Brewers send over several prospects to Royals for Greinke

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MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee Brewers’ general manager Doug Melvin said he needed to make big changes in his starting pitching. And he believes yesterday’s trade for Cy Young winner Zack Greinke fills the bill. The Brewers sent shortstop Alcides Escobar, outfielder Lorenzo Cain, and right-handed pitching prospects Jeremy Jeffress and Jake Odorizzi to the Kansas City Royals for Greinke and shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt.

Melvin says he’s given up some of Milwaukee’s best prospects to go for a playoff run this year. It’s possibly the final year they'll have slugger Prince Fielder before he's due to become a free agent. It was the Brewers' second major deal to address their starting pitching, after they acquired Shaun Marcum from Toronto.

Greinke waived a contract clause against trading him to Milwaukee. The 27-year-old right-hander won the American League Cy Young Award in 2009 when he went 16-8 with a two-point-one-six ERA. But he slid back this year, going 10-14 with a 4.71 ERA. Greinke is 60-67 in his six-plus years in the Majors, all with the Royals. He's supposed to make $13-and-a-half million dollars in each of the next two seasons, but the Royals included an undisclosed amount of cash to help pay for the deal.

The 28-year-old Betancourt hit .259 with K-C last year with 16 homers and 78 R-B-I's. The Brewers thought Escobar would be their shortstop of the future after they traded J-J Hardy a year ago. But Escobar struggled at the plate this year, batting .235. Cain hit .306 in 43 games with the Brewers late in the season. Jeffress made 10 relief appearances in September, going 1-and-0 with a two-point-seven-oh E-R-A. He's been suspended twice for violating baseball's drug policy. Odorizzi was among Milwaukee's top pitching prospects. He threw eight innings of a no-hitter last year for the Class-"A" Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.

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