KANSAS CITY -- Royals left-hander Danny Duffy says he can barely remember the last time his left arm felt this healthy.
"It feels great, really great," Duffy said. "Honestly, I had forgotten what it felt like to throw without any pain or discomfort."
Duffy had an arthroscopic procedure to clean out some "loose bodies" of cartilage and bone fragments from behind his elbow early last October.
Duffy had gone on the disabled list in August because of what was described as a pronator strain. He came back to pitch in September, and he indicated then that there was no ligament damage (Duffy had Tommy John surgery in 2012) and thus no fear of damaging his elbow.
"I wish I had done this [surgery] a while ago," Duffy said. "[Trainer] Nick Kenney had been on me to get it done, but I kept feeling like I could manage my way through it."
Duffy said he has been in a throwing program for several weeks and is now throwing long toss at 100 feet. He said he'll be good to go by Spring Training. Pitchers and catchers report on Feb. 13.
Duffy was 9-10 with a 3.81 ERA last season.