Kansas City Royals: Danny Duffy Must Pitch Like an Ace

The Kansas City Royals inked Danny Duffy to a five-year extension worth $65 million last week. The contract was a fair deal for both sides, but now the pressure is on Duffy to live up to his contractual obligations.

*EDITOR’S NOTE* This post was written before it was announced that Yordano Ventura had been killed in a car crash. 

Consistency is something that 27-year old pitcher Danny Duffy has struggled with during his nearly decade-long career in the major leagues.

Duffy, a third-round draft pick by the KC Royals in 2007, has showed flashes of greatness and at other times, has let his emotions get the best of him. Those emotions have drug Duffy down at times, but there will no more room for that, as Duffy is now expected to be the ace of the Kansas City Royals moving forward.

Duffy grew into that role this past season when he entered the rotation due to injuries to two other starters. He had ace-like stats for a long stretch and showed that when it comes down to it, Danny Duffy can be the ace of the KC Royals and can do great things for this ball club.

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Obviously Dayton Moore believes Duffy can handle the ace label or he wouldn’t have signed him to a five-year deal last week. Duffy is the lone impending free agent to have been inked to a new contract and that definitely shows the confidence level this team has for the Duffman in 2017.

The Kansas City Royals’ rotation looks decent heading into spring training, with the five projected starters (in my opinion) to be Duffy, Ian Kennedy, Jason Vargas, and new guy Nate Karns. That’s not a bad rotation at all, but it’ll only live up to the hype if Duffy can serve as the true ace.

Teams would kill for a young dominant left-handed starting pitcher and the Royals just locked theirs up to a long-term deal in hopes that he could do great things for this ball club.

After a terrific 2014 campaign, Duffy struggled to be the number two starter in 2015. He struggled to stay healthy and overall, was disappointing as a starter. He was eventually moved to the bullpen where he stayed until early on in the 2016 season.

The rest is history.

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Duffy’s injury problems in the past are a bit concerning, but Moore wouldn’t have signed him to this contract is he didn’t have faith that Duffy is the long-term answer as the Royals ace.

What do you think, Royals fans? Can Danny Duffy be the ace for the Royals or do you think he’ll struggle?