Jon Heyman reports that the Royals won’t trade Zack Greinke within their division.
You hear about teams being loathe to do this fairly often. And I get it when you’re talking about two teams who are in direct, current contention for the title like the Yankees and Rays or something. But I can’t see why the Royals — if they were intent on trading Greinke — would consider the division in which their trade partner plays to be relevant.
You either get value in return or you don’t, right? Maybe a bit of a premium from a division rival? Put differently, if you’re thinking “we don’t want to get beat by Zack Greinke in the division,” aren’t the Royals, by definition, conceding that they’re not confident that they’ll get equal or greater value in a trade? If they did, sure, Zack Greinke might be beating them, but whatever the White Sox or Tigers or whoever gave them in return should be outweighing it.
Put a player on the block and take the best bid. If it’s a division rival, why not take that deal?
*Note: Yeah, for about five minutes this post had the Rangers named as one of the Royals’ division rivals. In defense, I only can say that I have not had the best of mornings.
