The Royals Moved the Needle in the Wrong Direction This Week
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The Kansas City Royals' trip north of the border to square off against the Toronto Blue Jays got a lot more interesting than many expected on Wednesday afternoon. Following the club's series-clinching defeat of the Detroit Tigers, manager Mike Matheny announced that the team would be without 10 players in Toronto due to a lack of COVID-19 vaccinations. Those players, including Whit Merrifield, Brad Keller and others, will get a head start on their All-Star breaks while on the restricted list.
Multiple players on the same team missing the trip to Toronto isn't anything new, as the Philadelphia Phillies had to be without four of them for their recent two-game sweep. With that said, the number 10 more than doubles the previous record and stands out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of baseball. If you ask Royals president of baseball operations Dayton Moore, this is an unfortunate possibility that comes with encouraging "very informed" decisions:
Our guys have done an incredible job for the last year and a half - our medical team, our coaching staff, our front office personnel - of doing our best to educate everybody in our organization, and provide them with the necessary guidance, giving them the proper amount of space and grace along the way to make very informed decisions.
Regardless of where you land on the political spectrum (this is a baseball website), how you feel about the aforementioned vaccine or whether you believe that Royals players are truly "very informed" in their decision-making processes, one thing is perfectly clear: Kansas City, despite its record, secured a losing week. On-field success can be achieved, sure, and promoted players can thrive in their cameos at the big-league level. The negatives that required that will be the difference, though. Every player who's missing time is missing out on at least one thing (in addition to a healthy chunk of change).
For catchers Cam Gallagher and MJ Melendez, they're missing out on reps while Salvador Perez recovers from thumb surgery. Without either of their primary backstops, the Royals are left in a bind and will be relying on a non-regular — or even a semi-regular — to fill that void. The same goes for Keller and infielder/outfielder Hunter Dozier, although both of them have been loosely linked to being potential trade pieces. Without vaccinations, the odds of either being moved are lower.
For pitcher Brady Singer, he's missing out on critical development time. Singer was coming off a gritty Wednesday start that displayed the ability to grind through trouble. It was one of his more impressive starts of the year, and he needed to continue fine-tuning his game with the team. He wouldn't have made a start in the Blue Jays series anyway, but his inability to travel with the team is still an unnecessary development. Reliever Dylan Coleman, who's been spotty with his command all year long, could have pitched against Toronto and continued to hone in on limiting walks. Now, he's forced to stay behind in Kansas City with the rest of his unvaccinated peers.
For Merrifield, the Royals' player rep and arguably the face of the franchise, he's missing out on a lot. After hinting that he'd possibly change his stance on getting vaccinated if he played for a contending team, the 33-year-old now puts that possibility in jeopardy. Even as one of the Royals' biggest trade pieces, finding a suitable trade partner willing to take him on now becomes more tricky. That also applies to both Michael A. Taylor and Andrew Benintendi, who have been linked to the American League East in trade rumors. Post-vaccination fiasco, the Royals have their work cut out for them on the trade front in regards to multiple players.
Jul 2, 2022; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Kansas City Royals second baseman Whit Merrifield (15) hits an RBI single in the fourth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
Last, but certainly not least, outfielder Kyle Isbel is one of the biggest losers of this ordeal. Throughout his tenure with the Royals, Isbel has struggled to secure consistent playing time at the big-league level and has seemingly taken one step forward followed by one or two steps back at every attempt at advancing. Now, he gives the club another reason to potentially dock his reps. Isbel needed every single inning and at-bat possible this year, and he's depriving himself of that for the Royals' upcoming series. Again, it's an unnecessary development, and one that could spell doom for the 25-year-old.
Kansas City's decision-makers atop the organization can't force players to get vaccinated. Moore isn't happy, nor should he be. He isn't without blame, although he can only say and do so much if he indeed made a firm sales pitch to the team about how important it is to follow his lead. Even ignoring the health-related aspect of things, being vaccinated can help avoid being at a competitive disadvantage. In that area, as well as numerous others, the Royals failed.
Ultimately, things may still work out and one four-game series in an otherwise lost season won't make a world of difference in the end-of-year standings. With that said, the Royals have known this was going to happen all year long. They've had ample time to prepare their statements. There's been plenty of time to justify the "informed" choices. On a Wednesday afternoon in which just about everyone expected a lengthy list of players to go on the restricted list, however, the final tally and the subsequent weak statements from players still managed to be surprising.
Again, being forced to call up a bunch of young players and field them for four games in a clear losing season isn't the end of the world. On the other hand, none of this had to happen. Matheny didn't have to read off 10 names, those 10 players didn't have to cost themselves varying amounts of playing time or trade value, and Kansas City didn't have to become the laughingstock of Major League Baseball. All of that did occur, though, and now one part of the organization has to make an attempt at moving the needle forward because others are staying behind after moving that needle backward.
