank White firing. There are two sides to every story, and we’ll never hear the Royals side. However, the Royals organization does not have a good track record of doing things right. Until they start consistently doing that I’m going to assume they’re doing things wrong. Firing a living legend and ambassador for your organization; then bringing in a person who many feel is not very good at that role seems like the wrong thing to do. Cancelling Fanfast was doing it wrong too. I would expect this type of Public Relations indifference out of a winning organization whose games and merchandise are in high demand. The Royals have not been a model franchise since Bob Saget was rocking a Giants warm-up jacket on Full House.

Last season the Royals finally gained some credibility with their fan base with the infusion of prospects from their minor league system. Then they do the dumb stuff mentioned above. I’m not going to rant and rave and say I’m going to quit being a Royals fan. I’ve been over that before. However, the Royals organization isn’t compelling me to spend more money with them than I had already budgeted.

Can We Get This Over With? – In case this got passed you. The Super Bowl is tomorrow. Baseball is my favorite sport, football is a close second. However, this Super Bowl is so un-compelling to me I’ve thought about not watching it. No one close to me would believe that statement, so I’ll probably watch.

There is only so much you can say about a three hour football game. I’ve gone on a sports media black-out this week to avoid Evangelical Football Fan Hyperbole. However, the biggest reason I can’t wait for the Super Bowl to be over? Baseball Season is the next thing on the horizon.

The Royals have all of their young position players in place. You can see the offensive potential in this young line-up. As of this writing several Royals have multi-game hitting streaks. Several players are approaching 20 home runs. That is a low number. Go look how many times in recent seasons a Royals hitter has approached it. I’m not worried about the Royals scoring runs this season, or in the future. In fact they are second in the AL Central in runs scored.

What is a concern is the starting pitching. Not only has the pitching on the Royals lived up to their expectation of getting knocked around. The prized prospects in the minors have lost a lot of their luster this season. I discussed this back in June. Starting pitching is rightfully expensive weather you give up prospects like the Cleveland Indians, or acquire through free agency. I was glad to see Dayton Moore discuss this with Bob Dutton in The Kansas City Star. While David Glass has shown some willingness to open the wallet since the arrival of Moore, I don’t see him laying out $100 Million for CJ Wilson.

Obviously the least expensive way to acquire starting pitching is to develop it through your minor league system. Last years San Francisco Giants won the World Series by doing this. But that got me thinking. That’s just one season. Let’s look at past World Series Champions and see how their pitching staffs were assembled. I’m only going to list the top five starters for World Series Champions starting with the 2000 Yankees. I will separate these starting pitchers into three categories: developed (draft + amateur free agent signings), traded, or free agency. Andy Petite presented an interesting situation. He was drafted by the Yankee’s but signed an extension before free agency. These situations will be treated as drafted because they never hit the open market, thus theoretically being signed below market value. Plus, the Royals have shown a willingness to do this in the past with starting pitchers. Like Zack Greinke. Let’s take a look.

2000 New York Yankees:
1. Andy Petite, developed, salary $7,000,000
2. Roger Clemens, trade (99), salary $6,350,000
3. Orlando Hernandez, developed, salary $1,950,000
4. David Cone, free agent (99), salary $12,000,000
5. Denny Neagle, trade (7/00), salary $4,750,000

Totals: 2 were developed, 2 through trades, 1 free agent. Total Salary: $32,050,000

2001 Arizona Diamondbacks :
1. Curt Schilling, trade (7/00), salary $6,500,000
2. Randy Johnson, free agent (98), salary $13,350,000
3. Brian Anderson, drafted (ED 97), salary $4,125,000
4. Robert Ellis, free agent, salary NA
5. Miguel Bautista, free agent, salary $400,000

Totals: 3 free agents, 1 through trade, 1 developed. Total Salary: $24,375,000*

2002 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim:
1. Ramon Ortiz, developed, salary $575,000
2. Jarrod Washburn, developed, salary $350,000
3. Kevin Appier, trade, salary $9,500,000
4. Aaron Sele, free agent, salary $7,166,667
5. John Lackey, developed, salary $350,000 (estimated)

Totals: 3 developed, 1 through trade, 1 free agent. Total Salary: $17,941,667

2003 Florida Marlins
1. Carl Pavano, trade (7/02), salary $1,500,000
2. Brad Penny, trade (7/99), salary $1,875,000
3. Mark Redman, trade (1/03), salary $2,150,000
4. Dontrelle Willis, developed, salary, $234,426
5. Josh Beckett, developed, salary, $1,725,000

Totals: 3 through trade, 2 developed. Total Salary: $7,484,426

2004 Boston Red Sox
1. Curt Schilling, trade, salary $12,000,000
2. Pedro Martinez, trade but signed a big money extension, salary $17,500,000
3. Tim Wakefield, free agent, salary $4,350,000
4. Derek Lowe, trade, salary $4,500,000
5. Bronson Arroyo, developed, salary $332,500

Totals: 3 through trade, 1 developed, 1 free agent. Total Salary: $38,682,500

2005 Chicago White Sox
1. Mark Buerhrle, developed, salary $6,000,000
2. Freddy Garcia, trade, salary $8,000,000
3. John Garland, developed, salary $3,400,000
4. Jose Contreras, trade, salary $8,500,000
5. Orlando Hernandez, free agent, salary $3,500,000

Totals: 2 through trade, 2 developed 1 free agent. Total Salary: $29,400,000

2006 St Louis Cardinals
1. Chris Carpenter, free agent, salary $5,000,000
2. Jason Marquis, trade, salary $5,150,000
3. Jeff Suppan, free agent, salary $4,000,000
4. Mark Mulder, trade, salary $7,750,000
5. Anthony Reyes, developed, $392,400
6. Jeff Weaver, trade (7/06), $8,325,000

Totals: 3 through trade, 2 free agents, 1 developed. Total Salary: $30,617,400

2007 Boston Red Sox
1. Daisuke Matsuzaka, free agent*, salary $6,333,333 *=His contract was purchased from the Sebu Lions as the highest bidder. For the purpose of this article we’ll call him a free agent signing because he went to the highest bidder.

2. Josh Becket, trade, salary $6,666,667
3. Tim Wakefield, free agent, salary $4,000,000
4. Curt Schilling, trade, salary $13,000,000
5. Julian Tavarez, free agent, salary $3,350,000
6. Jon Lester, developed, salary $384,000

Totals: 3 free agents, 2 through trade, 1 developed. Total Salary: $33,734,000

2008 Philadelphia Phillies
1. Cole Hamels, developed, salary $500,000
2. Jamie Moyer, trade, salary $6,000,000
3. Brent Myers, developed, salary $8,583,333
4. Kyle Kendrick, developed, salary $445,000
5. Adam Eaton, free agent, salary $7,208,333
6. Joe Blanton, trade (7/08), salary $3,700,000

Totals: 3 developed, 2 through trades, 1 free agent. Total Salary: $26,436,666

2009 New York Yankees
1. CC Sabathia, free agent, salary $15,285,714
2. AJ Burnnett, free agent, salary $16,500,000
3. Andy Pettitte, free agent, salary $5,500,000
4. Joba Chamberlain, developed, salary $435,575

Totals: 3 free agents, 1 developed. Total Salary: $37,721,289

2010 San Francisco Giants
1. Matt Cain, developed, salary $4,583,333
2. Tim Lincecum, developed, salary $9,000,000
3. Barry Zito, free agent, salary $18,500,000
4. Jonathan Sanchez, developed, salary $2,100,000
5. Madison Bumgarner, developed, salary $450,000
6.Todd Wellemeyer, free agent, salary $1,000,000

Totals: 4 developed, 2 free agents. Total Salary: $35,633,333

That’s a lot of information, but I hate to say this. It doesn’t tell us anything we didn’t know before looking at the numbers. If you put all of this into a spreadsheet, and take out Barry Zito’s contract, you can see the correlation between developing your own pitching as opposed to trading or buying it. There are 58 pitchers listed on the World Series Champions. 21 came from a teams farm system, 19 came from trades (most of the trades working out for the team who got the pitcher), and 18 free agents. Percentage wise there is no difference. World Series Champion staffs come from 1/3 farm system, 1/3 trades, 1/3 free agent signings.

What can we take from this as Royals fans? First the Red Sox and Yankee staff’s total salaries are equal to the entire Royals salary in 2011. The average salary is $28.5 Million and that does not take into account inflation from 2000 -2010, or inflation going forward. The Royals will have to spend more money to get pitching and retain their hitters.

Second, the 2010 Giants and 2002 Angels were the only team to have a staff with 3 or more system pitchers, and even then they were in the majors at least two years before the were effective. If the Royals were to have a pitcher like that they only have Danny Duffy, Nate Adcock, and maybe Felipe Paulino. Even if Montgomery comes up next year these pitchers are still a few years away.

It’s no secret that the Royals are going to try and develop as much pitching as possible. However, free agent signings and trades will be needed to get the required pieces. From looking at the numbers such a strategy has worked 4 out of the 11 years (02,03, 08, & 10). That’s 36%. Even if the Royals do everything right, and everything breaks right, this strategy only works 1/3 of the time. Landing a big time free agent would help this situation, but this is not the off-season to do it. But if that 36% works against the Royals note that buying your championship pitching staff only works 36% of the time too. Winning a World Series is hard. The Royals one World Series trophy did not come from their best team. Even if an organization does everything it’s supposed to do it still needs a lot of luck. I think it’s about time the Royals received a little luck.

The Royals sites are all a buzz as the team has traded ace pitcher Zack Greinke to the Milwaukee Brewers. Since I-70 got caught on the outside looking in for the first time this off-season, let’s round up what’s going on on the Internets out there.

When we start with the links, let’s start with our friend Jim Breen, who will join us on I-70 Baseball Radio tonight. Jim runs Milwaukee fan site Bernies Crew and broke the rumor that Greinke was headed to Milwaukee before anyone. You can read his original post here.

The guys over at Royals Authority figure that Things Just Got More Interesting as they break down the Greinke deal here.

The team of writers at Kings of Kauffman break down the trade, but they also chimed in with the “shocking” news that Greinke demanded a trade shortly after signing on with a new agent this week. Read their prelude to the storm by clicking here.

One of our standing links every week goes out to our favorite Podcast (other than our own). Give Nick a listen on his Broken Bat Single Podcast each week by clicking here.

Bob Dutton of the KC Star breaks down the deal as in depth as anyone on the Internet. Read his account of it all by clicking here.

That’s it for the links this week. Happy holidays to all or you from all of us.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball as well as the Assignment Editor for BaseballDigest.com.
He is the host of I-70 Radio, hosted every week on BlogTalkRadio.com.
Follow him on Twitter here.

Zack Greinke

Zack Greinke opened his mouth last week and set Kansas City on fire.

The Royals’ ace pitcher, who also happens to be the current face of the franchise, told the Kansas City Star’s Bob Dutton that he probably won’t be around to see the team’s current youth movement take root.

“There’s no reason for me to get real excited” about the team’s hot prospects, Greinke told Dutton, “because the chance of more than one of them making a major impact by the time my contract is up is pretty slim.”

First, let us acknowledge that there is some truth to what Greinke told the Star reporter. It is doubtful the Royals will field a winning team by 2012. A couple weeks ago in a post on this Web site, I said it’s great to be a Royals fan right now (obviously Zack doesn’t agree). I argued that even though the Major League team is bad right now, good or even great players were waiting in the wings. My article was probably overly optimistic. But even still, I argued that the Royals would probably be ready to compete in 2013 at the earliest.

So Zack is right about that.

He is also right that the Royals have attempted other rebuilding efforts during his time in Kansas City, and as he puts it, “obviously, none of them worked.”

I’ll give him that.

But he still should not have said it.

And here are a few reasons why.

One, players do not do that. They just don’t. They shut up and they play ball.

Second, let’s be honest here, Zack Greinke owes a lot to this organization. He owes his whole career to the Kansas City Royals. Remember 2006, when it wasn’t so great to be a Royals fan? Before the season started, our hottest prospect, 22-year-old Zack Greinke, walked away from baseball. He walked away to sort out some personal demons he was battling, and continues to battle to this day. And that’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with that. Life comes before baseball, ten times out of ten. But then, two months later, he came back. What did the Royals do? They welcomed him back with open arms. They gave him a spot on the team. He performed well and they gave him a huge contract. And in exchange for millions and millions and millions of dollars, all the Royals ask is that Greinke goes and plays catch with Jason Kendall once every five days.

(Of course, that’s oversimplified, but you get the point.)

Jose Guillen

Finally, there’s a fairness issue here. On another Royals blog this weekend, I read an interesting comment to one of the posts about Greinke. The commenter pointed out that during his three-year career with Kansas City, Jose Guillen said things like Greinke said. He used harsher words, perhaps, but the point was still the same.

What did Royals fans do? They made Jose Guillen Public Enemy No. 1.

What do they do when Greinke makes similar comments? His words become a rally cry.

So where does that leave us? I’m not sure. But I think the Kansas City Royals should do exactly what their ace pitcher asks. They should go out and get some players to help them win in the immediate future.

How should they do that?

By trading Zack Greinke.

Matt Kelsey is a Royals writer and the content editor for I-70 Baseball. He can be reached at mattkelsey@i70baseball.com.