Whit Merrifield, & Why
The 33-year old second baseman/outfielder was recently in the news for being one of the 10 Royals players that didn’t make the trip to Toronto to play the Blue Jays due to their vaccination status. Other than that, the usual mainstay in baseball conversations about some of the game’s best hitters, has been absent from headlines.
To say his Royals are having a down year would be a vast understatement. Kansas City is currently 14.5 games out of a wildcard spot. A Royals team that’s depended on core guys like Whit & Salvador Perez are faltering big time while those two are struggling.
But remind me, have the Braves capitalized on a down year from a Royals player before?
Ozzie Development
Recent developments in the Ozzie Albies injury rehabilitation suggest that the duo of Robinson Canó & Orlando Arcia will be forced to fill the hole as best they could for a longer time period than originally believed:
The Braves second base group was ranked 28th in fWAR between Ozzie’s injury & Canó’s addition. And it hasn’t improved markedly enough since then to cross second base off the list of “Areas to Address” before the Trade Deadline.