Tag: Zach Duke

One of the biggest topics heading in to the off-season will be the roster crunch.  The big focus here is who the Pittsburgh Pirates will protect from the list of players who will be eligible for the 2010 Rule 5 draft.  However, the roster crunch also includes players who are eligible for arbitration. Arbitration is […]

Your Saturday afternoon reading, with appearances by David Golebiewski, Cory Giger and Joe Posnanski.

Going in to the 2009 season, the pitcher I least trusted in the rotation was Zach Duke.  Duke ended up surprising a lot of people with his 2009 performance, putting up a 4.06 ERA in 213 innings.  Heading in to 2010, that performance was enough to have Duke mentioned as one of the top pitchers […]

This off-season the Pirates will probably face a much tougher set of roster decisions than they have in years.  Several factors are coming together to create a lot of those decisions.  The team has spent a couple years now accumulating players, very few of whom have established themselves as solid major leaguers.  Many of the […]

With Zach Duke posting a 5.32 ERA and preparing for his third and final year of arbitration, some fans have called for the Pirates to cut ties with the veteran starter after the season. Their position is that he should be traded to the highest bidder or non-tendered if there are no adequate offers, freeing those dollars for a potential free agent pitcher. This would be an unwise decision.

We are just a bit over 24 hours from the trade deadline, and the rumors are flying left and right. That being said, after being very active leading up to the past two deadlines, the Pirates have been relatively quiet so far this year. We have already taken a look at what Paul Maholm and Garrett Jones might fetch if the front office decided to deal them. Today, let’s take a look at Zach Duke.

If Maholm is traded, what will his legacy be as a Pirate? It’s my contention that he is the best pitcher the Pirates have had in the new millennium. Admittedly, that is damning him with faint praise.

The Pirates optioned Jason Jaramillo and Justin Thomas to Triple-A Indianapolis after today’s game. Zach Duke will return from the disabled list to start Friday’s game. Indianapolis catcher Erik Kratz will likely take Jaramillo’s spot on the major league roster. [Link

The Pirates have placed Zach Duke on the 15-day disabled list with "a strained flexor pronator muscle in the left elbow," retroactive to June 17th. He is expected to miss two additional starts. The Pirates have not yet determined a replacement for Duke's start on Saturday.

Zach Duke will skip his scheduled start Tuesday due to mild elbow stiffness. The injury is considered to be minor. [Link]