Milwaukee Brewers

Zack Greinke was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers around 9:30 Sunday morning.  Does this announcement make him an automatic favorite to win the National League Cy Young Award?  After all, he did win the award in the American League in 2009.  Here are 10 pitchers who will compete with Greinke for the award in 2011.  

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Zack Greinke is finally on the move. The Kansas City Royals ace was traded today to the Milwaukee Brewers for a collection of top prospects, including shortstop Alcides Escobar, center fielder Lorenzo Cain and pitchers Jeffrey Jeffress and Jake Odorizzi. The Brewers will also receive shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt and $2 million in cash.

The Kansas City Royals agreed to trade starting pitcher Zack Greinke to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for five players, reports ESPN.

The deal would involve the Brewers giving up Alcides Escobar, Lorenzo Cain, Jeremy Jeffress and Jake Odorizzi.

In return, they get 2009 Cy Young winner Greinke and Yuniesky Betancourt, along with some cash.

This deal certainly makes sense for both teams.

According to ESPNs Buster Olney (click here for the article) the Royals have traded Zack Greinke and SS Yuniesky Betancourt to the Milwaukee Brewers for SS Alcides Escobar, OF Lorenzo Cain, P Jake Odorizzi and P Jeremy Jeffress.

Two Milwaukee websites are reporting the Milwaukee Brewers have tentatively reached an agreement with the Kansas City Royals to acquire right-handed pitcher Zack Greinke. The trade is pending a physical by Greinke and could be announced on Monday.

Doug Melvin has already traded for Shaun Marcum, a solid pitcher, to bolster the Brewers starting staff. Melvin has said he plans to go get another starter.  In that case, one down, one to go.

While drastically improving the starting rotation is a huge step, that isn't the Brewers' only roadblock to competing with the Reds and Cardinals for the NL Central in 2011.

Let's examine 12 things that the Brewers must do in order to get where they need to go.

While all of the big chips in free agency have fallen this season, a team looking to make a big splash will need to turn to the trade market, and there may be no more intriguing trade chip than Prince Fielder.

Whether he is traded in the offseason or at the deadline, it seems a foregone conclusion that Fielder is on his way out of Milwaukee with the Brewers unable to re-sign him.

So here are eight deals that make sense, not only for the team acquiring Fielder, but also for the Brewers, as they look to bolster their pitching and fill what will then be a hole at first base.

The annual winter meetings have come and gone, but what happened in those few days will have long-lasting implications.

Guys such as Prince Fielder and Jose Reyes, who are free agents following the upcoming season, have to be licking their chops at some of the dollars handed out, as that will bode well for them.

Long-term, what does each man have to look forward to, and who would provide the best bang for their buck?

According to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Brewers GM Doug Melvin confirmed that the Brewers were one of the teams that met with Carl Pavano and his agent, Tom O'Connel, on Tuesday.

Melvin was rather tight lipped about the meeting saying, "I don't want to get into anything other than we met with him."

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — On the floor here at the Winter Meetings, I heard reports that three teams are interested in Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder.

With Jayson Werth signing a seven-year deal for $126 million and the Red Sox' reported seven-year, $154 million extension for Adrian Gonzalez, the Brewers realize they will never be able to re-sign the pending free agent.