Some Pirates Farewells

The Pirates are in the news this morning with the announcement that they have "designated for assignment" Delwyn Young, Andy LaRoche, and Zach Duke. Effectively, this will end their careers as Pirates.

As he was coming off two very poor years, and was eligible for arbitration this off-season, the news about Duke was not a surprise, but it comes as sad news for fans who can remember the electricity that Duke generated when he came to the Pirates in mid-season 2005 and went 8-2 with a 1.81 ERA. The future seemed limitless for Duke. Then, of course Jim Tracy and Jim Colburn felt the need to tinker with Duke's delivery, and things were never quite the same since. He leaves with a career record of 45-70 and a 4.54 ERA. (To be fair to Tracy and Colburn, however, the Zach Duke Story could also be a story of major league hitters figuring out a guy after he goes through the league a time or two. Baseball history is littered with such stories.)

He has also been a solid citizen in the community, representing the Pirates in a number of charitable events. Here's hoping that he lands on his feet somewhere and can find some semblance of that 2005 season.

Andy LaRoche was the perceived linchpin of Neal Huntington's biggest trade, the three-way deal that sent Jason Bay to Boston in 2008. LaRoche never seemed to get any traction with the Pirates and was benched for good when Pedro Alvarez was brought up this season. LaRoche was another good guy, the Pirates' Clemente Award nominee in 2010, who did wonderful things in the community, but he never did live up to his "can't miss" scouting reports in the minors. (Related side note: GM Neal has GOT to be praying that Bryan Morris turns into a good, and not just a passable, major league pitcher, or else the trade involving the Pirates best player over the last half-decade will go down as a complete and total bust, and could be a major factor in costing NH his job.)

As for Delwyn Young, many will argue that he more than earned his chance to be an everyday player when he played second base for much of the '09 season, but the Pirates brain trust never seemed to see him as a long term everyday player. He did develop into a pinch hitter extraordinaire this past season, but I guess the Pirates feel that they can find guys like that anywhere (and I am guessing that money entered into this decision as well). We'll see.