Kansas City Royals Rumors: Danny Duffy whispers getting louder

The Kansas City Royals continue to listen to offers for several top players. Danny Duffy continues to draw lots of interest, forcing the pitcher to respond.

It continues to be a quiet Winter Meetings across Major League Baseball. But that hasn’t stopped the Kansas City Royals from fielding offers to trade away every piece of value the team has in stock. The player seeming the most likely to leave in exchange for a bundle of prospects is Danny Duffy.

Although nothing has been agreed upon, losing Duffy would be a huge blow to a Royals fanbase currently walking on eggshells. Offers reportedly continue to come in for others, as well. According to the Kansas City Star‘s Rustin Dodd, the team continues to get hits on Whit Merrifield, Kelvin Herrera and Scott Alexander, in addition to Duffy.

It should make Kansas City Royals supporters somewhat relieved to know Salvador Perez appears safe from an offseason headed towards a probable teardown. According to MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan, the team isn’t getting any hits on Perez and nothing appears to be imminent with the other tradable assets either:

Duffy responds

It’s clearly a stressful time for Duffy. As if worrying about the fires in Southern California isn’t enough, the left-handed ace now must read all about his presumably eventual trade. Whether he’s been seeing the chatter from national writers or Royals beat reporters himself, or if he’s just been bombarded with mentions from fans imploring him to stay. (Something he clearly doesn’t control.)

Regardless, he seemed to let his feelings on the situation be known on Twitter Wednesday night. He sent one that simply read: “Bury me a Royal.” Duffy, who will turn 29 in a week, sent another one that at first glance read like a goodbye post:

Duffy, who signed a contract extension through 2021 last offseason, also responded to a pair of fans. One of his quote tweets implied the rumors were stressing him out, and the other suggested the situation had moved him to tears.

If he does end up leaving at some point this offseason, Duffy has made it clear how he feels about the place he’s called home these past several years:

Would trading Duffy make sense?

It’s a question that can only truly be answered if and when a trade does occur. Basically, like all trades, how much sense it made will only be able to be answered in hindsight. The first Wade Davis trade (Yes, that’s what we’re calling it now.) can be seen as a complete success. The second one — unless something dramatic happens with Jorge Soler — won’t be.

Given Duffy has several years of team control, whereas Davis became a free agent this offseason, he should garner way more compensation. Then again, it’s hard to get true value for a player with that many years remaining on a contract. A team would need to absolutely blow the front office away to justify a trade at this point.

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Some will argue with a rebuild coming that Duffy and the aforementioned trade pieces should all be moved as quickly as possible. This strategy makes sense in that it gives younger players more experience, while also leading to more losing and higher draft picks. However, big-time players like Duffy shouldn’t just be given away. Holding onto him until the trade deadline would almost certainly increase the return.

With Duffy’s injury history, it’s unknown how the market will value him this winter. If he comes out with a strong first half, contenders will be lined up around the block to get their hands on one of the top left-handers in the American League. That same injury history, though, might be the biggest reason general manager Dayton Moore and Co. would be inclined to trade him now.

Duffy’s citation for driving under the influence in August probably doesn’t help his case to remain with the Royals. Given the Cubs and Yankees are reportedly interested in Duffy, it could be hard for Moore to turn down a good offer this winter. Even though, he could probably get a great one this summer.

Next: Where free agents will sign during rebuild

What do you think, fans? Will the team trade Duffy this offseason? What about Merrifield, Herrera and Alexander? Let us know your thoughts.