Whit Merrifield hopes Kansas City Royals use final months of season to build momentum

Several MLB teams went into sell mode at the trade deadline as if they were in the middle of a going out of business event.

The Washington Nationals and Chicago Cubs traded away a combined 15 major-league players.

Meanwhile, the Kansas City Royals decided to largely stay the course with the core of their big-league roster. They traded away a pair of veterans in the final years of their respective contracts in left-handed pitcher Danny Duffy and outfielder/designated hitter Jorge Soler.

But the Royals resisted any overtures from other clubs about acquiring All-Star infielder/outfielder Whit Merrifield, switch-hitting first baseman Carlos Santana, left-handed veteran starting pitcher Mike Minor and right-handed relief pitcher Scott Barlow — all of whom reportedly drew interest from executives around the majors.

General manager Dayton Moore and the Royals’ front office clearly weren’t ready to cut bait on the roster they’d moved aggressively last offseason to bolster by adding Santana and Minor via free agency and trading for left fielder Andrew Benintendi.

“We feel — regardless of where we’re at, regardless of the record — we feel we have a good team and we can win baseball games,” Merrifield said. “We’ve had some things not go our way this year. We’ve had some guys perform not like their norm.

“But you guys have seen when we’re playing to our potential and we’ve got guys on the field that we plan on being on the field, we can go out there and we can beat anybody. And there’s no questioning that. We can.”

The Royals, who entered Monday’s off day with a record of 45-59, began the season looking like the early surprise team of the American League.

Through games on May 1, they held the best record in the majors (16-9) despite the absence of dynamic shortstop Adalberto Mondesi.

They thrived in tight games with a 6-1 record in one-run games, and they’d stretched their streak to 60 consecutive wins when leading after the seventh inning.

Of course, that run of success came to a screeching halt with an 11-game losing slide that started on May 2.

“We just have to do it on a consistent basis and stay healthy and have some of these young guys come up and be impactful,” Merrifield said. “We believe that that can happen. The front office believes it. The coaches believe it. The players believe it. So why break that up? We honestly believe we can do that. It’s just a matter of doing it. We’ve got to go out there and we’ve got to do it.”

The Royals went 11-17 in May and then 7-20 in June. Not coincidentally, their pitching staff took several hits during that period.

Daniel Lynch’s first major-league stint came in May, but he made just three starts, none lasting five innings and the final two a combined 3 1/3 innings. Jackson Kowar made two starts without going past the second inning in June. Duffy’s first injured list stint went from May 17-June 22. Brad Keller’s June featured an 8.31 ERA over six starts.

Injuries also took a toll on the bullpen as Kyle Zimmer and Josh Staumont each spent time on the IL as well.

Offensively, the dreadfully underwhelming production of Hunter Dozier (slashing .196/.273/.355) and Soler (slashed .192/.288/.370 with the Royals) combined with the absence of Mondesi for all but 10 games this season and an 18-game stretch without Benintendi left their lineup far too thin at times.

It will be the front office’s job to beef up the club to better compete and to withstand inevitable injuries.

“We still have work to do to complete our roster, to upgrade our roster,” Moore said in the hours after the trade deadline. “We’ll continue to focus on that. We talked today right after the deadline was completed with our scouts and our baseball operations department about what we need immediately, what we need for next year that’s going to put us in a situation to be better. We’re constantly looking at that, evaluating that.”

For Merrifield and his teammates, the final months of this season will be their chance to prove the first month of the season wasn’t a complete fluke.

With the core seemingly poised to remain together going into the 2022 season, this is also their chance to set a tone for next year.

“We’ve got to use these next however many games we’ve got left to continue to build that momentum into next year, build guys confidence, show that we can play at that high level, and then, when 2022 rolls around, show up and go from the get-go and not slow down,” Merrifield said. “Stay the course, stay healthy as best we can, stay consistent and expect to win every day.”