Former Kansas City Royals and current Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Zack Greinke is an odd duck to say the least. Entertaining, but odd. He's not in Kansas City anymore so we're not inundated daily with what he has to say but he does, once in a while, talk about the Royals.
Here's a classic quote from the man himself in a story by Sam Mellinger of the KC Star today:
"Eventually I need to stop answering questions about this," he says. "But I kind of had to play the bad guy in order to do it. It'd be nice if it didn't happen, but the way things were in Kansas City, if I just kept on being this great person, the fans would've been outraged if I'd been traded. So I kind of had to be the bad guy.
"The fans, I don't know why, but it seemed like they really liked me. As the general manager or coach or owner of the team, the fans recognize what you do, and if you do something none of the fans like, it's going to be backlash on the organization. So if you make it to where (the fans) understand why the general manager and owner did what they did, then it's not as bad of a situation for them. And it makes it easier to make the move."
As Mellinger suggests, it's classic Greinke. Some pro athletes traded away may say something like that to regain favor with the fans. With Greinke, you know he's simply being honest.