Roy Oswalt has had enough. Last week, after suffering yet another loss where his team's offense was shut out (against NO2G! favorite Ubaldo Jimenez), Oswalt went public with his request for a trade from the Astros.
Royals fans can certainly sympathize. Most of us have established an over-under on when the trade winds will start swirling around Zack Greinke. (Mine is at July 2011, I'm taking the under). But would Zack go down Oswalt's road and demand a trade? Chin up, Royals fans! Here's a few reasons why he may not:
He's the Man: The Royals are absolutely bereft of stars, and have been for quite some time; you don't wind up sending the likes of Ken Harvey and Mark Redman to the All-Star Game if that were'nt true. But Zack's breakout season in '08 and his headline-grabbing '09 campaign gave the Royals some presence in the baseball zeitgeist. Even for the foreseeable future, you can't imagine any Royal getting bigger cheers that Zack Greinke. And speaking of the future...
Help is in the pipeline: Two super prospects could make their major-league debut by next year - acclaimed southpaw Mike Montgomery (who's struggled a bit in AA, but is 3-1 with a 2.01 ERA) and third baseman Mike Moustakas (who hasn't struggled a bit in AA; .395 with 12 homers), for whom I can't wait to hear the shouts of "MMMOOOOOOOOUUUUUSSSSS!!!"
He may actually like Kansas City: Having overcome struggles with social anxiety disorder, Greinke might actually feel very comfortable in the small-town feel of Kansas City. Do you think New York or LA or Boston would have been as patient and supportive during that difficult time?
Shedding some (dead) weight: A number of albatross contracts could come off the books as soon as next year (Guillen, DeJesus, Meche in case I had to spell it out for you), leaving some cash for Dayton Moore to flesh out the roster with some quality players, by which time hopefully Moore will have learned a thing or two about what OBP actually means.
Of course, none of these reasons could pan out. Roy Oswalt likely has had similar hope put before him, but with a minor league system that's ranked dead last in the majors plus sharing roster space with a considerable number of untradeable players, the Astros' light at the end of the tunnel is actually an oncoming train, and Roy wants off, can you blame him?
But we Royals fans have at least a little hope. Maybe Greinke does too.
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