On Friday night at Kauffman Stadium, nine days removed from the most recent time he put on a baseball uniform, Whit Merrifield will walk into the same clubhouse he’s known for the past seven years. He will settle in front of the same corner locker and sit on the same black rolling chair.
But while many of his surroundings will offer familiarity, much has changed — with the expectation of more change yet on the horizon.
Could this be Merrifield’s final homestand as a Kansas City Royal? Absolutely, it could. I’d even frame that as more likely than not. More necessary than not.
The stimulus here is not simply Merrifield’s unwillingness to take a vaccine, but rather the strained words that followed in what was intended to be an explanation.
It fell far short of that.
Merrifield is one of 10 Royals players who rejected the COVID-19 vaccination requirement to enter Canada and participate in a series in Toronto last weekend. All deserve the scrutiny that ensued, but Merrifield separated himself from the other nine with a stunning admission:
Trade me, and I just might reconsider.
His vaccination stance, he explained, “might change down the road — something happens and I happen to get on a team that has a chance to go play in Canada in the postseason (and) maybe that changes.”
In case you missed the essence of that: Merrifield will go one step further to be on the field for a contending team than he would to be on the field for the organization that currently signs his paychecks. The argument in this column is not that Merrifield owes the Royals anything more after his dozen years in the organization — but doesn’t he at least owe them the same he’s willing to provide, um, team-to-be-determined?
What we should have read into that remark is that Merrifield is not only willing to accept a trade but eager to seek one — he’ll go against his principles to embrace one, in fact, if you can call shunning a needle a principle. He’s not dumb — there’s a reason he elected to broadcast that stance to the rest of the baseball world.
This might be a problem in the Kansas City clubhouse, but it won’t be a problem in yours.
It’s certainly worth noting that he apologized for that comment, both publicly on a local radio program on 610 Sports and privately to Royals general manager J.J. Picollo and president of baseball operations Dayton Moore. It did not come out the way he intended it, he said.
But he did not walk back the gist of the comment that irked Royals management most, because that part remains true, and he still would like the rest of the league to know it — he is still willing to reconsider his vaccination stance if he’s playing for a contender. To be clear, that would include the Royals, if they were in contention, but we all know the Royals are not.
During his radio appearance, Merrifield seemed intent on making it clear he still loves Kansas City.
I believe him. I don’t think Merrifield hates Kansas City. Never did. I don’t think he hates the Royals organization. I don’t think he hates management, his teammates, nor the fans. His actions over the past seven years back him up there.
I think Merrifield hates losing. I think he’s tired of losing. I think he hates the possibility that by the time the Royals are done losing, his best years will be behind him. The patience, to put it more simply, has run out.
That piece is understandable, actually. But once the exhaustion reaches a point that he is only willing to take every step possible to be available after checking the standings, a separation must follow. That’s not all-in. It’s looking for the best out.
He has one now.
And so do the Royals.
For years, they have weighed the possibility of trading Merrifield — one of their most consistent hitters — but a combination of underwhelming offers and the desire to preserve a couple of veteran leaders spoke loudest. The Royals have long believed they owed the fans a reason to show up to the ballpark, a stance we can debate another day.
In the end, Merrifield’s comments necessitate the Royals exercise the trade he seems to want, and one they were likely already investigating anyway. Because even if you subtract the vaccination and ensuing quotes from this equation, it’s still the right baseball move. Merrifield is 33 — he’ll turn 34 in January — and it’s become clear the Royals’ rebuild is moving at a pace too slow for him to be a pillar of the other side.
The timing isn’t convenient — Merrifield’s trade value has quite possibly never been lower, with a WAR below zero in 2022. But there is at least some interest on the market for him, and need I remind you that Carlos Santana returned a package of two players?
Merrifield might not net Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar, Jake Odorizzi and Jeremy Jeffress, but it’s not like he will net a bag of peanuts, either. Only a year ago, he led the American League in stolen bases and doubles. In his six full seasons with the Royals, he has led the league in hits twice and stolen bases three times. He’s represented them in the All-Star Game in 2019 and 2021. His positional versatility will be a favorable asset.
In the post-World Series Kansas City, Merrifield has been the exception to otherwise bad baseball teams. Two topped 100 losses, and all the while he provided the redeemable quality of a player who you knew would give everything he had.
He’s still willing to do whatever it takes — even if that means receiving a vaccination.
Just for somebody else.
