Royals Rumors: Danny Duffy unlikely to be traded

For a team that was supposedly going to trade away many of their veterans, the Kansas City Royals are off to a slow start. Mike Moustakas, Whit Merrifield, and Danny Duffy were all rumored to be finding homes with new teams. So far, none of the three have moved yet.

A report by Bob Nightengale of USA Today, according to MLB Trade Rumors, noted that the Kansas City Royals have stated they have no intention of trading away Danny Duffy. The thing is, things have changed in his performance since they had first thought of trading away their top starting pitcher.

The lefty hasn’t had his best season, which helped the Kansas City Royals make a case to trade him away. But, he has been better as of late. While he wasn’t playing well, teams would have been trying to trade for him solely based on the premise that he would maybe turn it around. Now that he is seemingly turning things around, the Royals no longer want to trade him away.

Is this a good move?

It is smart to keep Danny Duffy around, yes. If he continues to play better, it isn’t like he is hurting the team. Granted, there are some young pitchers, Heath Fillmyer in particular, who have had great showings as of late.

There are also some young arms in Triple A, like Jake Kalish and Richard Lovelady, who are close to earning a chance in the rotation. Or, at least a bullpen spot that could transition into a starting role. Having Duffy to keep in the mix with some younger guys may bode well for the Royals. Though it is extremely uncertain what the rotation will look like next season, there’s not much of a question that the Royals are happy they’re going to retain Duffy.

Unless they could have really yielded a great haul by trading Danny Duffy away, the smarter move is to just keep him around. It’s hard to tell if the Kansas City Royals lack of interest in trading him is due to lack of pursuit by other teams or an actual disinterest in parting ways. Either way, it seems like he is set to stay in Kansas City.

It’s likely he will keep turning things around. Sure, his Wednesday outing against Detroit was not his best, but his two prior starts were better than what he had been showing earlier in the season.