Danny Duffy, SP, Kansas City Royals
The Royals aren’t going to be close to contending in the near future, so it makes sense to trade away whatever veteran talent they have to bulk up their farm system. Southpaw starter Danny Duffy qualifies based on his past track record, but that’ll be hard to do if his early-season performance continues.
Following a career-best 3.4 fWAR through 146.1 innings last season, Duffy has posted a -0.4 fWAR through 47 innings. Remember how high Stroman’s ERA was? Well, Duffy’s 6.51 mark would be among the 10 worst for starters with at least 30 innings of work.
His strikeout rate (18.7%) and walk rate (10.1%) are both worse than 2017’s year-end numbers (21.4% and 6.7%, respectively), but it’s been a drastic increase in homers allowed that’s stuck out like a sore thumb. He surrendered 13 dingers in 146.1 frames last year, and he’s already watched 12 sail out of the yard in just 47 innings. This has been made possible by an increased fly-ball rate (44.8%) and hard-hit rate (39.4%).
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