Joakim Soria

The Kansas City Royals had two prized pitchers heading into the offseason. The first was 2009 American League Cy Young Award winner, Zack Greinke. He was known to be available after having voiced his disgust with the Royals, and a few months later, they shipped him to the Milwaukee Brewers for four of the Brewers' top prospects.

According to FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal, the press release had barely gone public when teams started calling about the Royals' second most valued commodity—closer, Joakim Soria.

Royals closer Joakim Soria has recently said to Mexican newspaper Vanguard he would not exercise his no-trade clause if a deal were in place with the Yankees. 

It must be noted that he also said he was open to playing on other teams, essentially anywhere. However, the big news involved in this is that he would be willing to go to New York without a guaranteed closer job.

Now that the Kansas City Royals have dealt away their former Cy Young Award-winning ace, Zack Greinke, they really only have a handful of talented players left, and certainly not enough to compete in the near future. 

They have officially entered the rebuilding phase yet again, and for Royals fans that's probably not too comforting, seeing as they have been chasing that elusive second World Series title since 1985.  In fact, they haven't had a winning season since 2003, when they went 83-79, and haven't even made the playoffs since winning their lone title in 1985.

With Zack Greinke only two seasons away from free agency, it was obvious that the Royals would have to deal their ace pitcher. The 27-year old righty would inevitably command a massive salary that Kansas City could not afford to match and hoped to acquire a package of elite prospects rather than risk losing Greinke for nothing.

Following this weekend's trade of Greinke to Milwaukee for four of the organization's top ten prospects, many questions were answered but even more were raised.

In recent years, the Philadelphia Phillies have made most of their offseason noise in big trades and free agent signings, bringing names like Roy Halladay, Placido Polanco, Raul Ibanez and Brad Lidge to the City of Brotherly Love. However, in the past, the Phillies structured their roster in different ways, including a plethora of minor league deals, trading big names for young potential, spending heavily on the first year player draft and taking a gamble in the Rule 5 Draft. Which, in recent years, has landed All-Star outfielder Shane Victorino and long-relief man David Herndon.

With Billy Wagner keen on retiring after the 2010 season, Frank Wren knew he would find himself this off-season once again shopping for bullpen arms.

Even with stellar rookie seasons by Jonny Venters and Craig Kimbrel out of the bullpen, Atlanta will seek at least one veteran arm to help out in late innings, as well as mentor the talented yet young relief corp.

So Alex Anthopoulos has found a manager in John Farrell.

Now he has to continue upgrading his team through trades and free agency.

The first thing to note is that it is highly unlikely Anthopoulos signs a Type A free agent. This is because his first-round pick is not protected, and that is what he would have to give up to sign them.

So Manny Ramirez is out of the question.

The second thing is that Anthopoulos has stated he is willing to go after Type A free agents if the price is right. I understand this, but it is highly unlikely that will happen.

It’s time to continue our journey around the league, looking at each team’s closer situation.  

The AL Central is home to one of the most fluid closing situations and also one of the most stable options in the league.  Let’s take a look at their updated situation, as well as the other three teams in the division:

Chicago White Sox

According to Alex Speier of WEEI.com , the Blue Jays intend to get a good return for reliever Scott Downs and will ask for one of each interested club’s top prospects in return.

Here is more from Speier:

According to Jayson Stark of ESPN , the Royals don’t seem like they are going to part with their closer, Joakim Soria , and they have even turned down an offer by the Yankees that included their top prospect, catcher Jesus Montero .

Here’s more from Stark: