Kansas City Royals: Why hold on to Whit Merrifield?

The Kansas City Royals have a highly coveted player in Whit Merrifield. With their expected timeline of contention, Merrifield does not serve a purpose in Kansas City.

There is no question that Whit Merrifield is the best player on the Kansas City Royals. He led the team with a 3.7 bWAR in 2019, while leading the American League with 206 hits and ten triples. Merrifield made his first All Star Game last season, producing a .302/.348/.463 batting line, hitting 16 homers and stealing 20 bases.

Merrifield is also locked into an affordable, extremely team friendly contract that keeps him under team control through 2023, which helps the budget conscious Royals moving forward. With his ability to play everywhere on the diamond, Merrifield has already moved from being the Royals’ primary second baseman to right, and should to the 2020 season happen, he will shift to center.

Yet, Merrifield is also 31 years old. With the 2020 season being put on hiatus due to the pandemic, the Royals are missing out on a key development season for their prospects. While the likes of Chris Bubik, Brady Singer, Daniel Lynch, and Jackson Kowar give the Royals hope for the future, they’re expected arrival is now likely to be pushed back another season.

In theory, this would leave the Royals expecting to contend in 2022. By that time, Merrifield will already be 33 years old, with a $10.5 million option for the following year. New ownership had indicated a willingness to spend when the time was right, but would that include paying an aging utility player?

Merrifield, despite his impressive 2019, showed signs of decline. He had led the AL in steals in 2017 and 2018, but stole only 20 bases last year. At the same time, he was caught a league leading ten times. His production, even if only to a slight degree, may be starting to slip.

Nonetheless, Merrifield remains highly coveted around the game. His ability to play anywhere, being the new Ben Zobrist, makes him especially intriguing as a super utility man on a contending ballclub. That same logic applied to the Royals had they been expecting to contend in 2021, but with the pandemic pushing the season back, valuable developmental time has been lost. That window is moving back, while Merrifield continues to age.

Whit Merrifield is a valuable player for the Kansas City Royals. But he may be worth more to an another team, bringing back talent the Royals can use to build their next contender.