Great news and glad they got it done. Money is a little higher than I thought it might be, but those yearly averages are really quite affordable considering this market...

If he continues to display the success as a starter he had last year, Duffy is going to provide surplus value at that figure.

Also gives the team the opportunity to extend the window. Saving $3-3.5 million from this year's salary clears up some additional salary.

KC Baseball Prospectus dug through the salary figures this morning and concluded the Royals were likely right at last year's Opening Day payroll. This will give them a little more flex. Should put total payroll around $128 million when all is said and done, with no other changes.

I'd love to see them push it to $140 million total, and spend that remaining 12 million on a bat and a reliever.

Also sets up the rotation nicely for a few more years... KC has control of Duffy, Ventura and Karns through 2021, and Kennedy through 2020 if he doesn't opt out after this season. That's a nice chunk of stability for the rotation.

Good news.

They may not get a deal done, but I truly believe they will make an effort to re-sign some of these other FAs too. I think it's part of the reason Dayton is being very cautious about signing guys and clearing money this offseason. I would not be surprised if they ended up trying to sign/extend one of Moose/Hos/Cain and someone like Herrera.

This move ensures we have Duffy/Ventura signed through the end of this decade too. That's pretty nice.

We probably had him signed for a month. The Royals knew the team across the lot would fail so they were waiting until then to release it to give us some good news.

A player trying to help the team get more talent.

Are you listening Alex?



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@JeffPassan: If Duffy shoved this year, he was a $100M free agent. That said, for a TJ guy without a full year starting, I think he did really well. https://twitter.com/DaveDego/status/821072707437662209

I think they'll go all in on re-upping Moose and Herrera this offseason (with similar backloaded deals). I believe both players will age the best out of our current core, and I wouldn't be surprised if the FO feels the same way.

I think Kennedy will opt out next season if he puts up similar numbers to 2016, which, while it will hurt us in an area of weakness, it will still give us more financial flexibility as we move forward.

@JeffPassan: Royals know they can't afford elite free agent pitching, and price of it in trades is exorbitant. This is a risk they almost have to take. https://twitter.com/DaveDego/status/821072707437662209

Talking about Smith? Because you can't renegotiate baseball contracts like that with the MLB's actual Union.

Luis Valbuena - 2 years, $13 million (2017- $6 million; 2018 - $7 million)

Luke Hochevar - 2 years, $10 million, option year for $10 million with $2 million buyout ($4 million, $6 million).

Would leave payroll around $138 million entering the season, with a roster that shapes up like so:


LF - Gordon
CF/RF/DH - Cain
3B - Moustakas
1B - Hosmer
RF/DH - Soler (or C - Perez)
DH/3B/2B/1B/LF - Luis Valbuena
C - Perez (Or RF/DH - Soler)
SS - Escobar
2B/Utility - Whit Merrifield

You'd have Orlando off the bench as your 4th OF, with Cuthbert and Colon in the mix as well, and Butera.

Rotation:

Duffy
Kennedy
Ventura
Vargas
Karns

Bullpen:
Herrera
Strahm
Hochevar
Soria
Chris Withrow
Brian Flynn
Chris Young (swing man)

I would roll the dice with that.

Yeah...it wasn't thinking about Gordon today.

Sorry.



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Better deal than Ian Kennedy or Mike Leake which is what you have to give on the open market.

LOL, I must have the Chiefs on my mind too much. It never occurred to me that he could have been talking about Alex Gordon!

Maybe I'm just giddy over Duffy's extension. Great news on a horrible and depressing sports day.

Sounds good

@DSzymborski: Duffy 5/65 is a tremendous deal. Kudos to the Royals. He should still be tradable if the team collapses next season.

Tell that guy to shut his whore mouth