Zach Duke

[JohnU]

Released by the Nationals, signed to a minor league deal by the Reds.

Ol' Zach has been around the lot a few times, kicked a few dogs, bit a few big ones.

Reds sign Zach Duke to minor league deal - MLB Daily Dish

 

[bengaldoug]

He's at least better than Parra...........

 

[JohnU]

Plus, he's a lefty.

 

[Redsfan1507]

Pretty soon we'll have an entire rotation of retreads. Prior is still on the farm right ?

 

[Redsfan1507]

Wow John...I might even be able to steal on that delivery.

 

[JohnU]

I don't think Spahn-ie cared if you stole or not.

 

[Redsfan1507]

Lol. I'm telling you, we're liable to see John Tudor or Wilbur Wood get signed. Any old guy with MLB on his baseball card. I'm thinking about getting an agent and getting a tryout. They should save some cash and let Price throw the 7th inning twice a week.

 

[Redsfan1507]

Actually, his numbers don't look that bad. Have you seen Badenhop's stats from last year ? What happened to THAT guy ? Stats don't always tell the whole story. Marquis has an ERA over 5.00, and think he's worse than that, but a lot of people think the opposite.

About 10 years ago, the Reds dumped salary, trading Sean Casey to the Pirates...it was said they offered either lefty SP they had, and lots of people thought the Reds should have taken Duke instead of Oliver Perez. Neither was a star...Not that it makes any difference, but Duke is the only one still an active MLB'r this year.

The Reds have been known to do this kind of thing. Retread last chances for damaged and discarded. Marquis and Gregg are on the big club, for chrissake. Mark Prior, Brandon Webb, Montgomery, Maholm...and the occasional Ricky Stone, must be topics at the water cooler in GABP front office. They pay guys damned well to come up with ideas like that.

 

[packerzrule]

He had a very productive year last season with the Brewers

Was surprised that the FO didn't make him an offer

 

[Redsfan1507]

The Brewers must have an allergy to pitching.

 

[JohnU]

I think a lot of teams are willing to gamble on old vets who know how to give you 5 innings. Hell, Aaron Harang and Jamie Wright always seem to have a uniform number. Livan Hernandez retired after pitching. 156,321 games -- just one short of Jesse Orosco's record. The trick is to get guys who were "not quite" smart enough to control a pitch during their prime but figured it out by paying attention to hitter weaknesses.
Plus, knoweth thine limitations -- and you end up with Arthur Rhodes.