The Milwaukee Brewers have acquired 2009 AL Cy Young winner Zack Greinke in a multi-player trade with the Kansas City Royals. The Brewers also get shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt and reportedly $2 million in cash; the Royals get shortstop Alcides Escobar, centerfielder Lorenzo Cain, and two righthanded pitchers, former first-round pick Jeremy Jeffreess and top prospect Jake Odorizzi.

Greinke is under contract through the 2012 season, but the Royals figured they wouldn’t be able to re-sign him. Brewers general manager Doug Melvin did his best to deflect comparisons to the 2008 trade that gave the Brewers three months of Cy Young winner C.C. Sabathia, who led Milwaukee to its first playoff appearance in 25 years but then left for Yankees megabucks the following offseason. “”This is sort of a ‘now’ deal,” said Melvin. “But I told Zack Greinke this: ‘It feels like we got CC Sabathia but we got him for two years, and maybe even longer. That’s the difference.’ He’s excited about coming here. He’s motivated.”

The Royals had tried to trade Greinke to the Washington Nationals, but Greinke has a no-trade clause and vetoed the deal. Greinke waived his no-trade clause to come to Milwaukee. “It’s an indication he wanted to come to Milwaukee and thinks we have a chance to compete and win the division,” said the jubilant Melvin.

Two weeks ago, the Brewers also traded for pitcher Shaun Marcum, who was Toronto’s Opening Day starter last season, so they’re feeling pretty good about their pitching. Still, Greinke is hardly a sure thing, he’s never been close to the playoffs during his seven season in Kansas City, and he’s really only had one good year. Last season on the heels of his Cy Young, he was 10-14 with a 4.17 ERA. You can blame some of that on being on an awful team, but I wouldn’t expect too much from the kid.