Print edition: 
KANSAS CITY, Mo. —The Royals' first Cy Young winner has simple advice for the man expected to become the latest.
"Whatever his pregame meal is," Bret Saberhagen says of Zack Greinke, "just keep on eating it."
Greinke, of course, had a breakout season in 2009, when his 2.16 ERA was the best in the American League by more than a third of a run, and the best overall mark since Pedro Martinez in 2000. He went 16-8 and struck out 242 in 229 1/3 innings, dominant enough that most expect him to be honored when the Baseball Writers Association of America selects the winner this afternoon.
In the shadows of the announcement, it's worthwhile to consider what the future will hold for both Greinke and the Royals — win or lose today.
Greinke just turned 26 last month, so as crazy as it may sound, he may get better. Saberhagen knows more than most about big-time success at a young age, having won the Cy Young and World Series MVP as a 21-year-old in 1985.
Saberhagen is one of eight to win baseball's highest honor for pitchers for a season in which they were 25 or younger. There isn't a dud on the list. Five of them won at least one more, including four who could be headed to the Hall of Fame — Johan Santana, Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez and Tom Glavine.
For his part, Greinke has always maintained that he won't consider himself one of the game's great pitchers until he does it for three years, which by his math, means the All-Star break next season.
"Maybe in another half a year," he said.
Others aren't as patient. Royals Hall of Famer and broadcaster Paul Splittorff calls Greinke's 2009 the best pitching season in franchise history. White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen headlines a list of opposing managers and players who call Greinke the best pitcher in the league.
Pretty good timing, then, that the Royals signed Greinke to a contract extension before last season that runs through 2012.
"Potentially, he's got a chance to be one of the dominating pitchers for a period of time," general manager Dayton Moore said. "Zack is a tremendous competitor. He's a great preparer. There's no reason he shouldn't continue to even improve on what he's already done. He's capable of doing that."
The rub is that the Royals need to be capable of improving, too, or risk losing their franchise pitcher.
Moore has talked about how many of last winter's moves were motivated by a desire to improve quickly while Greinke was still under a club-controlled contract.
Before the extension, Greinke was due to be a free agent after the 2010 season. With the way the trade market works, the Royals may have been inclined to deal him this offseason if they didn't think they could win in Greinke's final year.
But the extension essentially bought two more seasons to build a winner around Greinke before they would potentially consider trading him. That would make the new "target" year 2011.
"I can't say we're gearing up for 2011 or 2012 because Zack Greinke's on the team," Moore said. "We're going to put the best team we can on the field, literally, every game. That's our focus right now, and Zack's a huge part of that, obviously."
Greinke has made it clear that he enjoys Kansas City, but also that winning is his priority. He won fans locally when he told the New York media he wanted to pitch for the Royals, and not the Yankees, but has been open about his disappointment in last year's 97-loss team.
"I was expecting more this year, and our team is still talented," he said. "But, obviously, we probably needed a little more than we had. I thought we'd be better than we've been, but we kind of proved this year that we still need more than we have to compete."
