"The stakes are high as the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers wait for free agent Cliff Lee to decide where he'll be pitching in 2011 and beyond. The winner of the Lee sweepstakes will have an ace left-hander to plug in at the top of its rotation. The loser will have a giant hole where Lee was supposed to be. Once Lee makes his call, the focus will inevitably shift to Kansas City's Zack Greinke, a 27-year-old former Cy Young Award winner and everybody's favorite Plan B. The news on that front doesn't look good for either Texas or New York. Baseball sources said that Kansas City general manager Dayton Moore is actively gauging the market for Greinke, and that both the Yankees and Rangers rank down the list of potential fits for Greinke. The reason: Neither team has enough of the commodity that Moore is seeking in trade. The Royals have a wealth of pitching talent in the minor leagues, a hot first base prospect in Eric Hosmer, an elite young third baseman in Mike Moustakas and a hard-hitting catcher, Wil Myers, who is probably going to have to shift to the outfield in the majors. As a result, sources say, Moore has focused on adding up-the-middle position players who are close to major league ready. And neither the Yankees nor the Rangers provide the best match for Kansas City. The Yankees do have three catchers -- Jesus Montero, Gary Sanchez and Austin Romine -- among their list of top prospects. Infield prospect Eduardo Nunez would likely be part of a Yankees trade package, and sources said that outfielder Brett Gardner's name has come up in conversations between the clubs. But it appears that package wouldn't be enough to pry Greinke loose from the Royals." Read more: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5915164&campaign=rss&source=MLBHeadlines
