<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Zack Greinke’s name will be a fixture in the offseason rumor mill.

<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And here’s something to keep in mind: His contract with the Kansas City Royals includes a no-trade clause – but only through the end of next season. 

<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The contract itself won’t expire until after the 2012 season. But Greinke will lose his leverage in trade talks as soon as the non-waiver deadline passes on July 31, 2011.

<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Here are the details of Greinke’s contract, according to multiple major-league sources:

<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">-- During the 2009 and 2010 seasons, Greinke was able to block trades to 20 teams.

<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">-- In 2011, that protection drops to 15 teams.

<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: black; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">-- This year, the clause would have permitted the Royals to trade him to mostly small-market teams, including the Tampa Bay Rays. Greinke could have blocked deals to the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, among other big-market teams.

<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Greinke is set to earn $13.5 million in each of the next two seasons. His performance slipped this year after winning the Cy Young Award in 2009. He went 10-14 with a 4.17 ERA in 33 starts.

<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">-- Jon Paul Morosi