FanPost

Yuni's Role in the Greinke Trade

Understandably, the majority of the attention on the KC-Milwaukee exchange has been on the loss of Greinke and the package KC received in return. Somewhat lost to the discussion has been that Yuniesky Betancourt was part of the package KC sent with Greinke, specifically his role and the impact of his departure.

First things first, Yuni was terrible and I'm glad that he's gone. Discussions of Escobar's ability aside, Yuni cost the team with the bat, with the glove, and with his base running. He was below average in just about every category aside from 'positional adjustment.' It's good that he isn't on our team any more. If Moore had traded Yuni plus cash for a PNTBL, we'd be jumping for joy around here. The fact that the loss of Greinke is somewhat offset by the addition by subtraction of Yuni is really pretty important.

That leads to the second thing - what was his role in the trade? From where I'm sitting, I see three possibilities:

1. The Brewers think Yuni is good, he was legitimately part of the package they were trading for. In this scenario, the Brewers weren't merely trading for an ace, they were trading for an ace plus a guy with good defensive tools at a premium position with decent power. And plus hands. Brewers were willing to give up more talent if it meant they got Greinke AND Yuni.

2. Moore dumped Yuni on the Brewers. In this scenario, it was a package deal - if you want Greinke you have to take the rotting corpse of Yuni off our hands too, sort of like the Beckett trade to Boston in which they had to take on Mike Lowell's contract. If you feel this is the case, the return for Greinke was likely diminished since we were forcing an undesirable commodity on the Brewers as part of the deal.

3. Yuni was necessary to get Escobar in the deal. In this scenario, the Brewers aren't necessarily in love with Yuni, but they needed an MLB starting shortstop. In order to be willing to include Escobar in the deal, they have to receive an MLB starting shortstop, and Yuni technically is one.

Depending on your perspective of Yuni's role in the deal, this deal gets worse or better for the Royals. My indication has always been that DM actually thinks that Yuni is good, making scenario number two unlikely. My gut feeling is scenario three. What say the peanut gallery?

And plus hands.

This FanPost was written by a member of the Royals Review community. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the editors and writers of this site.