San Diego Padres: What it would cost to trade for Whit Merrifield

What’s the cost?

Because of all the great things I just said about Merrifield, the Royals just obviously aren’t going to give him away. In fact, they appear to value him even more because of what he means in their clubhouse.

To pry him away it’s going to take an overpay.

We reached out to our friends at Kings of Kauffman to get their opinion on what it might take to get a deal done for Merrifield.

Site expert Jordan Foote from Kings of Kaufmann reached out and gave me his thoughts on a potential deal.

First off, let’s forget the thought that the Royals would be willing to take on Wil Myers and his terrible contract.

Jordan believes the Royals’ main goal is to keep payroll low and taking on Myers’ contract wouldn’t fit into that plan and he doesn’t make any sense for Kansas City.

What the Royals most likely would want for Merrifield is “three MLB-ready prospects,” according to Jordan.

Although, he says he’d settle for a couple of top prospects and a lower level prospect with some upside.

He predicts that a straight-up Luis Patino for Merrifield trade might get it done — and would in his eyes. But I suspect many Padres fan would balk at that idea.

A more likely package the Padres would consider that Jordan also suggests is a package built around Adrian Morejon, Ryan Weathers, and Michel Baez.

Jordan suspects that two of those top pitching prospects along with another lower-level prospect could get a deal done.