Greinke Market Competitive, Interesting

According to many published reports, the favorites to land Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Zack Greinke are your Texas Rangers, the Los Angeles Angels and the Chicago White Sox.

Milwaukee GM Doug Melvin said on Thursday that Greinke will be dealt "before the deadline", which is set for Tuesday, July 31. Greinke's next scheduled start for the Brew Crew is Sunday and his last start was a gem against the Philadelphia Phillies and Cliff Lee in which he not only shut down the Phillies but also became the first pitcher to ever homer off Lee. You'd think the Brewers wouldn't want him starting again so that game is the last thing sticking in opposing teams' minds.

So what's so interesting about this process? Well, Greinke could come to the Rangers and most likely start against either the White Sox or the Angels, as those are the next two series on the schedule (both in Arlington). If not the Rangers, he'll go to the White Sox, where there's a strong chance he'd start Sunday's series finale against the Rangers. Not Chicago, well then how about the Angels, where he could easily be slated to start one of the four games scheduled for next week against the Rangers.

The Rangers getting Greinke makes sense because of the fact he's a rental player, as he's already said he fully plans on testing the free agent market this winter. That means the Rangers would probably have to pay less in prospects than they would for someone who's controllable past 2012 like Josh Johnson or Cliff Lee.

The Angels are likely in the sweepstakes because the Rangers are, and because their rotation might be in worst shape than the Rangers', especially in the back end of it.

As far as prospects to make available, the Rangers easily have the most. It'll be interesting to see how things shake out, but expect a deal to be made before Sunday, and expect to see Greinke at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington very soon, regardless of what uniform he is wearing.

Copyright FREEL - NBC Local Media
Contact Us