Baltimore Orioles Interested in Potential Danny Duffy Trade

The Baltimore Orioles are reportedly interested in Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Danny Duffy. Duffy had a 3.81 ERA with the Royals last year.

TheBaltimore Oriolesare reportedly strongly pursuing Kansas City Royals starting pitcherDanny Duffy, according to Bob Nightengale ofUSA Today SportsonTwitter.

Duffy, 28, is a former reliever who was turned into a starting pitcher in 2014 and had significant success, posting a 2.53 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, and a 6.81 K/9 over 149.1 innings pitched.

He hasn’t been able to match that success since then, but has been a solid starting pitcher. He suffered an elbow injury last season that landed him on the DL for a bit, but generally injuries haven’t really been a concern for him.

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However, being that Duffy is a former reliever, stamina has been a common concern, as he’s never pitched more than 179.2 innings in a single season. That being said, he’s still able to pitch enough innings to be a useful member of a rotation.

Duffy was signed to a five-year extension last season worth $65 million. He’s owed $14 million next year, then $15.25 million over the next two years, and $15.5 million in his final year. That’s a lot of contract for the Baltimore Orioles to take on, should they choose to trade for him.

Duffy throws four pitches: a fastball that, last year, averaged around 93 MPH, a slider that averages around 83 MPH, a curveball that averages around 73 MPH, and a changeup that averages around 84 MPH.

One of the concerns about Duffy last year was his loss in fastball velocity. Since becoming a starter, Duffy’s fastball typically floated around 94-95 MPH on average, which made it a pretty deadly pitch.

But last season, his fastball dropped to around 93 MPH on average, making it less effective. As a result, Duffy relied on his slider and changeup a lot more than he has in the past, and had a reasonable amount of success, pitching to a 3.81 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, and an 8.00 K/9 over 146.1 innings pitched.

The reduction in fastball velocity could easily be a result of the elbow injury he suffered last year, so it’s entirely possible it could go back up this season, though it is something to keep an eye on.

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Duffy has shown to be a solid starting pitcher and is under contract for a good while, making him an intriguing trade candidate for the Baltimore Orioles. That being said, it’s a fairly large contract, and with the contracts the team doled out toChris DavisandMark Trumbo, it’s not necessarily one they might want to take on.

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