Losing Duke, LaRoche and Young

In a somewhat surprising move, the Pirates designated Zach Duke, Andy LaRoche and Delwyn Young for assignment on Friday to make room on the 40-man roster. It was not surprising that those players were let go, but I figured the front office would hang on to them until the non-tender deadline in an attempt to make a trade. Regardless, here is CHONE’s true-talent projection for each player, last updated in August. For anyone unfamiliar with the CHONE projections, nERA is a neutralized ERA, without considering park or team defense.

I am developing my own PLC projections, which will be released later in the offseason. Here is how this projection system sees these three players performing in 2011.

As you can see, the Pirates are not losing much with the departures of Duke, LaRoche and Young. I do think Duke could have a decent season if he hooks up with a strong defensive team, but he will certainly need some help.