The Royals' front office went into a different gear on Wednesday, trading for Reds reliever Amir Garrett before signing Zack Greinke to a one-year deal. Only 29, Garrett figures to be a prominent member of the Royals' bullpen this season, and while talking with 610's The Drive on Wednesday afternoon, team Insider Josh Vernier explained why the move -- which saw the team send Mike Minor to Cincinnati -- is a good one.
"What I like about bringing Garrett in and moving Mike Minor is the kind of energy that Amir Garrett brings," he said. "Now, energy is only so good. Go out there and produce. But the kind of positive, uplifting, team-first attitude that Amir Garrett brings with him, I think, is a nice replacement for Mike Minor, a 33, 34-year old, keep-to-myself, maybe I'm not jiving with all the young guys inside of this clubhouse. I think it's definitely a clubhouse improvement, a bullpen improvement -- they're better on paper today, I believe, than they were 12 hours ago. I understand they lose a guy that you feel fairly confident can give you 140-160 innings in Mike Minor, but look: if these young pitchers can't make up for the loss of Mike Minor, this season was going nowhere to begin with."
You can listen to Vernier's entire interview in the embedded player below: