Royals utilityman Whit Merrifield is unsurprisingly drawing interest from contenders with the trade deadline just a few days away. The Cubs, Braves and Phillies are among the teams eyeing Merrifield, but it appears they’ll have to look elsewhere. The Royals are telling teams they’re not going to deal him, Jon Morosi of MLB.com reports.
Even though the Royals are just 39-64 this season and will have trouble pushing for a playoff spot in the near future, the 30-year-old Merrifield has never looked like an especially realistic trade candidate. Royals general manager Dayton Moore hasn’t made it any secret he has an affinity for Merrifield, who he said in June is “one of the best players in all of baseball right now.” Moore also stated then it would take a “crazy” offer for Kansas City to move Merrifield, whom it signed to a four-year, $16.25MM extension in the offseason.
On a KC team with few major bright spots, Merrifield has continued his run as an eminently valuable performer this year. He has slashed .306/.357/.495 (122 wRC+) with 49 extra-base hits (28 doubles, 12 home runs, nine triples) and 15 steals on 23 attempts in 470 plate appearances. Merrifield has also chipped in 4 Defensive Runs Saved and a 1.3 Ultimate Zone Rating between second base and the outfield. The entire package has been worth 2.9 bWAR/2.7 fWAR. Between Merrifield’s affordability and his on-field excellence, there’s a case the rebuilding Royals should trade him – they’d surely net an exorbitant return – but it doesn’t look as if it’s going to happen.
Meanwhile, reliever Jake Diekman seems almost guaranteed to change uniforms by the end of the month. In addition to the already reported Phillies, Dodgers and Nationals, Diekman has drawn interest from the Cubs, Cardinals and Braves, per Morosi. Diekman, 32, is on a $2.75MM guarantee and has a $5.75MM mutual option for 2020. The hard-throwing left-hander has pitched to a pedestrian 4.75 ERA in 41 2/3 innings this season. But he has logged a far better 3.36 FIP with 13.61 K/9, 4.97 BB/9 and a 48.4 percent groundball rate.
Interesting…where would ATL play Merrifield?? They have a cheap man’s Merrifield in Camargo and Culberson. I can’t see Albies going anywhere (2B), unless they would replace Kakes in RF in the near-term. Undoubtedly he would be expensive (prospects), but maybe interest just came in the form of KC visiting ATL.
On another note — 4 years/$16.25MM is highway robbery on the level that the Justice Dept should investigate.
Center Field or left field
Left field I guess.
Center for sure. I imagine Riley or Camargo would be included in any deal
I can’t imagine they’d be giving up Riley in much of any deals. Why CF for sure? They already have Acuna/Inciarte in the short-term and Pache/Waters/Acuna long-term for CF. Seems like sticking him in a place of strength is lessening his value.
Cubs don’t have the assets to get him.
joking right?
Throw some names out there!
Happ not going to get it done!
The guy that suggested the Cubs had no chance to win with Chatwood starting. Don’t humor this buffoon, he should be playing 16-inch with the other tools he believes were a few steps from the show.
The cubs literally have one of the most depleted farm systems in baseball and a roster they aren’t willing to deal off of.
Where are these mysterious assets at?
I agree. Rizzo, Bryant, Baez, or Hendricks are assets that would work.
For all the grief Chatwood has to put up with and in the big picture he was done well. I think he is finally learning how to control his arsenal with is just filthy good.
Those four are going nowhere
Anyone with a brain knows he’d have to be joking…. but actually if you ever read his Cubs OBSESSED posts sadly he’s not.
you must be drunk…
he’s a cub, not a brewer
Cubs don’t have the team to win a division they are fading. They don’t have assets to trade besides MLB subpar talent maybe names. T
one of those instances where he’s too valuable to realistically trade right now
The braves will get neither… even if both were offered for free, the braves would find a way disappoint
let him waste away in KC… I guess they don’t understand the term “sell high”
A better way to say this would have been: we’ve been unimpressed with the offers we’ve received thus far, so by that standard we’re not trading him. But by all means, blow us away.
There probably isn’t a fair trade that exists for Whit.
“On a KC team with few major bright spots…”
Connor – how many games have you watched this season? Really??
I’d say his statement could easily be backed up. They have a few bright spots and that’s about it. Please don’t settle for the mindset we possessed during the three decades of futility, where players like Soler, Keller and Dozier helped us forget about the fact that the team lost 100 games. These guys are role-players at best. This team is bad, and the future doesn’t look good.
Eye-rolling.
Obviously you’re not a Royals fan that pays attention to the minor league affiliates
“one of the best players in all of baseball right now.”
He’s not even a top 10 guy, but okay.
2019: 40th overall in WAR
2018-19: 18th in WAR
2017-19: 28th in WAR
He really should trade him. Dumbest keep ever, he’s wildly more valuable to other teams right now. Guess they’re waiting for him to be 34 before they finally get him to the playoffs smh
So, 18th in the last 2 years, and 28th over the last 3, using your numbers. With 30 teams in baseball, He’d be a low best or high 2nd best on most teams (on average)- literally one of the best players in baseball.
There’s no point in trading him just to trade him- if there aren’t offers they are interested in, then don’t move him. If they move him just to move him, then everyone will say they got fleeced. Can’t have it both ways.
I really don’t get it, Merrifield won’t be apart of the next Royals postseason run, so why hold onto him??
He can still be if Gordon is gone.
” a part “
Yeah most royals fans are curious as well. The fact that you “won’t” listen to offers is odd. A team could get an injury and be forced to pay high for a solid player in Merrifield. Moore does some real weird stuff. Royals should’ve paid him more as well. And his 16 million for 4 years
contract is a highway robbery.
Diekman will be traded for sure. I have a feeling he’ll end up as a Dodger. As much as I love having Merrifield as a Royal, I think he should be traded. Moore needs to get the best prospects he can for him before Merrifield gets injured or loses trade value if he diminishes in play.
He needs to bluff of course he does to drive up the price. Royals will not be good over the next 2-3 years so they need to deal him. Merrifield has reached almost mythical status right now they could extract a fortune from someone. Plus he’s 30 so trade before he has any downturn.
Braves have no need/want for Merrifield whatsoever
Diekman I really hope they stay away from
Now if the Royals are looking to move Duffy I think AA could have a conversation
He isn’t the Ace that is needed but he could be a steady arm to slot behind Soroka & Kuechel
Ridiculous for you to say they have no need for someone that plays plus multiple positions and has led the league in hits with speed for the last 2 years. His contract alone makes the Braves heist extensions of Acuna/.Albies look decent. You make a position for that even if it means giving Chip Carey his pink slip.
If the royals eat some of Duffy’s contract trade him to braves for Wentz and a solid OF bat. Wentz is from KC
Shutout vs. ATL aside — if we’re trading top-1o talent, we need a sure-thing to come back. Duffy and his 4.00 FiP is not that.
All I know is that the royals loved wentz in high school. And with Dayton Moore’s love for the braves..it wouldn’t be shocking to see a move to go after him. Maybe throw in Kennedy. He costs too much and we won’t make any real noise till maybe 2021. We need ready AA/AAA pitching. And braves won’t cough up anyone in your top 7.
Royals don’t need any more outfielders right now. bubba is coming along.
And I don’t think the Royals are going to be losing more than 100 games the next season or two. Whit is important to be able to play multiple positions in case of an injury in the middle of a game. For example when Mondesi hurt his shoulder recently, Nicky Lopez switched to shortstop and which went to 2nd base.
Look at the twins…..56-106 in 2016 to wild card in 2017 to leading the division by 2 games (it was 11 at one time though). That is it mean I expect a wild card next year, But I think the young roster will definitely need whit merrifield to help them along. Why can’t he be the veteran presence? It would prevent Dayton from making another mistake like signing owings!
Luery Garcia, Blake Rutherford, Mitch Roman, and Evan Skoug for Whit Merrifield.
Could the Cards get Merrifield and Diekman? JMart, CMart and a few other pieces?
I don’t see that happening.
For an older DH and a highly paid pitcher with and injury history? Rebuilding teams don’t trade for those kinds of players. Guys like that get traded to contenders.
Gibaut, Wendle, a top 30, and someone we haven’t heard of. Rays get a versitile bat with power and speed. Royals get a utility guy they could possibly get a prospect back from, a bp guy with upside/control, and a couple lotto tickets who could be useful.
The Royals are maybe two years away from being two years away. So their “plan” is to HOPE they’re contenders when Whit is 34, 35? Sell. Get assets, start a bidding war and accelerate the rebuild. Makes no sense for teams like the Royals, White Sox, Marlins, etc… to hold on to 30 something year olds.
Veteran presence. It’s a lot more sense than signing bad players like chris owings.
Who else is “maybe 2 years from being 2 years away from contending”? You say the same thing about the White Sox.
If the Cubs were smart, they’d go grab the cheaper rental of Sogard who has similar numbers to Whity this year for a mid level prospect. Then they can call their buds in Texas and grab Hunter Pence for almost nothing and talk to KC in the winter when they can come back to earth!
I still say whit can be the veteran presence. I’d rather have Whitley Merrifield then another mistake of signing someone like Lucas Duda.
The Cubs don’t have the prospects to get whit. Their farm is pretty bare. Remember they sold half of it to get Jose Quintana.
Why would the Royals trade Whit? They’re only paying him $4M per year for the next 4 years and he is putting up great numbers on a yearly basis. They need him based on cost and numbers he’s giving them. Why take a crap shoot on trading him when they know exactly what they’re getting for 4 more years?
Why trade for a pitcher to help your bulpen when that pitcher’s ERA and BB/9 are right up there with the folks you are trying to replace? Just cause he’s a lefty and throws hard? People say ERA means nothing. BS. He’s allowing almost 5 runs/9 and 5 BB/9!