As everyone knows the Kansas City Royals are entertaining the idea of trading Zack Greinke. They've fielded offers from various teams and have generally kept a very high price tag on their ace pitcher. One of the reasons I figured GM Dayton Moore was holding such a high price tag on Greinke is because the Royals hold the leverage in this situation.
Greinke is under contract for two more years, at a (relatively) cheap rate, and one of the Royals advantages is that, in theory, they could hang onto him the next two years. Would they actually do it? I don't know, but it's still possible which gives the Royals some leverage. "You don't want to give up player X and player Y for Greinke? OK, we won't trade him." It could be as simple as that from Moore.
Unfortunately that's unlikely to work out. In theory, it makes sense. In reality, ESPN's Buster Olney likely has the right idea. The trade situation needs to be cleared up before spring training because heading down to Arizona next year with Greinke still on the team would result in daily interviews that could resemble last August's interview with Bob Dutton of the Kansas City.
And it's possible that one day, or most days, or every day, he will answer the questions, and the situation will spiral right into ugly. The Royals don't need that -- their most prominent player griping about the franchise, making it clear he wants out, feelings that burbled late last summer.
That story in the Star was somewhat surprising because it was Greinke going public with his doubts about the Royals farm system (and rightfully so considering his tenure in Kansas City).
If Moore isn't going to trade Greinke by spring training, the next time Greinke will be bombarded with cameras on a daily basis, then he needs to make it crystal clear that Greinke is staying with the Royals. Kansas City will have a young team coming up and they don't need negative media attention surrounding them. Moore, for his part, hasn't exactly created a major league roster full of talent so adding a national spotlight on the team he's created probably isn't the best idea.