Zach Greinke is going to the American League. The Milwaukee Brewers just traded the sought-after ace right-hander to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Zack Greinke is 9-3  with a 3.44 ERA and an 8.9 strikeout-per-nine inning mark so far this season after 21 starts with the Brewers. In exchange for Greinke, the Brewers received rookie shortstop Jean Segura and two minor league pitchers.  Segura is considered the Angels’ top position player prospect, according to ESPN.

The Angels are in second place in the American League West with a record of 54-45 going into tonight’s action. Even if they are unable to catch the Texas Rangers, they are very much in contention for the Wild Card. Milwaukee is in fourth place in the National League Central and is going nowhere this season.

Zack Greinke becomes a free agent at the end of this season,  but the Angels apparently feel they have a good chance of signing him to a multiyear deal.  He broke into the big leagues with the Kansas City Royals in 2004, and won the American League Cy Young Award in 2009 after going 16-8 (and an MLB-best ERA of 2.16) with the Royals.  He also made the All-Star team that year. He was traded by Kansas City to the Milwaukee Brewers prior to the start of the 2011 season. Greinke has averaged 13 wins over the last five seasons.

Greinke seems quite enthusiastic about the trade as reported by MLB.com:

It should be fun. They’re a great team. I think the first month they struggled, but since [then], they’re one of the best teams in baseball. [They have] a lot of great players, good pitching. The pitching staff will be pretty incredible.

The MLB trading deadline is July 31.

[Image credit: Keith Allison]

Brewers’ Pitcher Zack Greinke Traded to the Angels is a post from: The Inquisitr