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Reactions to the Danny Duffy contract

Sounds pretty gnar, braj.

By Max Rieper
MLB: Chicago White Sox at Kansas City Royals Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Danny Duffy has been one of the more popular Royals, due to way he wears his emotions on his sleeve and his clear desire to stay in Kansas City. Duffy and Royals fans got their wish this week when the club announced a five-year, $65 million contract extension that will keep Duffy a Royal through 2021. Let’s see what those around baseball had to say about the Duffy deal.

Dayton Moore looks for big things from Danny.

Sam Mellinger looks at how Danny Duffy is just the latest example of how things have changed for the Royals.

In the 10 years since Dayton Moore took over what was then a forlorn baseball outpost, here are the players who’ve signed long-term extensions to stay in Kansas City: Zack Greinke, Salvador Perez, Billy Butler, Alex Gordon, Yordano Ventura, Alcides Escobar, Salvador Perez again and, now, Duffy.

Moore’s greatest accomplishment in Kansas City, other than the World Series victory parade, is turning the Royals from a franchise guys joined only if they had no other options to one they are regularly turning down more money to stay with.

Jeff Sullivan at Fangraphs likes the upside Duffy shows.

For Duffy, this is an opportunity to stay where he’s been. To stay where he’s developed, to stay where he’s won. For the Royals, this is an investment in a somewhat risky starting pitcher. He’s a pitcher with a short record of quality starting, and he’s a pitcher with an injury history. If Duffy gets hurt again, or wears down under the burden of the workload, that’ll be tough for the Royals to get out from under. But at least from here, there’s still seemingly so much room for upside. Duffy isn’t a classic No. 1 pitcher, but he’s gotten himself tantalizingly close. His delivery and approach are simple, with the results so promising, and the best indicator of a future ace is someone who’s looked like one in spurts. Duffy just had a few of those spurts. In many categories, he compared well to some of the best starting pitchers around. If Duffy manages to pan out as he could, winning in the post-2017 future should be that much more achievable. To say nothing of the season just ahead.

David Lesky of Baseball Prospectus Kansas City looks to the future.

For a team that has a chance to look very different following the 2017 season, locking Duffy up to a long-term deal helps to make the transition to the future a little bit easier. They now have him, Yordano Ventura and Nate Karns guaranteed to be a part of the rotation (and maybe Ian Kennedy, too) and have Salvador Perez, Jorge Soler and Alex Gordon to anchor the position players once so much of this current Royals core reaches free agency.

One thing is for certain. The man who appears to be ticketed to take the ball on Opening Day for the Royals will be a member of the organization for years to come. The man who requested to be buried a Royal and who has become a fan favorite will be in the fold for a little longer now. All long-term deals, especially for pitchers, carry risk, but this is one I like for both the player and the organization.

On The Drive on 610 KCSP, Jeff Passan thinks the Royals are getting great value.

If Danny Duffy is a 2 WAR player a year, you are actually getting value back on that. So the threshhold isn’t all that high for this contract to turn out really well for the Royals....

$15 million a year these days is pretty much the going rate for a high #3/low #4 starter. The Royals are hoping Danny Duffy is #2.

Dan Szymborski of ESPN loves the deal.

Zach Crizer at Beyond the Box Score thinks the Royals are making some wise long-term choices.

Keeping this core together was never a realistic option. So the options in Kansas City were to sell it all and fully restock a less-than-thrilling farm system or attempt to place bets on the proper pieces and sell others for ready-or-close talent.

We can’t know if the choices they’ve made thus far were the plan all along or if they were products of circumstance (Hosmer and Moustakas are Boras clients; Davis and Dyson’s services fit league-wide demands), but we can assess them based on what we do know. And at the moment, they appear eminently sensible.

ESPN’s Jim Bowden says the Royals found a lot of interest in Duffy.

The Royals did listen to several teams who called and inquired about his availability through a possible trade, including the Astros, Yankees and Rangers. However, the Royals were never given a proposal from any team in the market that made any sense to them to pursue further.

This story from Minda Haas Kuhlmann is worth re-telling.

Danny was excited.

His teammates were excited.

Fans were excited.

I didn't even think of that! Sixty-five million dollars can buy a lot of bear suits, so I look forward to having Danny around for the next five years.

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