The Thanksgiving holiday produced little in the way of new information as baseball executives and players apparently joined the rest of us in taking a four day vacation.

Outside of some bogus Erik Bedard signing news (a reported one year-$3 million deal has yet to actually come to fruition) all was quiet on the Royals' front over the past week.   Given the lack of new information and a personal dearth of post-holiday motivation, here are a few key dates that will likely generate some, if not a lot, of news in the coming weeks:

• December 1st - last day for clubs to offer arbitration to its free agents.
• December 7th - last day for free agents offered arbitration to accept said arbitration

 The only Royals who really would be of interest here is/was Miguel Olivo, whom the Royals have already declined their side of the mutual option.   This is really all about draft pick compensation as very few free agents offered arbitration will actually accept.

• December 7th - Winter Meetings begin...in Indianapolis (further proof that Bud Selig is no fun - 'winter meetings' should mean Hawaii, Scottsdale or Palm Beach, not Indianapolis)

The Winter Meetings used to be THE time for big trades to happen, but it is not the mecca of activity it once was.  However, there is no better time for the spawning of rumors than this week.   Somewhere in this timeframe, every baseball site will get at least comment along the lines of 'why do you even talk about these rumors, they are almost all bogus and a waste of time'.   For the record, I love rumors so stop being so uptight.

• December 10th - Rule 5 Draft and the last day of the Winter Meetings

Watch the roster activity leading up to this day as the Royals will have to drop a player from their 40 man roster to be an active participant in the Rule 5 Draft.   I'm hoping to get a decent list of eligible players to review either this week or next to see if there is anyone worth taking a shot with this year.   By the way, anyone else bugged by the fact that every national mention of the Rule 5 almost never lists Joakim Soria as one of the 'great Rule 5 picks'?

• December 12th - Last day to non-tender contracts to players

Now, here will be real telling time as to what the Royals will look like in 2010.    Mike Jacobs and John Buck are among the players who might well find themselves free agents come December 13th.

• January 5th through 15th - Arbitration filing period

I'm hoping this is not a very interesting period of time for the Royals as the players who might cost the Royals a decent sum of money in arbitration will hopefully be free agents instead (see the December 12th deadline above).

Like I said, not much going on this Monday morning, but as you can see from the above timeline, there will be plenty of activity in coming weeks.

If, like me, you click on MLBTradeRumors about five times per day, then none of the following will be a surprise to you.   Still, a string of interesting rumors involving the Royals this morning.

• The Royals are 'going hard' after Erik Bedard.
• The Jose Guillen for Angel Pagan rumors will not go away.
• TheWhite Sox are looking at Coco Crisp
• And finally, the Braves signed a minor league free agent from the Royals.   What is this, bizarro world?

We talked some about the Guillen trade on Monday and even Adam Rubin of the New York Daily News admits the odds of this trade actually going down are not good.   I won't spend much time on it today, but if the only stumbling block is how much cash the Royals kick in then for gods-sake Mr. Glass, send the Mets a blank check!

While resigning Crisp and hoping he is healthy for more than half a season is something the Royals should consider, losing him to another club is hardly the end of the world.   Remember, by all accounts, Crisp will not be ready to play until June, maybe even July of next season.   When healthy, Coco gave the Royals a professional hitter and outstanding defender, but he has hardly been the picture of health recently.  No reason to get in a bidding war over him.

Juan Abreu, a high strikeout/high walk reliever was a 25 year old minor league free agent this fall.   The Braves signed him away from the Royals this week.   Abreu was a somewhat interesting arm in the system, but not all that different from a lot of arms in a lot of systems.   Any guesses on how long before he is involved in a trade back to the Royals?   (kidding....mostly)

Now, for the actual interesting rumor:  Erik Bedard.   We are talking about a pitcher with a career 3.71 ERA over six seasons who averages nearly a strikeout per inning.   Since being acquired by Seattle in exchange for a basket full of players that included Adam Jones and George Sherrill (that is looking like a tremendous deal for the Orioles by the way), Bedard has managed just 30 starts over two seasons.   It should be noted, that Bedard was effective in those starts...very effective.

There is something of a consensus around baseball that Bedard is, for lack of a better term, something of a jerk or at least an incredible prima dona.   Fair or not, that kind of label coupled with injury problems, makes one less than attractive on the open market.   This is your classic incentive laden deal scenario that I am completely on board with.

Even if Bedard is a 'one and done', he could still provide the rotation with some serious firepower and maybe help set the table for the Royals to be respectable in 2010 and contenders in 2011.   Heck, if Gil Meche were to rebound to 2007/2008 form, Bedard were to stay healthy and toss 30+ starts with an ERA in the low threes and Zack remains Zack, would it be feasible to at least 'hang around' the AL Central race in 2010?

I’m about to extend way too much effort and energy writing about a minor league signing, but what the hell…

The Royals announced on Tuesday they signed right hander Bryan Bullington to a minor league deal.  From the press release:

The former top overall pick of the 2002 Draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates pitched in the Toronto Blue Jays organization in 2009, mainly at the Triple-A level for Las Vegas.  The 29-year old did make four relief appearances for the Jays in April, compiling a 3.00 ERA in 6.0 innings.  The 6-foot-4, 220-pounder was 3-1 with three saves and a 3.52 ERA in 28 relief stints for Las Vegas, striking out 43 and walking just seven in 38.1 innings.  Bullington is 0-5 with a 5.08 ERA in 13 games (5 starts) in his Major League career since breaking in with the Pirates in 2005.  He also spent time with the Indians in 2008.

Wow.  Looks like the kid is a bust.  Former number one overall draft pick?  Pitching for his fourth organization in as many years?  Only 13 major league games?

The press release doesn't do his story justice.

Bullington is a cautionary tale of the high expectations that come with being a top pick in the draft, the misdiagnosed injuries and the mediocre results.  To me, it’s interesting (some would say fitting) he landed with the Royals because these are all things we’re certainly used to as fans who follow the team.

The Draft

In retrospect, people will assume that Bullington was the number one overall choice by the Pirates because of signability.  That wasn’t really the case. 

Prior to the draft, Baseball America rated Bullington as the number one right handed pitching prospect - some kid named Zack Greinke was number five.  Bullington was thought to have the best command and the best breaking pitches among his peers.  While Bullington had some of the tools, the 2002 draft was thought to be deep in pitching, but there was no consensus top guy. 

According to BA, the Pirates offered $4 million to Bullington before the draft.  They did the same to BJ Upton and Adam Loewen.  It’s not an uncommon practice.  Teams will often be happy with nabbing a couple of different players in the draft, so with all things being equal, they’ll pick the guy who is most amenable to signing.  That’s not necessarily a “signability” pick.  It’s smart drafting.

While all three players turned the Pirates down, they still went with Bullington. 

When Pittsburgh made the selection, they projected him as a number three starter who, even though he pitched three years in college, needed a couple more years in the minor leagues before he could make his mark with the big club.  Negotiations dragged to September, which ensured Bullington wouldn’t make his pro debut until 2003. 

The Minors

Bullington began his career in A ball in the Sally League and earned a mid-season promotion to High-A.  He showed flashes of quality in his first three years, posting a combined ERA of 3.33 in 397 innings.  His walk rate of 2.5 BB/9 illustrated that he was mostly as advertised when scouts discussed his command and his fastball was reaching 96 mph with what was described as “heavy sink.”

After posting a 3.38 ERA with a 2.1 BB/9 in 18 starts for Triple-A Indianapolis, Bullington was a September call-up for the Pirates in 2005.  The plan was for him to pitch out of the bullpen over the final two weeks of the season.  He appeared in just one game.

After his lone appearance, Bullington was shut down for the rest of the season as shoulder tendinitis that cost him a handful of starts in April, flared up again.

The Injury

Bullington was to pitch in the 2005 Arizona Fall League, but with the shoulder still troublesome, he pulled out.  Initially the injury was thought to be just a strain or tendinitis but after an examination, it was determined the damage was much more extensive.  He would need surgery to repair damage to his posterior labrum.  Major shoulder surgery, the recovery time was thought to be six to eight months.

Bullington was slow to recover.  Six to eight months stretched into 12 and he missed all of the 2006 season. 

The Return

Bullington made 26 starts for Triple-A Indianapolis in 2007 in his return to action, but his command, once his calling card, had evaporated.  His walk rate ballooned to 3.5 BB/9 IP and his strikeout rate tumbled to 5.3 K/9.  The following year, he really struggled.  His walk rate fell to 3.0 BB/9 IP, but perhaps in an effort to improve his control, he started catching more of the plate.  I hypothesize this because he began getting hit - 90 hits in 75 innings.  It was the highest hit rate of his minor league career.

Eventually, the numbers are going to catch up to a prospect who can’t force his way into the big leagues and the Pirates were forced to designate Bullington for assignment in order to remove him from their 40-man roster.  He was picked up by the Indians, but didn’t pitch much better for their Triple-A team (and a couple of big league appearances) before moving on to Toronto for the 2009 season.

The Blue Jays decided to use him exclusively in relief and Bullington finally found some post-injury success.  His walk rate of 1.6 BB/9 was the lowest of his career and his strikeout rate of 10.1 K/9 was the highest.  That’s a good sign.  Overall, he threw 39 innings, allowed 42 hits, 6 unintentional walks and had an ERA of 3.52.

Next

The Bullington signing further signals Dayton Moore’s attempt to stock the upper minor leagues with players who have the potential to contribute (likely in a brief, emergency situation) in the big leagues.  That’s a good sign.  We suffered through so many innings of John Bale and and Roman Colon because there wasn’t anybody else in the system. 

Can Bullington contribute in the majors?  He’s been through so much as this point in his career, who knows?  I do like his Triple-A numbers from last year and it’s possible he could make the transformation from injured starter to effective reliever.  He wouldn’t be the first.

Besides, he's an interesting story... So much promise with so little to show. 

The bottom line is, this is a low risk, low cost move.  It’s exactly the kind of move the Royals should be making.

There were some rumors over the weekend, unsubstantiated and mostly speculative, about a possible trade of Jose Guillen to the Mets for Angel Pagan.   As part of this deal, of course, the Royals would be required to kick in some, if not all of Guillen's $12 million in salary due this coming season.

Let's all keep in mind that this deal is probably more 'columnist speculation' than 'actual discussion', so any of you that get all hypertensive over rumors that don't come true might well just stop reading now.     To begin with, it is unlikely the Mets will make any move before seeing how the Jason Bay/Matt Holliday situations play out.   Secondly, and more importantly, it is also unlikely that the Royals will eat a substantial portion of Guillen's salary.

Therein lies the real question of the day:  Why Not?

My mother owned a fabric store for many years and invariably there was always a bit of fabric left over at the end of every bolt.   Not enough to really make anything, but too much to just throw away.   They are called remnants.  You pull them off the bolt, roll them up, tie it with a rubber band and slap some non-sensical price on it just to get it out the door.  

Ladies and gentlemen, Jose Guillen is a remnant.

The Royals have already paid for the luxurious, eye-catching fabric and now are left with a scrap that certainly does not justify its once gaudy price tag.  Move it out the door.

Not long ago, I advocated the plan of keeping Jose and giving him time at designated hitter or, gulp, even right field in hopes that he hits 12 or 14 home runs before the trading deadline.   Hoping, obviously, that some contender might have enough injuries to take a gamble on one-half of a season of Jose Guillen.

Still, if they Royals were to take that path, they might well fall prey to the Reggie Sanders Syndrome.   By most accounts, Sanders was all set to be traded to the Yankees for Melky Cabrera, but went down to injury just prior to the trading deadline.   The next season, he also was hurt when trading time came and went.   Given Guillen's propensity for injury, or at least being 'dinged up and day to day', can the organization really count on Guillen even being in tradable condition (much less actually hitting at the time) come this July?

My guess is the odds are not in the Royals' favor when it comes to Guillen being both productive (however moderately), healthy AND not spouting off come this July.  

The great thing about the off-season is that there is little interaction between the press and the players.   There is no opportunity to observe locker room blowups or late arrivals to the park or shouting matches with drunk fans (or sober ones who are still wearing their high school letter jackets).   Right now, simply by isolation, Jose Guillen is on his best behavior and hence, one of the variables is out of the equation.

Faced with paying Guillen $12 million no matter what, does it not make sense to simply make a move...any move?  

Let's go back to the Mets' rumor - you could insert any team, any marginal player or even marginal prospect or marginal non-prospect - but we'll use the current scuttlebutt just for discussion purposes.   What's worse, paying Jose Guillen $12 million and having him play for you or paying Jose Guillen $10 million to watch him play for someone else and have Angel Pagan on your team?

The money's gone no matter what - no one is going to make the Royals an offer that begins with 'we'll pay all of Guillen's salary' - the time is now to get something...anything, and move on.

The Royals have already taken the plunge with Jose Guillen and are up to their necks in the water.  Should they care if someone dumps another glass of water on their heads?

The deadline for the roster was today as teams are protecting minor league talent from the upcoming Rule 5 draft.

The Royals filled their roster by selecting the contracts of infielder Jeff Bianchi, outfielders Jarrod Dyson and Jordan Parraz, catcher Manuel Pina and right-handed pitcher Blake Wood from the Omaha (AAA) roster.

Most of these additions aren't surprising.  Bianchi was finally healthy last summer and hit .308/.358/.435 splitting time between High-A and Double-A.  Parraz was obtained for Tyler Lumsden and hit .348/.432/.541 in Double-A and Triple-A.  Pina arrived in the Danny Guttierez deal and projects to be a solid defensive catcher.  Wood struggled last year, but has the command that can help him be successful.  I guess a surprise would be Dyson, a former 50th round pick (2006), is a guy only Dayton Moore could love - a speedy outfielder with zero power.

Dyson was protected at the expense of Chris "Disco" Hayes.  I'm not surprised the Royals didn't protect Disco, but the Dyson choice is really kind of strange.

To make room on the 40-man roster, the Royals outrighted right-handed pitchers Devon Lowery and Doug Waechter to Omaha.  Both can elect free agency beginning tomorrow.  In addition, the Royals designated infielder Tug Hulett for assignment and requested Unconditional Release Waivers on right-handed pitcher Julio Pimentel.

Lowery and Waechter are fillers. Both will probably elect free agency, but the Royals can bring them back if they're interested.  Both have had injury issues.  Hulett was surplus after the Royals traded for Chris Getz.  (Although Hulett was surplus last year, as well.)  I'm certain he'll pass through waivers.  And Pimentel was injured all of last year.

Because I don't do this often enough...

Let's start with some takes on this week's big news... The signing of Brad Thompson to a minor league contract.  Gotcha!  How about some Zack Greinke links?

-- Allard Baird was justifiably proud of his former first round draft pick.

“I knew,” Baird said, “we had to do what was right for this kid. He was going to be a father one day, and a husband, and a grandfather. So, baseball, when this went down, it was a lot bigger than that. We had to think about the person over the player."

Damn.  Baird did a few stupid things in his tenure as the Royals GM, but quotes like that make me forget about Neifi Perez.  Almost.

-- Greinke pays attention to his FIP.  Wow.  Seriously, if he figures out how to incorporate advanced statistics into his approach, the 2009 Cy Young could be his first of many.

-- Of course, we all want to know how Greinke put together such an outstanding season.  I'm just guessing here, but perhaps it had something to do with his curve and his slider.

-- More Greinke salutes at Kings of Kauffman, Royalscentricity and Royally Speaking.

-- I offer a few additional thoughts at Baseball Daily Digest.

Obviously, the Greinke story was huge, but there's plenty of other stuff to keep your interest.  Check out some of these:

--  Just 88 days until pitchers and catchers report.  The Royals unveiled their 2010 Spring Training schedule.  Time to plan your Arizona vacation.

--  Fangraphs Marc Hulett unveils his Top Ten Royals Prospects.  Mike Moustakas is number two.  Doesn't he know Moose is huge?

--  The Royals Review community prospect list is underway.  Mike Montgomery was the number one choice, and voting is now open for number two.

--  David Pinto at Baseball Musings is undertaking the huge task of writing about every player who appeared in a major league game last summer.  Here are his posts on Josh Anderson and Mike Aviles.

Money quote on Anderson:

Somehow, in 2009, he played in 118 games despite posting a slash line of .240/.276/.304. It’s not a surprise he ended up with the Royals.

-- One of my favorite parts of the winter is when the projections for the next year start rolling out.  Chone is one of the first out of the gate.  The Royals aren't looking so hot.

-- Hey, have you guys heard about the All-Star Game coming to Kansas City in 2012?  That's probably not going to happen, since Ken Rosenthal says the players will probably be on strike.

--  Zach Sanders spells his first name wrong, but does a crackerjack job in charge at the new MLB Notebook.  It's a great place for some general baseball info.  Check them out.

--  Don't forget to follow us on Twitter.

This coming Friday is the deadline for teams to set their 40 man rosters for the off-season.  The exemptions for players on the sixty day disabled list go away, which puts the mighty Bruce Chen back on the roster as 'man number forty'.   Of course, the relevant part of this deadline is that the 40 man roster is also the protected list from the upcoming Rule 5 Draft.  

Briefly, any minor league player who is not on his organization's forty man roster and has four seasons of minor league experience is eligible to be plucked from the organization, so long as the drafting team is willing to carry said player on their major league roster for all of 2010.   There is a exemption for players who were eighteen years old or younger at the time they were signed:  those players must have five years of minor league service time to be subject to the Rule 5.

That last line is a critical one to remember and important to the Royals as it (by my calculations) means that Jeff Bianchi is exempt from the Rule 5 for one more season as he signed just a few months prior to turning nineteen.

If Bianchi is safe, then who among the position players is not?   Obviously, we could come up with quite a list of players, but most would be unlikely to garner even fleeting interest from other clubs or even trigger a memory in many of our minds.   There are some 'organizational' names you will recognize such as Josh Johnson, Chris McConnell, Ed Lucas, Jose Duarte and Irving Falu.    You might be looking for Chris Lubanski, but he has reached the point of being a minor league free agent.  

None of those guys has the resume to entice a team to draft AND carry them for a full season.   Nor do any of them have the talent or potential to take up a roster spot protecting them.   

One player might, however, and that guy is outfielder Jordan Parraz.      Now, Parraz has one season (2009) above A ball, but he posted outstanding numbers between AA and AAA:  .348/.432/.541/.973.   To be honest, I am not sure anyone would bite on Parraz, but why take the risk when you have the likes of Luis Hernandez and a raft of relievers I can no longer bear to even mention taking up roster space?

So, the Royals should protect Parraz, say at the expense of Luis Hernandez just for talking purposes.   Now, how about the pitchers?

Pitching is often the place were teams are willing to gamble with a major league roster spot for a full season.   Even if your Rule 5 draftee does not turn into Johan Santana or Joakim Soria, he might well be at least serviceable ala D.J. Carrasco or Andy Sisco.   Given that, the Royals have a number of hurlers who might draw some attention.

The most notable of names is submarining, blogger Chris Hayes.   Although Hayes was only average in 49 innings of AAA work, his dominance in a season and a half at AA.   His unconvential delivery only makes Hayes worthy of protecting.   With the likes of Devon Lowery, Doug Waechter, Jamey Wright and Chen on the 40 man roster, the Royals can certainly drop one to make room for Hayes.

In my opinion, the Hayes decision was the easy one.  What about two other relievers:  Chris Nicoll and Gilbert de la Vara.

The Royals actually lost de la Vara to the Rule 5 last year and he came within a couple of spots of making the Astros before being returned.   Gilbert struggled in 2009, giving up 83 hits in 64 innings of AA ball and posting the worst strikeout to walk ratio of his career.   A team might gamble on him, but if I were the Royals, I would let them.   That does not mean that de la Vara should not be kept around if he is not taken, but simply that the world would not end if he was.

I kind of have this gut feeling that I think more of Chris Nicoll than most watchers of the Royals' minor league system.   After imploding as a starter in 2007, Nicoll rebounded as a reliever in 2008 and posting a 1.15 WHIP and 4.52 SO/BB ratio.   While 2009 was not as impressive, it was still solid.   Chris struck out 58 hitters in 61 innings of AA work before getting promoted to AAA and being lit up in five games as a starter.

The Omaha Royals basically ran out of starting pitchers at the end of last season and were forced to press Nicoll into service.  My guess is that some other organizations (hopefully including the Royals) will discount the AAA experience and consider Nicoll as a decent gamble as the last guy in their major league bullpen.   Given the names I listed at the end of Chris Hayes' paragraph above, is there any reason not to protect Nicoll?

 It is probably relevant to point out that two AA starters are also eligible for selection:  Blake Johnson and Matt Kinginyzky.   Neither warrants protection as it is unlikely someone will burn a 25 man spot on either.

So, in my world, the Royals should move to protect Jordan Parraz, Chris Nicoll and Chris Hayes at the expense of Luis Hernandez, Devon Lowery and Bruce Chen (or pick you generic veteran arm).  By the weekend, we will know what Dayton Moore and staff actually do.

It's official.  Zack Greinke is your 2009 American League Cy Young Award winner.

Here's how the voting went:

So he wasn't a unanimous number one.  Big freaking deal.  He got the most points and that's all that counts.  I'll leave someone else to do put the pitchfork to the three who didn't give him their first place vote.

In many ways, Greinke’s award is not only a validation of his excellent season, it’s a validation of what we went through as fans in 2009.  Or at least, that’s what it feels like to me.  As a group, all of us have been so excited by theprospect of Greinke winning the Cy Young.  We wished each other Happy Greinke Day on his starts and hung letters for ZacKKKKKK to celebrate his punch-outs.  How many of you, once the season was over for the Royals (according to the calendar, not the standings) immediately went to the calendar and circled this date?

I did.

That’s because in 2009, Zack Greinke meant everything to the fan base of the Royals.  His starts were special.  Part of the reason is because he was so damn great.  Obviously.  However, another part I think has to do with his journey.  The guy went to hell and back.  He quit baseball and wanted to do nothing more than eat Chipotle and mow lawns.  Then he came back.  He wobbled at times and even when he returned, we weren’t really sure if he would ever be able to put everything together and realize his awesome potential. 

Damn, how many times have we seen the spectacular flameouts over the last 20 years?  Guys like Joe Vitiello, Jeff Austin, Michael Tucker and Kyle Snyder.  All were high draft picks and all bombed out in one way or another.  We knew from the start that Greinke was different, but despite the gap in talent, we weren’t sure how this story would play out.  Greinke had all the tools to be a stud pitcher in the major leagues.  That was obvious from the moment he arrived.  What wasn’t so obvious was if he had the mentality to focus and harness those talents to become a quality pitcher. 

So maybe that’s why we’re so heavily invested in the success of Zack Greinke.  His story isn’t so different from so many of ours:  He didn’t like his job, left, came back, was still unsure about his place and then, at some point, gained a clarity and focus.  And found success.

That’s what makes his story so great.  He walked away from the game.  Walked away.  And thanks to the efforts of Buddy Bell and Allard Baird, Greinke was slowly brought back into the fold - on his terms and his timetable.  I’m not a fan of either Bell or Baird, but I sure as hell respect the way they handled the kid during his darkest times.  I hope they are having a little celebration of their own today, because I will always be convinced that without their patience and understanding from a few years ago, Grienke wouldn’t be at the top of his profession today. 

I’m not gonna lie… The 2009 season was my most difficult as a fan.  The bone-headed trades, the condescending attitude from the front office, the manager who is unbelievably dense, watching Yuniesky Betancourt play defense, and loss after loss… This was simply a horrible season.  From the moment Kyle Farnsworth grooved a fastball to Jim Thome in April to watching Mark Teahen misplay a fly ball in the Metrodome in October, this season was a comedy of errors.  It was the worst fundamental baseball I’ve ever seen.

Yet, I couldn’t wait for every fifth day to roll around because it was Greinke Day. 

Answer this question:  What would you have done if Greinke wasn’t on the Royals this year?  Wow.  That’s just a scary thought.  A similar question would be something like, “What would things be like without the sun?”  Or, “Imagine you’ve never eaten pizza.”

Some things you just don’t want to contemplate.  Greinke not pitching is one of them.

He salvaged a portion of this unsalvagable season.  He was the only reason to watch this otherwise wretched team.  He mattered.  By extension, he made us care.  Even if it was only six times a month, we cared.  I watched game 161 as if it were a freaking playoff game.  I wanted to smash my TV when Willie Bloomquist hobbled after that ball down the left field line and when Teahen took that bizarre route in right field that cost Greinke the win and the shot at posting the sub 2.00 ERA.  My team is 20 games out of first and I’m hanging on every pitch on the second to last game of the season.  Why?  Because Greinke matters.

I bounce back and forth between the relevance of the BBWAA awards.  Sometimes, the writers get these awards horribly, horribly wrong.  Other times, they show some surprising insight and savvy and make a quality selection.  The fear - and it was real - was Greinke could be denied this award because of his paucity of wins.  Just insane really, unless these writers are voting for best pitcher for fantasy baseball, wins are a an irrelevant stat for pitchers.  Today, most of those writers - enough to give Greinke the most points - made the correct selection.  I applaud them.  Today. 

Greinke has been justly rewarded for his outstanding season, but it’s as if we’ve all been rewarded.  As fans, we always feel a connection to those who wear the blue, but I think our connection to Grienke runs deeper than usual.  We know where he’s come from.  And now we know where he’s going.  Happy Greinke Day.

Thanks, Zack.

Today is the big day.  I don't have to tell you this.  You already know it.

In preparation, I offer a photo essay of Greinke's 2009 season.

The Extension:

The SI Cover:

The All-Star Game:

The Ace:

The Campaign:

THE NEXT STOP: