The Kansas City Royals are expected to recall left-hander Danny Duffy from Triple-A on Wednesday to replace Wade Davis in the starting rotation, reports Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star. Davis will likely be moved to the bullpen for the remainder of the season.
Royals to recall Danny Duffy, send Wade Davis to bullpen
It seems KC has finally pulled the plug on the “Wade Davis: starting pitcher” experiment.
Hannah Foslien
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Manager Ned Yost cited a mounting workload and Davis needing time to “acclimate” to a relief role should the Royals make the postseason as the reasons for the move to the bullpen, but one doesn’t have to look far to get at the underlying cause.
Davis has been miserable as a starter this year. His 5.67 earned-run average is third-worst in baseball among those with at least 120 innings on the year, and two of the three guys around him in the rankings -- Edinson Volquez and Jeremy Hellickson -- were so bad that they're no longer with their big-league clubs.
Davis had great success out of the bullpen with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2012 -- 2.43 ERA in 70⅓ innings -- so the Royals are probably hoping that he can revert to some version that form for the final month-plus of the season.
Duffy, who is coming back from Tommy John surgery, has already made a pair starts for Kansas City this month, allowing two runs and striking out 10 in 9⅔ innings. The 24-year-old southpaw will face the Twins at Target Field Wednesday night, pushing Bruce Chen back to Thursday.
The Royals have yet to make a corresponding roster move to make room for Duffy.
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