The Twins have released first baseman Lucas Duda, as Dan Hayes of The Athletic was among those to report (Twitter link). The move comes in advance of the opt-out clause his contract provided on Saturday.
Duda, 33, has long been quite a productive MLB hitter, though he hit a wall late in the 2017 season and hasn’t recovered since. He’ll head back out onto an unforgiving free agent market for defensively limited sluggers.
While he hasn’t hit anywhere near his prior levels of late, Duda has remained an approximately league-average bat. That’s not enough, clearly, for a player who’s likely to be viewed at most as a platoon first baseman. But there’s still some reason to hope that he can be a useful member of the right roster.
phenomenalajs
I would gladly take back 2015 (except WS game 5) Lucas Duda. Current version? Not so much.
thorshair
Duda always been bad
mlb1225
An .834 OPS and 57 home runs between 2014 and 2015 is far from bad.
brave from the woods
Watch the Braves release Duvall & sign Duda….
Sirsleepit
Duda can’t play the OF, so that won’t happen.
cardsfan006
He might be able to play corner outfield. But he’s old now.
todd76
The Braves have cheap control over Duvall the next 3 years.
Zach725
Wish MLB had the 26 man roster this year. I would gladly take Duda back on the braves.
jessecc08
good luck, “Dude”
PhilsPhan
No
Cup'ojoe Simpson
That made me nauteous
Oxford Karma
What is nauteous
mark0817
I can see the rays or orioles giving him a chance, they may catch lightning in a bottle
afsooner02
Camptown races
Monkey’s Uncle
*insert clip of Foghorn Leghorn*
pjsportsdude85
Sign him Tigers.. Allows Miggy to DH when needed and Hicks can still catch.
twannese
That is a pretty good idea. Duda won’t be spectacular but he will give you quality Major League at bats and play average defense.
Comrade Tipsy McStagger
Later that night I was in such a bad mooda
Sittin’ in a bar drinkin’ hard, getting steweda
Thinkin’ ’bout that girl & how ’bout I’d been screweda
When some guy walks in sits next to me & says
What’s up duda!
(What’s up duda? Oh, no … duda?)
I heard the word duda & I became unglueda.
Slowly I turned, step by step, inch by inch
And put my hands around his neck, and I squeezed…
DON’T CALL ME DUDA! DON’T CALL ME DUDA!
Hey Duda! DON’T CALL ME DUDA!
youtube.com/watch?v=NbLhHtaVIO4
jorge78
Tipsy you rock!
Phlem Johnson
Oh Duda day!
martras
Duda had virtually no shot to make the roster at all. He was injury protection depth and B squad roster filler, but at least it afforded him an opportunity to get some plate appearances in Spring Training to remind people he’s still looking for a job.
bjupton100
Dude should go play in Taiwan. He’d make close to the same amount and would play more. He is old and limited, I’m surprised the Twins even signed him. I wonder what he got paid for two months or so. Really I’m surprised any Japanese, Korean, or Taiwanese leagues have any native Dh/1st baseman with the plethora of MLB and minor league players limited to those positions but with very good offenseive potential in those leagues.
yougot2believe
Unfortunately Duda is who he is. He is DEF a MLB player and deserves to play. He gets hot for 3 weeks and you cant get him out and he hits moonshots but then ill give you a month of lackadaisical defense and go 2-80 with the 2 hits being home runs , but truth be told the NY Mets don’t make it to the 2015 Playoffs or World Series without Lucas Duda but at the same sense he totally butchered that throw home in the WS that cost us the game lol