Cliff Lee was supposed to be the only big-name pitcher to be on the free agent market this offseason. That fact may have made the market so overwhelmingly friendly to sellers that Zack Greinke will be available as well.
Greinke has two years remaining on his contract at $13.5 million per year, but according to Buster Olney, the team may be interested in moving him in exchange for young talent, as many of the Royals' top prospects project to make an impact around 2013.
As the Tampa Bay Rays have shown, the only way for a small-market team to remain competitive is to replace young talent with young talent, and the Royals may be looking to emulate that model.
As always, nearly every big market team could be a potential suitor for Greinke, but the Rangers and Red Sox most likely give Kansas City what they want — top prospects.
For the Red Sox, adding Greinke doesn't make direct sense, as the starting rotation is not a pressing need for the team, but adding a Cy Young winner to the rotation as a hypothetical replacement for Daisuke Matsuzaka may help the team more than replacing J.D. Drew with Jayson Werth would.
