Kansas City Royals: Six players most likely to be traded at deadline

3. Danny Duffy

It feels like every year Danny Duffy is on the trade block, but he always remains a Royal for one reason or another. While that’s likely still going to be the case this year, Duffy could be a nice third or fourth pitcher in a contending’s team rotation.

Duffy has started six games this season and thrown 29.1 innings. He has a 3.99 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, and has 34 strikeouts. There was a blockbuster deal proposed by an MLB.com writer who had Duffy as part of a potential deal with the Yankees, which has been a team he’s been linked to via trade for several years now due to them always needing starters.

Again, this is a weird season, so Duffy might not get traded this year. He has one more year remaining on his contract though, so if a team wants to have a decent back end pitcher for their rotation, acquiring Duffy could make a lot of sense for them.

2. Greg Holland

Former Royals closer Greg Holland pitched elsewhere for several seasons, but he’s back in Kansas City this year and has fared nicely. He’s appeared in 16 games while pitching 16 innings and has a 3.38 ERA and 1.25 WHIP with 13 strikeouts and six walks.

Holland has rebounded nicely after a rough 2019 campaign and the Royals have shown once again that they’re a nice destination for former dominant relievers who lost their command. Relievers are a hot commodity on the trade market, as bullpens can make or break a contender. That means that Greg Holland could become quite a popular target in the next few days leading up to the deadline.