The Kansas City Royals and the Whit Merrifield Conundrum

The Kansas City Royals have a choice to make with Whit Merrifield, their most valuable asset.

What to do about Whit Merrifield? The Kansas City Royals are mired in a lengthy post-World Series rebuilding process and appear to be several years away from contention. How much good does Merrifield do a team that hasn’t been competitive overall for a season and a half and may not be for a couple of seasons yet?

Everyone should have been more prepared for these lean years. Even if you told yourself that 2014 and 2015 could tide you over while the Royals rebuild another champion, were you really prepared for the team to be this bad?

The pitching is in shambles, both the rotation and the bullpen. According to Fangraphs, the rotation ranks 25th in the majors in ERA (5.11), and 24th in WHIP (1.42). Their bullpen ranks 22nd in ERA (4.79), and 23rd in WHIP (1.48).

Offensively, they are barely better in the slash ratios – 19th in Batting Average (.244), 23rd in On Base Percentage (.307), and 23rd in Slugging Percentage (,405).

The Royals continue to carry players on the roster that have no place in the team’s plans in the present or the future in Lucas Duda and Terrance Gore. You often have to wonder what their plan is.

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That brings us to Whit Merrifield, the best all-around player on a crappy team and arguably the best all-around second baseman in the big leagues. Even with a modest three-game winning streak earlier this week, the Royals still have the second-worst record in the majors.

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Despite the team’s struggles, Merrifield, who led the majors in hits last year, has the second most base knocks in the majors after Wednesday’s game with 93.

He is the two-time reigning stolen base champ, and though his numbers have slipped slightly there, he is still in double figures. He’s also second in the American League with 155 Total Bases.

He also has the much-appreciated versatility that is prevalent in the game today. While second base if his best position, he can also play all outfield spots and first base.

Tack on the fact he is signed on a very team-friendly long-term contract, he has to be even more attractive to other teams.

Including the rest of this season, he is own about $15 million through the end of 2022. Depending on how he is playing at the age of 34, he could still be a bargain on a club option for $10.5 million in 2023.

Bottom line, he is good enough to be of value to numerous teams and could bring a decent haul of prospects that could help speed up the rebuilding process.

The question becomes SHOULD the Kansas City Royals trade Whit Merrifield? He offers so much to this ball club. He has become the face of the organization with Salvador Perez out for the year.

He is a fan’s delight. He hustles, plays hard, is a good player who bloomed late and arrived with little fanfare. Often, gritty is a word applied to hard-working players that aren’t all that good. Think Chris Getz or Keith Miller. Merrifield is a gritty player who is good.

The Royals may not contend in the next three years, although it is certain they think they can. Still, you hope they can be competitive. Whit Merrifield can be the leader on the field in pursuit of that goal. He is not expensive; he will fit into the Royals’ frugal budget no matter what.

The fans and the team itself need some players for which to cheer. Merrifield, Adalberto Mondesi, Hunter Dozier, Salvy, Danny Duffy, and Jorge Soler are players fans will want to come to see.

The Royals aren’t as terrible as they seem right now. There is too much talent here to be as bad as they’ve played. They just need a stretch of games where everything clicks to get them back into being competitive every day.

If some of the young pitchers in the minors can come along at a good pace, this team could compete and content in 2020 or 2021. The Royals will need Whit Merrifield on the diamond when that happens. Despite his probable value, the Royals need Merrifield and shouldn’t trade him.

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It is obvious the Kansas City Royals are rebuilding. It’s never been a secret. Fans need to be patient, no matter how hard it might be. Part of that patience includes the hope that it won’t take as long as initially planned and for that to happen, the Royals need to keep players like Merrifield, Mondesi, and Soler around.

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