Coming off a year that saw him named an American League All-Star, Whit Merrifield expected the Toronto Blue Jays to be interested in retaining his services in free agency.
But after the Blue Jays’ early post-season exit to end their 2023 season, conversations between the two sides never reached a point where a Merrifield return to Toronto became a possibility.
“I had interest in coming back to the Jays. I really liked my time in Toronto. I love that clubhouse. I love the guys,” Merrifield said while appearing on the JD Bunkis Podcast Wednesday morning. “I think there’s a good team there. Obviously, they’re not playing great right now…”
“(Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins) expressed that they were going to be a big player in my free agency, and (we) just didn’t quite have those conversations I expected to have and it never really worked out.”
Merrifield, of course, went on to sign a one-year, $8-million deal with a team option for 2025 with the Philadelphia Phillies.
After Tuesday’s 10-1 thumping of the Blue Jays, the Phillies hold an MLB-best 26 wins, putting them atop the NL East.
The chance to win played a heavy role in Merrifield’s decision to join a Philadelphia team that has gone to the World Series and NLCS in back-to-back years.
“Honestly it was probably 1B,” he said of prioritizing winning this off-season. “I wanted to stay relatively close to home. I’m an East Coast guy, so being on this side of the country was important to me and being on a good team was right up there with it.”
While the 35-year-old Merrifield hasn’t quite had the early success at the plate that he did a year ago in Toronto, he has still proven to be a valuable piece for Philadelphia, spending time at three different positions — second base, third base and left field — over 18 games.
He’s slashing .246/.295/.386 with two home runs and four stolen bases with the Phillies after posting a .272/.318/.382 line with 11 homers and 26 stolen bases with the Blue Jays in 2023.
Merrifield got off to a solid start for Toronto, earning his third career, All-Star nod, but struggled down the stretch, posting just a .538 OPS after Aug. 1. The downturn in his performance kept him out of the Blue Jays starting lineup for both of their wild-card games against the Minnesota Twins.
After the series, the nine-year MLB veteran was one of the more outspoken players on the decision to pull José Berríos from Game 2 saying he “hated” the move. He later appeared on the Foul Territory podcast and expressed his displeasure with being left out of the lineup in the post-season.
“I don’t think it hurt in any of that,” Merrifield said Wednesday when asked if being vocal hurt his chances to return in free agency. “I had really good conversations with (Atkins) afterwards. I mean, look, it was an emotional time. We just lost a playoff game, I got asked directly after the game what I thought about it.”
“I disagreed with the way we handled that, and who doesn’t have disagreements with their boss at the workplace, that just happens.”
Despite there being the potential for a sour taste from the way the season ended combined with negotiations not turning out how he expected, Merrifield expressed how much he enjoyed his time as a Blue Jay and that he didn’t want his comments to make fans think otherwise.
“The only problem that I had with the discussions with the media and how it got out, was that people seemed to think that I didn’t like my time in Toronto, which is not true,” Merrifield said. “I loved my time in Toronto… It was a great experience and I’m happy that I got a year and a half over there.
“Made some great friends, had some great memories. I got to experience the playoffs twice, which I hadn’t gotten to do in my career. So nothing but love for Toronto.”
