Zack Greinke talks about going through motions and annoying teammates

Former Royal Zack Greinke offered a glimpse of his annoying and endearing self during a 40-minute chat with baseball writers on Monday. Alternately prickly and adorable, Greinke admitted that his effort fell off last year as the Royals slumped to yet another bad finish.

Greinke doesn’t speak in clichés, which makes him fascinating to sports writers who have heard them all. But is the right-hander “over-the-top honest,” as one Milwaukee columnist sees it, or just kind of a jerk?