The befuddling Royals career of Whit Merrifield

The team didn’t do right by him, and then he didn’t do right by the team

Nearly two weeks ago, former Royal Whit Merrifield announced his retirement after nine seasons, the bulk of which he spent in Kansas City, the team that drafted him in the ninth round of the 2010 draft and called him up in 2016.

That season, of course, the Royals were defending World Series Champions looking to run it back. After winning consecutive American League pennants, the team decided to continue its run instead of pulling a 1997-Marlins-like teardown.

Ultimately, it didn’t work—while the Royals finished 81-81, missing the postseason for the first time since 2013. The following year, the front office decided to go for it once again, but the team fell to 80-82.

Then the rebuild really began.

And the head-scratching around Merrifield started.

Even in retrospect, I have zero qualms with the Royals going for it in 2015. You cannot go ‘97 Marlins after winning the World Series, even if it makes sense to do so. 2016 is somewhat different as the Royals didn’t noticeably upgrade its roster. Why not start the rebuild then?

Anyway, they didn’t start the rebuild in 2016 and didn’t start tearing things down until after that season, during which they inexplicably hung on to Merrifield.

The Royals could’ve cashed in on Merrifield. In just 81 games in his rookie season, he posted 1.4 bWAR despite a below-average OPS. In his first full season (2016), he more than doubled his bWAR (3.0) while leading the league in steals with 34 and collecting a total of 57 extra-base hits.

The following year, the Royals plummeted to a record of 58-104, the team’s first 100-loss season since 2006. And yet, Merrifield, in his age-30 season, posted the best numbers of his career. For the first of two times, he led the Majors in hits with 192, again led the Majors in steals with a career-high 45, improved his OPS to a career-high 120, and received some down-ballot MVP votes. Season bWAR: 4.5.

Again, despite all of this, the Royals lost 104 games. The team was going nowhere and had a blue-chip trade candidate who was already in his 30s. GMDM should’ve cashed in at that point. He would’ve done right by his player by sending him to a team where he could’ve competed—I imagine numerous contenders would’ve been thrilled to add Merrifield to their lineup—while bringing back a prospect or two to help jumpstart a moribund farm system.

For reasons unknown, that didn’t happen. As the Royals finished 2019 one game better (59-103), Merrifield posted a career-high in hits with 206, which led the league. He also led the league, or tied leading the league, in games played (162), at-bats (681), and triples (10). He made his first of three All-Star Games while finishing the season with 3.5 bWAR.

And the Royals front office once again mucked it up by not trading him for pieces that would help down the line.

Then Covid struck. Even during the shortened season, Merrifield played every game and led the Majors again in at-bats. But his production started falling. In 2021, despite playing in every single game and leading the Majors in doubles with 42, his OPS+ dropped to 93, seven percent below league average. Still, he posted 3.8 bWAR, this in his 32-year-old season.

Still, the Royals clung to him.

When GMDM finally traded Merrifield, the optics for the player were not great. Earlier in the 2022 season, along with several teammates, Merrifield missed a series in Toronto due to vaccination concerns. But then he met appeased those concerns to facilitate his trade to, of all teams, the Blue Jays.

In return, the Royals received Max Castillo and Samad Taylor.

Castillo pitched a total of 39 innings for the Royals while Taylor appeared at the plate 69 times. Jumpstart the farm system or help the big-league squad, they did not.

So ended the befuddling Royals career of Whit Merrifield, two-time hits leader. He’d go on to make one more All-Star Game, this in 2023 with the Blue Jays, before falling off hard in the second half. He split 2024 between the Phillies and Braves. He was out of baseball for all of 2025 before announcing it a career. He turned 36 in January.

It’s hard not to feel that the Royals did Whit dirty by keeping around all those years during which they went nowhere and knew they weren’t going anywhere. What was the point? Give the guy a chance with a decent ballclub while gaining some assets.

It’s also hard not to feel that Merrifield did the Royals dirty in 2022. Maybe if he were traded to any other club but the Toronto Blue Jays, it might feel different. But alas, that’s not the case.

The Kansas City Royals didn’t do right by Whit Merrifield, and then he returned the favor.