One AL Central Trade Prospect the Indians Might Have Looked At Is Staying Put

As the clock ticks towards the end of July, there’s still plenty of speculation about the Indians desire to grab an outfielder or a player in general to improve the team.

While Adam Jones of the Orioles is the name most closely associated with the Indians, there’s one darkhorse candidate whose name was mentioned more than once, but now it appears that player isn’t going anywhere.

Kansas City Royals second basemen/outfielder Whit Merrifield.

The youngster playing in Kansas City is a player the Indians know all too well, hitting .302 with 21 steals and is still only 29 years old.

He’s also got a contract that the Indians would have loved, as he’s only making $569,000 this season, and could not be a free agent until 2023.

Friday Royals GM Dayton Moore said ‘forget it’ when it comes to thoughts of moving Merrifield, saying Kansas City isn’t thinking about dealing him at the deadline.

Jon Heyman tweeted out today Moore’s comments regarding Merrifield and him staying in KC.

KC GM Dayton Moore on whether he’ll trade young star Whit Merrifield: “I can’t predict the future. But certainly won’t be traded at the deadline. We need him in our city and on our team.” Merrifield responded (on @MLBNetwork) that he loves KC and the Royals org.

It was a long shot that the Royals would have dealt with the Tribe without trying to fleece their farm system out of a number of big prospects, but getting a player with that many years of control had to be appealing for the Indians.

While it might just be Moore trying to drive up the price for Merrifield, for now the Indians look like they are back to looking at other options to try and help their team with four days left till the deadline to make a deal without going through waivers.