Royals sign Danny Duffy to five-year extension

The Kansas City Royals still have a promising group of players, and they clearly think Danny Duffy is a big part of the future.

After winning the World Series in 2015, the Kansas City Royals fell to 81-81 and missed the playoffs last season. But most of that championship-winning core remains in place heading into the 2017 season, and the Royals secured a piece of their starting rotation long-term with a contract extension on Monday.

This is Duffy’s final year of arbitration eligibility, and he and the team were close when money figures were exchanged last week. This contract extension buys out that final year of arbitration for the left-hander, and Jon Heyman of FanRag reports the deal contains no team or player options and doesn’t have a no-trade clause.

Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star has the full breakdown of Duffy’s new contract.

Duffy was a third-round pick directly out of high school by the Royals in 2007, and he set career-bests in wins (12), ERA (3.51), innings pitched (179.2 innings), K/9 rate (9.4) and BB/9 rate (2.1) over 42 appearances (26 starts) in 2016. He was limited to 11 starts during the 2012 and 2013 seasons due to Tommy John surgery, but Duffy has been mostly healthy over the last three seasons while making 103 appearances and 75 starts for the Royals.

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Duffy is now under contract for $65 million, fully guaranteed to him, through the 2021 season when he will be almost 33 years old. With a 36-33 career record, a sub-4.00 career ERA (3.71) and solid career peripherals (7.8 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9) the message, with tongue in cheek, is clear for most of us . If you’re lucky enough to have children and have a son, teach him to throw left-handed.