Royals move Merrifield across border


Kansas City this season has played worse than expected leading the team to sell off some players including long time Royal Whit Merrifield. The Royals drafted Merrifield in the ninth round of the 2010 MLB draft out of the University of South Carolina. Merrifield made his major league debut on May 18, 2016 after former Royals second baseman Omar Infante went down with an injury. Following Infante's injury, Merrifield ran away with the second base job and became a fan favorite. Merrifield's six years in Kansas City were some great ones. The two time all-star's career stats while in a Royals uniform included a .286 batting average with 74 home runs and 387 runs batted in. The Royals signed Merrifield to a four year deal worth $16.25 million in 2019.  In my opinion, Merrifield played better than his contract was worth, but the Royals had him on a very team friendly type of deal. Merrifield's 12 year tenure with the Royals organization came to an end on August 2, when the team traded him to Toronto. The Kansas City fan base the past few weeks has been split on Merrifield's vaccine status; but now that the 33-year old is heading to Toronto, he could be forced to get the COVID-19 vaccine due to Canada's COVID-19 laws. Blue Jay's general manager touched on Merrifield's vaccine status. " This is a very fresh acquisition," Atkins said, adding the Jays will "let him work through that with his family." The Royals return for the 33-year old, in my opinion, is a little of a disappointment. I think the Royals should have traded Merrifield about a year or two ago. In return for Merrifield, the Blue Jay's sent back infielder/outfielder Samad Taylor and pitcher Max Castillo. Taylor was Toronto's 16th ranked prospect. Taylor is a 24-year old second baseman, who has shown this season he can run with 23 stolen bases along with 45 runs batted in. Castillo is a right handed pitcher who has a five pitch repertoire that includes a fastball, changeup, slider, curveball, and a sinker. The Royals moved Merrifield while other players on the team had some trade interest including Michael A Taylor, Scott Barlow, and Brad Keller. The Royals obviously didn't get offered what they wanted for those players. Kansas City is now a very youthful team with Salvador Perez being the oldest position player on the big league roster.

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