5:28pm: The Royals are covering about half of Duda’s remaining salary, tweets David O’Brien of The Athletic.
4:45pm: The Royals and Braves have both announced the move.
4:19pm: The Royals have traded first baseman Lucas Duda to the Braves in exchange for cash, reports Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com (via Twitter). He reportedly cleared revocable trade waivers earlier this month and recently ranked 17th on MLBTR’s list of the top 20 remaining August trade candidates. The teams have not yet formally announced the move.
Duda, 32, will give the Braves some left-handed punch off the bench over the final five weeks of the regular season and, the team hopes, into the playoffs. While he hasn’t had a strong overall season, hitting just .242/.311/.415 on the year, those pedestrian numbers are in some part due to the fact that the Royals have played him against left-handed pitching far more than his track record against southpaws should dictate. Duda has taken 30 percent of his plate appearances against left-handed opponents in 2018 and, unsurprisingly, struggled at a .180/.255/.258 clip.
However, in 239 plate appearances while holding the platoon advantage, Duda has been a vastly superior hitter. He’s hit righties at a .267/.335/.479 clip, swatting 11 of his 13 homers and 11 of his 12 doubles in those matchups. Atlanta had reportedly already attempted to claim Matt Adams from the Nationals to fill a similar role, but the Cardinals had waiver priority over Atlanta and wound up acquiring him instead.
Duda signed a one-year deal with Kansas City this past offseason and is playing the year on a $3.5MM base salary. He earned a $100K bonus for taking his 300th and 325th plate appearance this season, and he’ll take home an additional $100K for every 25th plate appearance he takes in 2018. Because of those incentives, that base salary has risen to $3.7MM and will soon be bumped to $3.8MM, but with a presumably limited role on the horizon in Atlanta, he’s not likely to unlock much more of that incentives package.
[Related: Updated Kansas City Royals depth chart and Atlanta Braves depth chart]
Atlanta has been a middle-of-the-pack offense against right-handed pitching to this point in the season, hitting .256/.321/.413 — good for a 96 wRC+ that is tied for the 16th-best mark in baseball. Duda will give them some additional thump to use in those matchups in late-game settings and will instantly become the team’s best left-handed option off the bench. Prior to the trade, Rio Ruiz was the team’s lone lefty on the bench.
xabial
Luke Voit makes me take this loss better. I really wanted NYY to trade for Duda (finally now that he’s not on Mets)
rtrgobraves
Hopefully not much cash..
kcbbfan
Nice pick up for the Braves. Ive grown to kinda like Duda. He’s a much better 1st baseman than i ever thought and i wont be surprised if he gets a couple of big hits for the Braves. I’m glad Moore was able to move him to a team playing important games in Sept.
UGA_Steve
Agree. Decent pick up, though he will be averaging one at bat per game. Maybe this is Freeman insurance, because I sure hate using a spot for someone who will almost certainly never take the field.
Too bad they only have one DH series left, but are they looking far enough ahead to think about the World Series?
Matt Galvin
Good move for Braves and Royals.
xabial
“Cash considerations” can’t pick up a bat.
steelerbravenation
I don’t think I am feeling this move. He is notoriously streaky and I don’t know how consistent he could be coming off the bench I would much rather had Granderson and maybe Wilmer Flores
Yeti
Good move for a PH. Knows the NL East well. Needed an experienced lefty on the bench. Rio Ruiz is not a good hitter.
sidewinder11
Isn’t Duvall a righty?
dj227
Guess who got traded to the Braves today…
Duda…
Duda…
steelerbravenation
For the price I am good with the move now
bravesfan
I get this move, but just because we need a left handed bat on the bench doesn’t mean we should go get a bad one lol. If he was doing remotely normal for him I would be happy, but he’s really been very uninspiring this year. I’m not all that uncomfortable using minor leaguers to make a push for the remainder of the season. Most come up and look pretty strong to me
letsplay2
These pick ups are for the final series.
Winner of that finishes 1st. We need that added proven punch.
bravesiowafan
Lol coming from the guy calling rio Ruiz a better option. Braves fan is too heavy of a Braves fan to comment rationally. Gotta look without bias we picked up a bench bat better then any in house option we have and for nothing dude only needs one clutch hit in the playoffs or end of the season to justify this trade.
bravesfan
I didn’t say rio was a better option lol … some people think if they come in here calling other opinions trash it makes their opinion valid. But u didn’t read my statement correctly and simply assume I was talking about 1 guy. U know what assuming does right?
nentwigs
Braves Post Season, Sing This Song…
Duda.
Duda.
doxiedevil
Memo to AA and the Braves, you need right handed power much more.
xabial
Dont see a mention of PTBNL anywhere, Steve!
(Hat tip to a Twitter user in your David O’ Brien link, Steve) twitter.com/davidwoodweb/status/103493010132074496…
From Braves official Twitter account:
“#Braves today acquired first baseman Lucas Duda and cash from the Kansas City Royals in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations. Duda will wear No. 20.” twitter.com/Braves/status/1034919207975243776?s=20
xabial
Was scared pointing something out (due to users wrath) but it’s not a typo soo… wish me luck Steve old buddy… Keep up the great work! (I’m not looking for mistakes, just got lucky reading that one post in the Twitter feed)
ThatBallwasBryzzoed
Why would they want or need him?
Dorothy_Mantooth
Great pickup for Atlanta, especially if it only costs them “cash considerations”. Leaving a pitcher’s Park and heading to an offensive Park will only help him. Duda did not get acquired to start (nobody is replacing Freeman), but he is a great lefty bench bat and can fill in when Freddy needs a day off. Zero complaints or concerns over this move; job well done this late in the season!