Whit Merrifield trade details: Blue Jays beat the buzzer with Royals

The Toronto Blue Jays traded for super-utility man Whit Merrifield from the Kansas City Royals, a trade that gives them a useful glove and bat. 

It seemed pretty obvious that the Kansas City Royals were going to be sellers at the MLB Trade Deadline and, with that, the bigger question was how big they would go with moving some of their more valuable assets. One of the biggest names in question was super-utility player Whit Merrifield who, despite having a down year as a hitter, seemed like he could be a hot commodity.

How hot he was on the market remains to be seen but the Toronto Blue Jays took the bait and made a trade right before the 6 p.m. ET (or at least that’s what was reported) to get their guy.

As reported by Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, the Royals are trading Merrifield to the Blue Jays.

Whit Merrifield trade details for Blue Jays and Royals

Here’s a look at the full details of the trade for both teams with Merrifield heading to Toronto and a couple of players going to Kansas City in return.

Blue Jays Get

Whit Merrifield

Royals Get

Samad Taylor

Max Castillo

Perhaps the most interesting part of the trade is that Merrifield infamously was among the 10 Royals players who could not travel to the team’s road trip to Toronto because he was unvaccinated. That could create quite a complication if he chooses to not get vaccinated while with the Jays.

Having said that, Jeff Passan said on ESPN that the Blue Jays had been checking in on both the vaccination status and willingness to get vaccinated for possible trade targets leading up to the deadline, so perhaps they felt confident in Merrifield and that he’ll get the shot.

Still, this is a great pickup for Toronto as they get versatility that they didn’t have before and can hope for a bounce-back at the plate for Merrifield after a disappointing start by his standards.