Kansas City Royals: Whit Merrifield chimes in on MLB rule

Kansas City Royals second baseman Whit Merrifield let his thoughts be known on a common MLB rule. This came in reaction to the Blue Jays announcement of keeping Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the minors to procure another year of control.

At a time where it seems relations between players and the league are getting progressively worse, players are speaking out. The thing is that the Kansas City Royals infielder is dead on with his assessment of what is happening.

Whit Merrifield says something needs to change in how things are happening with the league. However, he isn’t calling out the ownership, in fact he praises them. It is the way the rules are written that make things this way.

As you can see, Merrifield understands that the owners are doing what is best for their team. By holding Vladimir Guerrero Jr. down, the Blue Jays will get another year of control on their budding superstar. That is worth keeping him down a few weeks for.

This happens all the time. Teams don’t keep the players down long, just long enough to be able to hold on to players another year. The last time it made this big of news was a player by the name of Kris Bryant.

Change Is Needed

Merrifield is right, there is a issue here. That has been well publicized by many a player and writer. And sure, it may be a matter of a few games, but players like Guerrero can impact their team from the word go. It sucks to lose any games from players like that for ‘business.’

The way things are set up it is irresponsible if the teams don’t play into the rule. Keeping talented players for relatively cheap is the name of the game.

There will be issues with any rule that is made, nothing will be perfect. However, the way things are now there is a clear glaring issue. Unfortunately, the new CBA will not happen until at least 2021.

Players are starting to worry about  what might happen once the current CBA expires. The recent Luis Severino contract is an example of that. He asked for a front loaded contract in case a strike happens.

This is something to watch out for, but the recently extended Kansas City Royals infielder is spot on with his assessment. There is clearly something wrong, and it needs to be addressed.