The Royals have been dealing with the aftermath of their non-vaccinated players issue for some time now. After news broke that 10 players would miss a road series in Toronto because they were not fully vaccinated, Whit Merrifield found himself in a bit of a media controversy when he implied to reporters -- only a few weeks before the trade deadline -- that he would get vaccinated if he was on a team in playoff contention. Merrifield clarified the comments a day later, and while speaking to 610's Cody and Gold, Royals GM JJ Picollo explained his thoughts about the whole situation.
"Whit understands the strength of his words and the impact it may have had on our fanbase," he said. "That’s something he’s mulling through right now, I think he understands that he didn’t understand the situation well and we were disappointed in those comments. We know Whit very well, and we understand what Whit meant by that, it didn’t come off as well as we would have liked it to come off. But again, his teammates know who he is. This guy has played 500-plus games in a row, he’s been a warrior for us, he’s been a productive player for us. I don’t think a five-minute interview should taint what he has done for this organization for many years."
You can listen to Picollo's entire interview in the embedded player below: