Zach Dean
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Whit Merrifield is nothing if not a man of his word.
The former unvaxxed Kansas City Royal made waves last month when he said he would consider getting vaccinated if he were playing for a contender.
Well, Merrifield was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays earlier this week, and the veteran got the jab … not that he had much of a choice.
“For a couple of weeks now, I’ve understood that this might be a possibility. I’ll be in Toronto when the team goes there,” Merrifield said, via MLB.com.
Thanks to Canada’s ridiculous COVID laws – which don’t allow unvaccinated people into the country – Merrifield had to get the shot in order to play home games.
Despite being one of 10 Royals last month not to make the trip to Toronto because he wasn’t vaccinated, Merrifield was basically forced into getting the jab this time or risk becoming MLB’s version of Kyrie Irving.
I can’t blame the dude. It’s easy to stand on principle when you have nothing to lose. When you have millions of dollars to lose it makes sense to just eat the shit sandwich and keep it pushing. If this dude was a superstar player he’d have more leverage to say no.
He’s still making the same money. He was traded, he didn’t get a new contract. He caved. I would told them to trade me to the NL. MLB needs to do something. And if I were a player, I’d be suing MLB.
Hopefully he faked it.
I “know” this young man and his father. He is The Quintessential Professional Athlete and “Man” we wish all pro athletes could be. A real “gamer” and solid citizen. He was LOVED in Kansas City but they are years away from being relevant so good for him to be with a contender … even if it is IN CANADA.
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