Trade deadline SZN is almost upon us, and though the Royals are only five games under .500 and still in 3rd place in the AL Central, it's starting to feel like the team may be drifting more towards the 'sellers' side of the aisle. As potential trade rumors start to pop up, it may be time for Royals fans to start preparing some painful goodbyes to some familiar faces - one of those being Danny Duffy. Would the Royals consider trading Duffy, who's been in Kansas City for all 11 years of his career? Team insider Justin Vernier called into Cody and Gold on Wednesday morning to discuss:
"I don't think that the right deal will come along," Vernier said. "I don't think the Royals will get the offer that offsets the hole that will be left inside that rotation, on that pitching staff. Not even talking about the clubhouse so much. Sure, fan perception would be hurt. Fans' feelings would be hurt if Danny Duffy was traded away. But I'm not even really factoring that into it. What we just talked about a minute ago was how this team, who still has 91 games to go in the season, how they're going to find the innings. Not just this year. We could talk about next year. How certain are we that this rotation is set for 2022? We've got questions about Jackson Kowar. We haven't seen Daniel Lynch look like a big league starter for longer than three innings yet this season. So first of all, I'm not ready to wave goodbye to Danny Duffy as a member of this rotation next season. And then as far as the trade is concerned, are you going to bring in enough in return to offset just how much this pitching staff is going to be in shambles ..."
You can listen to Vernier's entire interview in the embedded player below: