The Yankees did not land Zack Greinke, but another Royals pitcher said he is willing to join them.
Closer Joakim Soria told a Mexican newspaper he would waive his no-trade clause if the Royals dealt him to the Yankees. His no-trade clause reportedly blocks deals with the Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers, Phillies, Cardinals and Cubs.
“I didn’t put it there, my agent did, as a strategy,” Soria told the newspaper as translated by mlbtraderumors.com. “But if the Royals decide to trade me to New York, I would gladly go to play with the Yankees or any other team. . . . I repeat, I would not block a trade to the Yankees. I like to play baseball and I would play with any team.”
The Yankees and Royals have talked about Soria before, but it would be surprising if the Royals traded him. They have him locked up through 2014 and have given no indication that they are willing to trade him. Soria emphasized he is happy in Kansas City in the article.
Royals general manager Dayton Moore told The Post last night he was not shopping Soria, but did not rule out being convinced to make a deal if the right trade came along.
“We weren’t shopping Greinke,” Moore said. “I didn’t make one call to one club asking them if they had interest in Zack Greinke. It’s no different than any other player. Everybody wants good players and it’s very common for clubs to pursue other teams’ quality players. We don’t have any plans to move any of our players unless we get a deal that makes perfect sense.”
Soria, 26, registered 43 saves this year with a 1.78 ERA and made the All-Star team. Soria would not close for the Yankees, but they need someone to fill the eighth-inning setup role to get the ball to Mariano Rivera now that Kerry Wood is a Cub again. Right now, that role would go to either Joba Chamberlain or David Robertson, but both struggled at times last year.