Milwaukee Brewers general manager Doug Melvin confirmed on Thursday morning that the team is "taking phone calls" on trade offers for pitcher Zack Greinke, which fits with the rumors that have labelled the Brewers as active sellers heading into the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. According to a report from Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Greinke is "as good as gone" from the looks of things, which is particularly good news for Kenny Williams and the Chicago White Sox.
The Sox have repeatedly been linked to Greinke in trade rumors of the past few weeks, and recently Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi noted that Chicago is "eager" to deal Gavin Floyd and could use him to build a competitive offer to land the Brewers' 27-year-old righty. Kenny Williams has never been shy about trading for proven MLB talent prior to the trade deadline, but he doesn't have a lot of minor league depth to offer at this point.
The Brewers may try to pry blue chip prospects away from rival teams in a Greinke deal, and Haudricourt specifically notes that Milwaukee has shown interest in Texas Rangers prospects Jurickson Profar, Martin Perez and Justin Grimm, along with Atlanta Braves youngsters Julio Teheran, Randall Delgado and Mike Minor. Can Kenny Williams concoct a creative deal to grab Greinke before July 31? Only time will tell.
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