The most predictable contract extension in the history of organized sports is official. Danny Duffy is five years closer to turning his “bury me a Royal” line of a few years ago from endearing to factually correct, and this deal was always going to happen for a number of reasons.
The Royals cannot afford talent like Duffy’s through free agency and realistically don’t have enough to trade for it, either. They have committed to building from within and haven’t been nearly as productive with starting pitching as they want. Retaining success stories like Duffy is imperative.
Everything the Royals do has at least a shred of public relations in it, too, and it would be hard to take their stated desire of competing beyond 2017 seriously if they bricked this layup of a contract extension.