KC Royals: Dayton Moore will make noise at winter meetings
By John McCarty
The KC Royals are well-positioned to truly get their rebuild started at the 2018 winter meetings if they are able to take advantage.
In the past eight years or so, with the adoption of the new draft process and procedure, numerous organizations, including the Kansas City Royals, have laid out various ways to go about rebuilding a major league squad that had fallen on hard times.
While the various routes taken may differ, the one that that appears to remain constant is how long it takes. Four years. Once a team starts the rebuild, it will takes four years before teams generally return to contention if not competitiveness. The Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers all had to spend some down years to get back.
With that in mind, fans should hope and expect to see a competitive season from the KC Royals in 2022. That brings up the contracts and futures of three veterans, catcher Salvador Perez, pitcher Danny Duffy and second baseman/outfielder Whit Merrifield. What do the Royals do? Much as we learned in Trading Places, sell, sell sell.
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First reason, age. All three players are approaching the ugly athletic age of 30. When reporting date for spring training comes around in 2019, both Danny Duffy and Whit Merrifield will be 30.
Perez will be approaching turning 29 and has caught about seven million games in the past seven years or so, and is likely viewed as a player that won’t play deep into his 30’s. Players generally don’t improve much once they hit their 30’s, so moving a player now, before they get well into their 30’s, is a smart idea.
Secondly, contracts. Both Duffy and Perez (who will be 31) will have their contracts expire prior to the 2022 season, both expiring after the 2021 season. Merrifield will be entering his last year of club control in 2022 at the age of 33.
Since it’s likely neither Duffy nor Perez are around when the club is winning, wouldn’t it make sense for the team to find players that will? Merrifield, being well into his 30’s, is more valuable in a trade then hanging around to hopefully see everything work out.