Kansas City Royals need to trade Danny Duffy while they still can

Danny Duffy is one of the longest tenured members of the Kansas City Royals, but with two years on his contract after 2019, the team should try to trade him and get something in return for him while they still can.

Kansas City Royals fans love Danny Duffy. He was preaching “Bury me a Royal” before players were proud to be a part of this organization. He’s just a really, really nice guy.

With all of that said, however, the Royals really need to trade Duffy while they still can. Fortunately, he’s having a respectable 2019 campaign and could be one of the team’s biggest trade pieces at the deadline this summer.

Duffy has a 4.43 ERA in 67 innings pitched this year. He’s coming off a 6.2 inning performance against the Blue Jays on Friday where he threw 108 pitches and came so close to making it through seven innings before he gave up the home run that untied the game.

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His final stat line for Friday’s game was seven hits allowed for three earned runs while striking out eight and only walking one. All three runs came via home runs with the first being a two-run shot and the second being a solo homer.

Despite the end result, Duffy looked pretty good in this game and even though his ERA is still well over four, teams might be interested in trading for him.

The biggest issues with Duffy have been injuries and inconsistency, which could go hand-in-hand. He missed the first month of the season, but for the most part has looked pretty good since returning from the injured list. He could definitely be a third or fourth option in a contending rotation should a team be looking to add starting pitching.

Duffy also has experience pitching out of the bullpen, a role he served in during the 2015 postseason. That could come in handy for contending teams as well.

What would make Danny Duffy appealing to other teams, next to his pitching abilities obviously, is that he’s signed through the end of the 2021 season, so he wouldn’t be a rental for whatever team were to trade for him. That team would have him for the rest of 2019, all of 2020, and all of 2021.

Duffy initially signed a five-year deal worth $65 million prior to the 2017 season and has roughly $30 million left on that deal for 2020 and 2021. That’s not awful, but at the same time, it wouldn’t be crazy if the Royals had to eat some of that salary should a trade occur.

When it comes down to it, it makes sense for the Royals to trade Duffy while they can. He’s 30 years old with two years remaining on his initial contract and it’s safe to say that the Royals won’t be contending for the next two years. So why keep him around?

It might be different if Duffy had a solid ERA and was the unquestioned ace of the staff, but he’s not. He has an ERA over four and would be a third or fourth option on most teams. By the time the KC Royals are ready to start winning again, Duffy likely won’t be with the organization still.

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If a team comes calling about Duffy and offer a reasonable trade in return, the Kansas City Royals need to take it. Danny Duffy has done a lot for the organization and fans will always love him for that, but baseball is a business and it’s time to be smart moving forward.

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