Crown Gems: Zack Greinke is Good and Dayton is Sticking Around

The day after Zack Greinke proved, yet again, why he is arguably the best pitcher in all of baseball, Dayton Moore’s rumored contact extension took a more definitive shape.  The timing of Dayton’s extension is fitting, since his contract extension with Zack is one of the true bright spots thus far in his tenure as Royals GM.

On Zack Greinke:

On July 25th I wrote a post titled Greinke Remains Favorite for AL Cy Young Award.  Despite a handful of merely decent starts between then and now I did not waiver in my belief that Zack would win the award.  I must admit however, that I was starting to get a little worried that the voters would not share my viewpoint and be unable to get past his win total.

Then Zack went out on Tuesday and struck out 15 while allowing only 5 hits, 1 walk, and 2 runs in his 8.0 innings of work.

Friday Big League Stew had this posted and I started to feel a little better about the national perception of the AL Cy Young race.

Yesterday, Zack made another statement by throwing a complete game shutout with 1 walk, 5 strikeouts, and only 1 hit.

After those 2 starts this week, it should come as no surprise that Greinke was named AL Player of the Week.

Today Greinke posts abound in the blogosphere.  Were it not for the advent of Twitter.com, you could say that folks are all a-twitter about Zack.  Check out posts from the following to get your fill of Greinke related posts; Rany on the Royals, Royals Reflections, and Royals Authority.

On Dayton Moore:

Of course the news went in another direction today as Sam Mellinger posted Royals set to extend Moore’s contract through 2014 for the Kansas City Star.  Reactions weren’t far behind from places like Royals Authority, Royally Speaking, and The Hardball Times.  I still don’t get why David and Dan Glass felt the need to give him an extension, but if Dayton starts making some moves this offseason that make sense in terms of building a winning baseball team, I can get on board.  The talent in the farm system is better than the day he arrived.  Ownership is spending more money.  The team has a legit presence internationally.  He has filled the organization with very intelligent and well-respected baseball minds.  The new Kauffman Stadium is a huge hit.  With all that in play, things have to get better right?  If not, thanks to Dayton, we can at least enjoy Greinke on the mound every 5th day.