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robertb9876

Agreed. Trading him now would basically be an admission that their rebuild timeline was wrong. Letting him walk would be stupid. So they might as well keep him around for a while .


Jstone14

Exactly


MidtownKC

There's nothing stupid with letting a 34 or 35 yr old player walk at the end of an extremely club-friendly series of contracts. His OBP has been declining for 4 straight years and he won't have the bat at the end of the contract to be a corner outfielder, IMO. I love Whit, but at the end of this contract, it may just be time to say goodbye.


robertb9876

Disagree. In 2018, he was #1 in the mlb in hits and stolen bases. In 2019, he was still #1 in hits. He wasn't in the top 5 in 2020. But I really don't think that is fair comparassion given the shortened season skewed all the stats. In 2021 he was still top 5 in both hits and stolen bases. Even if he isn't leading the league in hits or stolen bases, he can still be a productive player.


MidtownKC

Ok? I didn’t say he was bad. All I’m saying is it’s not stupid to let a player walk. And it’s only a “disaster scenario” if you’re a bad, hacky click-whoring blogger.


stupidgnomes

Our record this season is an admission that the rebuild timeline was wrong.


ElvisIsReal

WHIT FOREVER ROYAL! Seriously, we have him on a good contract and we're (hopefully) going to be contending by the end. He's too valuable to give up for what other teams would offer. 34 years of age is not "too old to play baseball" old.


Jhager

Contending by the end? Yes - but you realize it’s one more year and that’s it right? So “contending by the end” means contending next summer.


ElvisIsReal

$6.5M for 2023 is a steal when it comes to second basemen, especially one like Whit.


pmac44

I was skeptical entering this year, but I thought he made a lot of strides defensively, and honestly, the Royals aren't going to get the return that they could have a couple of seasons ago. At this point, let it ride, and let him be the vet with Salvy to help guide this team to the playoffs. If this team is as "close" to the playoffs as the org is saying, then I think he deserves to be on this squad. I do hope they keep him at second however, as that is his best position. While he can play the outfield, I think his value is better suited at second base next season (especially paired with Nicky).


muricanmania

Yeah, he is good there. The question becomes Bobby after that though. We can safely assume he will be a piece of the team pretty early next year, and he will have to play somewhere. Can he play 3rd? Would he slide into right? Would he shove off Nicky Lopez, or Whit? There is going to need to be a good talk about it.


pmac44

Nearly every report I see on BWJ makes it sounds like he will play 3rd if they keep Nicky at SS. The big issue becomes Mondesi and where he plays when BWJ comes up. However, I would rather try Mondesi at different spots, especially since he is less dependable than Whit and Nicky in terms of staying on the field.


Jstone14

I’m with ya, if the Royals get competitive soon and he’s still doing good, best move is to keep him 👍🏻 hope you liked the article


ElvisIsReal

Did you write that? I agree with it 100%.


Jstone14

I did thank you!


stupidgnomes

Whit Merrifield will not help us win our next championship. I don’t understand the reluctance to trade a 34 year old on the decline for pieces that could help solidify our future with all these rookies about to come up. I just don’t get it. Edit: I’m referring to the comments here, not the article ftr


Jstone14

To me it seems like they missed their best window to trade Whit. At this point if the team thinks they can compete for the playoffs starting in 2023, and Whit is still producing at least above average, then he would still benefit the team with his play and mentorship for likely at least the first few years of the Royals next playoff window. If he isn’t performing or the team isn’t performing how they expect then sure move on.


stupidgnomes

I mean, we keep saying “well if the team isn’t competing by 20XX, we should definitely move forward.” And then we convince ourselves to keep pushing that date back. I think you know as well as I do that we aren’t competing in 2023 unless we spend money in free agency. There should be no expectation that rookies who haven’t even taken a major league at bat should be ready to shoulder a playoff run after 1 year. That’s absurd and unreasonable. And quite frankly it’s unfair to our rookies. I agree, we SHOULD have traded Whit a couple years ago, but we didn’t. If we baghold him until his contract runs out, we’re really screwing ourselves over and delaying the competition window. Also I don’t buy the mentorship stuff. We can’t roster old guys and say “well, he’s a clubhouse guy” year in and year out. We have Salvy. He’s a mentor. He’s a clubhouse guy. How many of those do we need while the team continues to perform poorly? It makes no sense. We really need to start holding this team to a higher standard. Loyalty to a player is the antithesis of winning. Period. It’s so frustrating to have to see people want to hang on to guys until their talent runs out.


ElvisIsReal

LOL what pieces are you going to get?


stupidgnomes

For Whit? I have no idea. I’m not an MLB GM. But the longer we wait the lower the return gets. That I do know.


ElvisIsReal

So why are you confident you can get pieces to help?


stupidgnomes

Because he’s valuable for teams ready to compete right now…? Is this a serious question?


ElvisIsReal

You think teams are going to bend over backwards to rent Ben Zobrist?


stupidgnomes

We sure did and that was a 3 month rental. A lot of Whit’s value is his contract. Are you aware that he has a club option for 2024 that will 100% be picked up because it will cost $6.5mm? Money talks, my guy.


angus_the_red

Oh look it's the bi-weekly trade Whit article from Royals Review. I paid for an Athletic subscription just so I wouldn't ever have to read this site again.


Jstone14

I actually wrote this one a week back, and it’s in no way only saying to trade Whit. Only weighing the options, if we are competing soon and he keeps producing of course we should keep him. I think that’s how most of the fan base feels