Royals right-hander Zack Greinke still has two years left on a four-year deal he signed in 2009, but a lot of talk is coming out lately about Kansas City entertaining offers for the 27-year-old pitcher. Greinke, the 2009 American League Cy Young Award winner can fetch a great return. His 2010 totals – 4.17 ERA, 220 innings pitched, 181 strikeouts, 1.25 WHIP – were also rather impressive, considering the team playing behind him.

The Royals aren’t getting better anytime soon, so they may as well try to cash in on what Greinke can bring back in a trade. The hurler winner can fetch a decent haul of young players for Kansas City, and you’d have to think after so many years that Greinke is ready to play on a team capable of competing for a playoff spot. Greinke also has some measure of control over where he goes, if anywhere.

So far the Red Sox and the Blue Jays have expressed interest publically in Greinke, but the righty has a limited no-trade clause in his contract that forbids the Royals from dealing him any of 20 teams without his approval. Whether Boston or Toronto is on that list is unknown, but if the free agent market shapes up the way some expect and Cliff Lee lands in New York, the addition of Greinke to another AL East market will be a good way to combat that.

The Royals don’t have to trade Greinke. He’ll earn $13 million next season, which isn’t a terribly high price to pay for someone with Greinke’s resume. Still, it’s probably a better idea than not to make a move sooner than later. Greinke’s value may decline as the season progresses. Who knows what he’ll be worth by the trade deadline.  The Royals should move Greinke while his value is at its peak. They haven’t had a winning record since 2003, and ironically, trading their best player might be the first move towards fixing that problem.