Vote now: Should Royals deal Whit Merrifield and/or others who missed Toronto trip?
The Kansas City Royals will start the second half of the MLB season Friday when the Tampa Bay Rays visit Kauffman Stadium.
With the trade deadline a fortnight away, The Star’s sports columnists both see potential trade chips among the 10 Royals who didn’t make the trip to Toronto for a four-game series against the Blue Jays.
They are all unvaccinated and couldn’t enter Canada, including free-agent-to-be Andrew Benintendi, and a trio of players who are 30 years of age or older: Whit Merrifield (33); Michael A. Taylor (31) and Hunter Dozier (30).
The Star’s Vahe Gregorian believes the Royals should get younger, particularly after the energy in the Toronto series from the team, which had called up 10 minor-league players.
Sam McDowell advocated trading Merrifield, who enraged fans for his comment about considering being vaccinated if he played for a postseason-contending team. Merrifield has since clarified the remarks, but hard feelings remain.
What are your thoughts? Should the Royals look to trade Merrifield? Or Merrifield and others? Vote in our poll and/or leave a comment.
