Whit Merrifield

Iglesias joins Josh Hader, Jorge Lopez, David Robertson as closers on the move.

To make up the talent gap between the two lefties, the Brewers also got Esteury Ruiz, Dinelson Lamet and prospect Robert Gasser. The most interesting of these names for Fantasy purposes is Ruiz, who put up monster numbers in the minors prior to his promotion just before the All-Star break, highlighted by 60 stolen bases in 77 games. Because Rogers throws lefty and Williams righty, it could become a platoon of sorts, but the Brewers will want to make sure Rogers is right before they go that route. Of course, there's also the matter of him going from one of the best pitcher's parks to one of the worst, but that's not going to impact him as much as his 5.01 road ERA would have you believe. The venues couldn't be farther apart for that stretch of outfield fence -- we're talking dozens of feet -- and fittingly, Statcast suggests Mancini would have more than twice as many home runs, 22 overall, if he had played all his games in Houston this year. Though he certainly hasn't lived up to his 91st percentile average exit velocity or 84th percentile hard-hit rate, Pham has made strong enough contributions across the board to rank 40th among outfielders in Head-to-Head points leagues and 35th in Rotisserie. You might presume his home venue has something to do with it, but Pham has only slightly better numbers at Great American Ball Park than on the road. The Astros have gone the defensive route at catcher the past couple years with Martin Maldonado and won't lose much in that regard with Vazquez. They will get a boost in offense, though. Pop has a 3.60 ERA thanks to a ground-ball heavy approach, but doesn't get many strikeouts, and is likely more like a middle relief option for the Blue Jays. Hosmer wasn't able to put much of anything together in four seasons with the Padres, and now the 32-year-old will be given a chance to resuscitate his career with the Red Sox. His swing has never been optimized for power and is unlikely to change now, but he's a career .354 hitter with three home runs and an .889 OPS at Fenway Park. Its odd configuration has made for unlikely success stories in the past, and it's possible Hosmer sees a big enough BABIP boost to become halfway useful again. The 24-year-old has hit .312 with 16 homers, 13 steals and a .903 OPS between Double- and Triple-A. --Chris Towers and Scott White Voit goes from hitting behind Manny Machado and Jake Cronenworth to hitting behind … Victor Robles and César Hernández? Yeah, the Washington lineup is going to be pretty gross, and while this is a bit of a park upgrade for Voit, he's hitting just .231/.321/.425 since the start of 2021, so it's hard to get too excited. O'Hoppe, meanwhile, has had a breakout season at Double-A, slashing .269/.385/.492 with 15 homers in 74 games and could be ready to take over as the Angels starting catcher at some point next year. He has also batted just .241 with a .771 OPS on the road compared to .298 and .915 at home.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Whit Merrifield said last month he might be willing to get vaccinated against COVID-19 if it meant playing for a team in contention, ...

I like him as a person,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said before their game against the White Sox in Chicago. “But I also realize that it’s not a shock. “He’s going to do some stuff on the field today and then kind of revisit it," Schneider said, "but it’s not anything concrete right now. The 33-year-old Merrifield was hitting just .240 with 30 extra-base hits and 15 stolen bases in 95 games this season. “I like Whit. I like him as a player. “The extent of our conversation with Whit and his vaccination status ended when we were going to Toronto because after that it didn't effect us,” Royals general manager J.J. Picollo said. The Royals received in the deal speedy youngster Samad Taylor and right-hander Max Castillo, both of whom could help their big league team as early as this season. It’s a business. He has an $18 million mutual option for 2024 with a $500,000 buyout. We hope it’s not anything crazy where it’s going to hinder him and his performance and us.” “The conversations we had with Toronto, I'm going to keep private. “We'll let him work through that with his family,” Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said, while declining additional comment on the matter. Merrifield was among 10 players on the Royals who were unvaccinated last month, preventing them from making their trip to Toronto. When asked about his decision, Merrifield drew the ire of Kansas City fans by saying: "Something happens and I happen to get on a team that has a chance to go play in Canada in the postseason, maybe that changes.”

The deal officially ends a run of more than a decade in the Kansas City organization for Merrifield, who entered pro ball as a 2010 draftee. He reached the big ...

He’ll be eligible for the Rule 5 draft if he’s not added to the 40-man roster at the end of the season. A former tenth-round pick, he’s played his way to Triple-A and had a decent season in Buffalo. Through 280 plate appearances, the righty-hitting second baseman owns a .258/.337/.426 line with nine home runs and 23 stolen bases. BA slotted Taylor 23rd in the Toronto farm system, writing that he could be a utility type in the big leagues. He and the Royals agreed to a restructured deal just before Opening Day. He’s making $7MM this season, around $2.5MM of which is still to be paid out. In exchange, they bring back a pair of young players with extended windows of club control who could contribute to the major league team shortly. He gives the Jays an affordable rotation depth option for the coming seasons. Castillo has already gotten to the big leagues, making his debut in mid-June. The 23-year-old righty has a 3.05 ERA through his first 20 2/3 frames, primarily working as a multi-inning option out of the bullpen. Santiago Espinal has had a nice season overall as the Jays primary second baseman, but he slumped offensively in July. Merrifield adds some cover there while also adding some extra right-handed depth to a bench that currently skews left-handed. He’s punched out 24.7% of batters faced, induced grounders on more than half his batted balls, and only walked 6.2% of opponents. He’s connected on just six home runs, but Merrifield brings a high-contact bat to the Jays lineup. Merrifield twice led the American League in steals, twice more led the league in hits and was selected to a pair of All-Star Games. As recently as last season, he paced the circuit in doubles and swiped 40 bags, although his overall offensive output had begun to dip. He’d spent the next few seasons as a top-of-the-order presence and consistently productive contact hitter.

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 ...

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. “I didn’t say people misunderstood it, I poorly articulated the point I was trying to say. The Royals had 10 players miss a recent road trip to Toronto due to their vaccination status.

Merrifield was ineligible to play in Toronto earlier in the season, however.

He owns a .258/.337/.426 line with nine homers and 23 steals in 70 Triple-A games this season. "If something happens and I happen to get on a team that has a chance to go play in Canada in the postseason, maybe that changes. The Royals have cut back on his center field time in recent years. They enter Tuesday in the in the top American League wild-card spot, four games up on a postseason berth. "It's been a long thought process, because I understand what Canada has in place right now. He did say he would consider getting vaccinated for a postseason-bound team, however, and the Blue Jays are very much in the race.

In his seventh season with the Kansas City Royals, utility man Whit Merrifield has officially been traded to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Castillo, 23, is a big 6-foot-2, 280-pound right-handed pitcher who made his big-league debut with the Blue Jays in June of this year. Following his comments after being placed on the restricted list earlier this month and maintaining such a terrific level of play in July, it simply makes sense for the club to move off its 33-year-old jack-of-all-trades. Jeff Passan of ESPN recently singled out Merrifield as one of the club's biggest trade assets, and I said the following regarding Merrifield's case to be moved: He's spent time at multiple positions for the Royals over the years but has primarily been played at second base and in right field as Kansas City's do-it-all chess piece. He got off to a dreadful start to the year, lowering his season-long numbers that are just now beginning to creep back up. With literally no time to spare before the 2022 MLB trade deadline was reached, the Kansas City Royals have made another move that will shake up the present and future outlooks of the club.

The trade deadline has passed, and a flurry of moves are coming in. One of the major trades centers on Whit Merrifield. The Kansas City Royals are trading ...

He’s a wonderful player," one fan wrote. Glad he’s off the team," another fan wrote. The Kansas City Royals are trading Merrifield to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Whit Merrifield, who didn't travel with the Royals to Toronto for a series last month because he was not vaccinated against COVID-19, was traded to the Blue ...

"He's going to do some stuff on the field today and then kind of revisit it," Schneider said, "but it's not anything concrete right now. "Anything to kind of compliment what we have is awesome." The 33-year-old Merrifield was hitting just .240 with 30 extra-base hits and 15 stolen bases in 95 games this season. "The extent of our conversation with Whit and his vaccination status ended when we were going to Toronto because after that it didn't effect us," Royals general manager J.J. Picollo said. It's a business. We hope it's not anything crazy where it's going to hinder him and his performance and us." "I was shocked. I like him as a person," Royals manager Mike Matheny said before their game against the White Sox in Chicago. "But I also realize that it's not a shock. The Royals received in the deal speedy youngster Samad Taylor and right-hander Max Castillo, both of whom could help their big league team as early as this season. He has an $18 million mutual option for 2024 with a $500,000 buyout. "We'll let him work through that with his family," Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said, while declining additional comment on the matter. "The conversations we had with Toronto, I'm going to keep private.