The Top Three Trade Candidates from the Kansas City Royals

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KANSAS CITY, MO – SEPTEMBER 29: Whit Merrifield #15 of the Kansas City Royals slides into second for a steal in the first inning against the Cleveland Indians at Kauffman Stadium on September 29, 2021, in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images) /

2. Whit Merrifield

This may be redundant from the years of Whit being labeled as a key trade target for many competitive teams, but this offseason the fan-favorite in KC needs to go. For one, he is in the last year of his deal, his final year in 2023 is a team option, and he is starting to show signs of regression at the plate.

Whit Merrifield has never been a high OBP player, his overall OBP in his career is .317, but one stat has declined over the past couple years and that is his ISO. ISO is just SLG.-AVG., and it determines how much power a player hits to keep it simple. Whit has always been pretty average in ISO, which is around .140-.150, but this past season he had a paltry .117.

While Whit is regressing at the plate, a little bit, his fielding and versatility are still there. According to some of the advanced fielding stats, last season was Whit’s best defensive year since his first season back in 2016. So while Whit is still going to regress teams will be interested in trading for the super-utility man, cause he has a proven track record of getting hits and being good in the field.

The next player is a surprising one as he came off a breakout campaign which saw him maybe become the future at the keystone or shortstop.

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