Baseball Notes: Hungry Brewers acquire Greinke

The Kansas City Royals announced Sunday that they had traded former Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke to the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Brewers also received shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt and an undisclosed amount of cash in exchange for shortstop Alcides Escobar, outfielder Lorenzo Cain, and righthanded pitching prospects Jake Odorizzi and Jeremy Jeffress.

Greinke, a 27-year-old righthander, "brings great physical skills and athleticism to the team and is an outstanding competitor," Milwaukee general manager Doug Melvin said in a statement.

Greinke was 10-14 with a 4.17 ERA last season after going 16-8 with a 2.16 ERA in 2009, his Cy Young year. Two $13.5 million years remain on the four-year, $38 million contract he signed with the Royals.

Sunday's deal and an earlier one that sent highly regarded infield prospect Brett Lawrie to the Toronto Blue Jays for righthanded starter Shaun Marcum have cost Milwaukee young players who might have figured prominently in its future - and could help Kansas City rebuild.

Escobar was the Brewers' primary shortstop last season but batted only .235. Cain batted .306 with 13 RBIs in 43 games; Jeffress, who has been suspended twice under baseball's drug policy, went 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA in 10 appearances; and Odorizzi was perhaps the Brewers' top minor-league pitching prospect.

Cubs great dies. Phil Cavarretta, 94, who led the Cubs to their last World Series appearance in 1945 as the National League's most valuable player, died of complications from a stroke Saturday in Lilburn, Ga.

Mr. Cavarretta broke into the major leagues in 1934 and spent the first 20 of his 22 seasons with the Cubs. A first baseman and outfielder, he was a career .293 hitter. One of the last surviving members of the 1945 Cubs, he led the National League that season with a .355 batting average.