In case anyone is wondering, nobody in the Kansas City Royals organization are mad. They don&#8217;t want you to write that they&#8217;re mad.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
and another thing: im not mad. please dont put in the newspaper that i got mad.
&mdash; wint (@dril) <a href="https://twitter.com/dril/status/549425182767861760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
We all know how big of a disaster these few days were. First it was the Royals being embarassed over having 10 players be unvaccinated, then the Jays got embarassed losing to a some dude named Angel Zerpa who was chucking a 4.36 ERA in the AA ranks.
Now, more wild things are going on in this ever-evolving story. Earlier this week, Royals 2B Whit Merrifield <a href="https://twitter.com/anne__rogers/status/1547342762445623296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1547342762445623296%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsideaction.com%2Fmlb%2Froyals-executive-disgusted-by-players-vaccine-remarks%2F">had this to say of his decision to be unvaccinated</a>:
<blockquote>“What I&#8217;ve seen and experienced, not what I&#8217;ve seen on social media, what I&#8217;ve seen and experienced people that are vaccinated have got [COVID-19] in this club house. People that are vaccinated have spread it in this clubhouse, to their families and whatnot. People have gotten pretty sick that are vaccinated. This is my opinion on it all. It&#8217;s what I&#8217;ve come to, based on the experienced and conversations I&#8217;ve had, and what I&#8217;ve seen, this is the conclusion I&#8217;ve come to. Right or wrong, I didn’t do it on a whim. It’s been a long thought process. Because I understand what Canada has in place right now. That’s the only reason that I would think about getting it at this point, is to go to Canada. That might change down the road. Something happens and I happen to get on a team that has a chance to go play in Canada in the postseason, maybe that changes. But as we sit here right now, I’m comfortable in my decision, my teammates support me, support the rest of the guys in here who have made that decision, and that’s that.”</blockquote>
So, to summarize: just because he sees people that are vaccinated getting COVID-19, he doesn&#8217;t want to get vaccinated. On top of that, he doesn&#8217;t seem to care about getting it given the Royals are &#8230; *checks notes* &#8230; last in the AL Central and 12.0 GB of a playoff spot.
Got it.
Royals president of baseball operations Dayton Moore, meanwhile, said he was &#8220;disgusted&#8221; when he first heard the player&#8217;s comments, but noted that Merrifield had apologized for how it was explained.
<blockquote>“It’s very difficult at times to articulate feelings and emotions. Sometimes, it just comes out wrong. When I first heard that, I was very disappointed. Pretty disgusted, truthfully. But I also know that’s not who Whit is. And as I communicated with Whit about that, he made it very clear he was sorry for how that came out. I have to accept that and move on. I’m not going to kick him when he’s down, because I do know what Whit Merrifield has meant to our team, the great work he does in this community and I just think it was a very poor choice of words.
“He’ll learn from that and we all will. It’s unfortunate, but we’ve gotta try to move on from it . Whit will get an opportunity to discuss that statement at some point in time.” &#8211; Moore on The Program with Soren Petro, as transcribed by <a href="https://sideaction.com/mlb/royals-executive-disgusted-by-players-vaccine-remarks/">Side Action</a></blockquote>
What a gong show.
<hr />
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at<a href="http://www.twitter.com/zjlaing"> @zjlaing</a>, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.
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In case anyone is wondering, nobody in the Kansas City Royals organization are mad. They don't want you to write that they're mad.



https://twitter.com/dril/status/549425182767861760?lang=en

We all know how big of a disaster these few days were. First it was the Royals being embarassed over having 10 players be unvaccinated, then the Jays got embarassed losing to a some dude named Angel Zerpa who was chucking a 4.36 ERA in the AA ranks.

Now, more wild things are going on in this ever-evolving story. Earlier this week, Royals 2B Whit Merrifield <a href="https://twitter.com/anne__rogers/status/1547342762445623296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1547342762445623296%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsideaction.com%2Fmlb%2Froyals-executive-disgusted-by-players-vaccine-remarks%2F">had this to say of his decision to be unvaccinated</a>:
<blockquote>“What I've seen and experienced, not what I've seen on social media, what I've seen and experienced people that are vaccinated have got [COVID-19] in this club house. People that are vaccinated have spread it in this clubhouse, to their families and whatnot. People have gotten pretty sick that are vaccinated. This is my opinion on it all. It's what I've come to, based on the experienced and conversations I've had, and what I've seen, this is the conclusion I've come to. Right or wrong, I didn’t do it on a whim. It’s been a long thought process. Because I understand what Canada has in place right now. That’s the only reason that I would think about getting it at this point, is to go to Canada. That might change down the road. Something happens and I happen to get on a team that has a chance to go play in Canada in the postseason, maybe that changes. But as we sit here right now, I’m comfortable in my decision, my teammates support me, support the rest of the guys in here who have made that decision, and that’s that.”</blockquote>
So, to summarize: just because he sees people that are vaccinated getting COVID-19, he doesn't want to get vaccinated. On top of that, he doesn't seem to care about getting it given the Royals are ... *checks notes* ... last in the AL Central and 12.0 GB of a playoff spot.

Got it.

Royals president of baseball operations Dayton Moore, meanwhile, said he was "disgusted" when he first heard the player's comments, but noted that Merrifield had apologized for how it was explained.
<blockquote>“It’s very difficult at times to articulate feelings and emotions. Sometimes, it just comes out wrong. When I first heard that, I was very disappointed. Pretty disgusted, truthfully. But I also know that’s not who Whit is. And as I communicated with Whit about that, he made it very clear he was sorry for how that came out. I have to accept that and move on. I’m not going to kick him when he’s down, because I do know what Whit Merrifield has meant to our team, the great work he does in this community and I just think it was a very poor choice of words.

“He’ll learn from that and we all will. It’s unfortunate, but we’ve gotta try to move on from it . Whit will get an opportunity to discuss that statement at some point in time.” - Moore on The Program with Soren Petro, as transcribed by <a href="https://sideaction.com/mlb/royals-executive-disgusted-by-players-vaccine-remarks/">Side Action</a></blockquote>
What a gong show.

<hr />

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at<a href="http://www.twitter.com/zjlaing"> @zjlaing</a>, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.

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