Despite a promising start, the 2021 season has not worked out the way the Royals would have liked. The Royals will almost certainly be sellers at the trade deadline, the only question is how aggressive they’ll be in selling. Dayton Moore indicated he wants to make moves with an eye towards improving the team in 2022, and would have to be “overwhelmed” to move core pieces.
While that likely means we won’t see All-Star second baseman Whit Merrifield, there is another valuable player that could have a lot of suitors that Dayton Moore could deal - reliever Scott Barlow.