Before the official arrival of this weekend, Major League Baseball will have put its finger on the annual commercial frenzy of the game. The sell-by date is 3pm. CDT on Friday and while some teams have already concluded trades they are hopeful and confident will lock in playoff spots, the KC Royals have remained silent.
They, of course, made some sort of trade last week when they acquired Toronto reliever Joel Payamps for money considerations. But it wasn’t a blockbuster, or even the kind of big July deals that tend to be.
If the myriad of media reports, both formal and informal, are correct, a pair of deals Kansas City could make are likely to be unconventional, but if not logical – unconventional as a possibly involved Royal can come at a price, many clubs will not be willing to pay and another is on the injured list with no certain return date, and this makes sense as the time may have come to deal with both players.
Whether Whit Merrifield was the first name mentioned in July, business speculation has been a safe bet for aficionados of Kansas City business rumors over the past few seasons. And for good reason. Merrifield is wonderfully talented, versatile and reliable, and it turns out he has an affordable and extremely team-friendly contract that no competitor should shy away from.
At first glance, Sunday night at least one team could seriously consider Merrifield. According to mlb.com executive reporter Mark Feinsand, Seattle is interested in the royal star:
Mariners are pushing to trade for Royals’ INF / OF Whit Merrifield, sources and @DKramer_ tell me. Merrifield is under control until 2023 at a reasonable cost (around $ 10 million over 2 years including the ’23 option) and offers positional versatility, good bat & high speed.
However, at the time of writing this Monday at noon, no Mariners-Royals deal has been announced, and none appear to be close to completion. In fact, veteran FanSided baseball writer Robert Murray reports today that nothing is imminent.
Neither report should surprise anyone. All Seattle’s interest in Merrifield is well placed – the playoffs are just around the corner for the Mariners, who enter today’s action against Houston seven games behind American League West leaders Astro. and only 1.5 games behind in the AL Wild Card race. But the teams aren’t close to a deal is understandable as any decision to trade Merrifield will be tough for the Royals, and they won’t let him go for a piece of cake.
The timing seems well chosen. Merrifield still has one season and one team option for 2023 on his current contract, which adds to his appeal to other teams, and the Royals are in a position to demand a nice comeback for him.
It remains to be seen whether the M’s, or any other team, are willing to pay a hefty price for Merrifield.
While the notion of teams – especially contenders – interested in trading for injured players seems odd, there may be clubs checking Danny Duffy despite being on the injured roster for the second time this season.
A left flexor strain, the same condition that forced Duffy to IL in mid-May and kept him there for over a month, caused Kansas City to send him back there last week. It’s unclear when he’ll be back, but that apparently wouldn’t have dampened the interest of three West Coast teams in acquiring Duffy for running.
Duffy pitched pretty well before his first visit to IL, pretty well after his return and, despite his flexor issues, has been Kansas City’s most consistent starter this season. Its performances of 4-3, 2.51 ERA and 9.6 SO9 naturally attract other clubs.
And swapping Duffy, who is playing the final year of his contract, makes sense – the Royals can distribute him, re-sign him over the winter, and get him back into their rotation in 2022.
But what about his health? Interested teams could acquire Duffy, let him recoup on their own time, and then probably have him available for at least a few weeks – the most important weeks, in fact, for clubs fighting in September for the right to play baseball. in October.
What will happen with Merrifield and Duffy, and any other Royals other teams may consider, will be known soon. Friday’s deadline is approaching.
The major league trade deadline is Friday. Will the KC Royals pull the trigger on the deals for Whit Merrifield and Danny Duffy?
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