Whether the KC Royals should trade Whit Merrifield for a package of prospects is a tired topic. Indeed, the mountains of content and copy already written about the subject would fill the Royals’ equipment truck soon to depart Kauffman Stadium for Spring Training. So this is not another story about trading Merrifield.
Instead, it is a story posing an altogether different question: Does Whit Merrifield, recipient of a contract extension just a year ago, deserve more than the minimum $16.25 million he stands to make from the deal?
Some may view this as an odd question–after all, unless Merrifield is financially inept or reckless, his extension makes him a multi-millionaire and provides lifetime financial security, the pleasant rewards of a career spent with his nose to the baseball grindstone.