Just another day in Royals paradise. After a crisply played but dampening loss to the White Sox on Sunday, the news today screams GREINKE!. As has been typical during this on-going "story", everyone's mum on what the @&^# is going on:
KANSAS CITY -- Pitcher Zack Greinke apparently is about ready to return. Although Royals general manager Allard Baird said Sunday that there is no date set for Greinke, he added: "He's moving forward. I don't think it's long."Talk about opening the floodgates of speculation. Really anything's possible, and moreover, the psychologist angle could also be a smokescreen cooked up by either camp to add a veneer of respectability to the situation. Or, it could be something serious. No one knows.Greinke, 22, left Spring Training on Feb. 25 and went home to Orlando, Fla., to deal with what the club called "personal matters." According to published reports, Greinke has been under the care of a psychologist.
Baird declined to state Greinke's problem.
"Out of respect to him, I'd rather have him do that," Baird said.
Baird pushed this angle hard yesterday however,
"He's doing good, sounding great, anxious to be back," Baird said.I guess this is better than throwing him under the bus. But we still have more questions than answers..."For the issues he's been going through, I'm really proud of him. He's a courageous young man."
In other Royals matters...
-Mike Sweeney has drawn 3 walks, the rest of the team has drawn 6.
-Its been a mixed bag thus far regarding the new position players for '06. Reggie Sanders is hitting .333/.368/.556, and Grudz .300/.330/.450, but Minky is only .143/.133/.214 and Bako is hitless in three ABs.
-How many more good performances does Scott Elarton have left? The Royals need to win those games if they want to get to 63 wins.
-Royals pitchers have managed only 31 strikeouts thus far, good for a three-way tie for 3rd worst in baseball. The Orioles are dead last with 26.
-The Royals' ERA in the 7th-8th-9th innings is a stellar 7.20.