Dodgers: Danny Duffy’s memorabilia proves he was always meant for LA

The Los Angeles Dodgers added underrated lefty arm Danny Duffy for a PTBNL on Thursday afternoon, potentially filling a middle-innings void while the rest of the front office pursued Max Scherzer and Trea Turner.

Not a bad way to end a week.

The Duffy acquisition is bound to get lost in the weeds — and, well, rightly so, considering they also acquired one of the greatest pitchers in National League history — but his addition seems to have fulfilled a longtime prophecy.

Fittingly, Los Angeles icon

Tommy Lasorda

seemed to

know

that the lefty, even as an amateur, would someday end up helping the Dodgers in a pennant push. After this

community lost Lasorda a few months prior

, Duffy may now be taking on added pressure when he arrives back “home.”

At a pre-draft workout before the 2007 MLB Draft, Duffy had the pleasure of meeting the Dodgers icon, who signed a baseball to the lifelong fan inscribed, “To Danny: A Future Dodger.”

What did he know, and when did he know it?

New Dodgers addition Danny Duffy was meant to be here, per Tommy Lasorda.

Duffy has long been identified with declaring he plans to be a “Royal for Life,” so we won’t begrudge you if you had no idea he was actually a California native and a life-long Laker fan.

That’s part of the trade analysis that you rarely get, but usually resonates. Every player is “excited” to play for their new team and wants to capture a World Series in order to feel important to the ownership group that writes their paychecks. But there’s something different about getting to put on the uniform of your boyhood.

There’s something different about playing in the same city that Kobe Bryant elevated for two decades and taught how to win.

Duffy knows a little something about that, took. Bryant’s aura is always with him when he pitches, as evidenced by the dueling tattoos of his two jersey numbers, written out in numerals on his right arm.

Everything about Duffy screams Dodgers, from his fortuitous Lasorda meeting to his Mamba-inspired ink.

This wasn’t the only move, but it’ll help, for reasons that go beyond his still-potent wipeout slider.

Dodgers trading for Danny Duffy lays groundwork for new pitching plan

The Los Angeles Dodgers are acquiring Danny Duffy in a trade with the Kansas City Royals. This is only the beginning for the defending world champs.