The Kansas City Royals headed into the trade deadline as obvious sellers with one of the worst records in the American League, but their record wasn’t the only source of disappointment these past few weeks.
The Royals had 10 players miss a recent road trip to Toronto due to their vaccination status. Canada — like the U.S. — requires non-citizens to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to enter the country. Royals two-time All-Star Whit Merrifield was among those 10 players, and he angered Royals fans when he suggested he’d get vaccinated for a team with a chance to play Toronto in the playoffs.
Well, the Royals might have made the decision for Merrifield on Tuesday: They traded him to Toronto.
Whit Merrifield has been traded to the Toronto Blue Jays, sources tell ESPN.
One has to believe he'll be getting vaccinated.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 2, 2022
Merrifield did try to walk back on his remarks last week, especially after Royals fans booed him. Via ESPN:
“I didn’t say people misunderstood it, I poorly articulated the point I was trying to say. If what was standing between me and the playoffs was this vaccine, I would consider getting it. I didn’t say I would get it for another team, or wouldn’t get it for this team, it was simply a point about showing how much I value playing in the playoffs.”
But the prospect of playing for the Blue Jays was not something that Merrifield likely saw coming.
It seems expected that Merrifield will make the appropriate plans to get vaccinated or else he won’t be able to play home games for his own team. He could be the first country-based platoon player in baseball. That, of course, had MLB fans making jokes about Merrifield’s vaccination status.