Fan favorite Whit Merrifield has been mentioned multiple times during the trade deadline. I am putting those rumors to rest. Back in 2018, Royals general manager Dayton Moore appeared on MLB Network’s MLB Central. On the program, he discussed the rumors on Whit Merrifield. Yes, I realize this was two years ago, but on the show Mr. Moore said “We’ve pretty much made it clear we want Whit Merrifield to be part of our team.” It makes total sense why Dayton Moore would want to keep Merrifield around long term. First of all, Merrifield is on a team friendly contract. That’s always a great thing for a small market team like the Royals. Now two years later, multiple teams have shown interest in Merrifield, but Mr. Moore won’t budge. I applaud him for that. Like multiple Royals sites have said—if the Royals did trade Merrifield, they would want a lot in return. I don’t think teams would be willing to pay the high asking price for Merrifield. Personally, I don’t want the Royals to trade Merrifield because he is an important bat in the lineup and a fan favorite. With the 2020 trade deadline coming up, I could see the Royals making some moves, but none of them will involve Merrifield. It will be interesting to see what the Royals do at the deadline with a very small amount of trade chips in Miakel Franco and Trevor Rosenthal; but some players might have trade value that I didn’t think about. Regardless of what happens, I honestly think Merrifield will be with the Royals his entire career, just like Alex Gordon and a few other players.
