The Royals Have a Veteran Leadership Problem

If there's one thing to take away from this week, it's that leaders need to do a better job of leading.

The Kansas City Royals made national news on Wednesday — and not in a good way — by placing 10 players on the restricted list for being unvaccinated ahead of the team's trip to Toronto. This made them the most affected team by Canada's travel rules by a wide margin.

I will make one thing very clear before I get into my rant: I am not upset at the fact that these 10 players made the decision not to be vaccinated. That's their choice and an argument that isn't worth getting into with anybody. I am, however, very frustrated with the way the Royals' veteran players have handled this situation. It has exposed numerous problems within the clubhouse and shown very clear leadership issues. 

Whit Merrifield, in particular, has been an integral part of the franchise for years now and is thought of as a great guy to mentor the young core that is currently going through its first major league season. Merrifield shows up to the stadium and works hard every day, plays multiple positions and has had a very productive career despite not being gifted with a ton of elite tools. He's a player that young youngsters such as Bobby Witt Jr. can look up to and learn from in regards to how to be a professional day in and day out. 

All of this makes Merrifield's comments earlier this week so disheartening. In case you missed it, he said this:

Here's Whit Merrifield on his decision: pic.twitter.com/XT0kYFFcZP

— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) July 13, 2022

Openly saying that your decision was largely based on the fact that you're not on a contending team? Come on, you're better than this. This is troublesome for a lot of reasons. 

First off, this sets a precedent that these young players don't need to care as much about their job because they play for a non-contending team like the Royals. Next, it's just horrible to see a player that has been viewed as one of the faces of the Royals organization for a few years openly bashing his team to the media on a question he had known for months in advance was going to be asked. 

It has also been made very clear by the organization that it wanted these players to get vaccinated to avoid controversy like this. President of baseball operations, Dayton Moore, followed by saying that the club can't force players to make that choice, instead emphasizing that the Royals armed them with as much information as possible to try and persuade them to do so. 

The fact that the players didn't listen isn't the problem. Once again, I couldn't care less if anybody is vaccinated or not. The problem is that the leaders of the clubhouse chose not to and, in turn, showed the younger players who may have been on the fence about the issue that this line of thinking is okay. It is a lot easier to choose to do something if the people you look up to are doing the same thing, after all. 

Merrifield is not alone in this boat, though. Andrew Benintendi, the lone All-Star for the team this season, has put teams — like the Blue Jays — under the impression that if they want to trade for him, the vaccine may not be an issue. 

Teams pursuing Benintendi were informed by the Royals of the Benintendi vax status awhile back. Many are still in. That includes even the Jays (as of yesterday) as they are apparently hopeful he may agree to get the vax if he’s dealt there.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 14, 2022

From the outside, the choice looked like an easy one for these players. 

When looking at the schedule in advance and knowing you can't play in Toronto if you don't have the vaccine, it definitely makes it a lot easier to miss the games if they are right in front of the All-Star break. An extended vacation? Sign them up.

Ten Royals missing four games will not change a single thing about the outcome of the season. That isn't an issue, either. The issue is the general concept of teaching these young players what it means to be a professional and what it takes for an organization to be successful. Instead, veterans decided to drag their team's name through the dirt and it has rubbed a lot of people, including me, the wrong way. 

It will be interesting to see if this impacts other decisions for Kansas City at the trade deadline.