The Reds are engaged “in serious discussions” with free agent southpaw Zach Duke, according to C. Trent Rosecrans and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). The likelihood of a deal coming together is not yet known.
It remains an active winter for the Cincinnati front office, which increasingly seems to have created an opportunity to compete in what could be a tightly packed NL Central division. Among other things, the club has targeted lefty relief assets, having already agreed to minors deals with Buddy Boshers and Ian Krol.
Bringing in Duke would give the Cincy bullpen a much-needed option against opposing lefty hitters. Though Amir Garrett showed well in the pen last year, he’s still not fully polished and actually has been just as effective against righties at the MLB level. Otherwise, the club stands to rely upon the above-noted minor-league signees along with Wandy Peralta and Brandon Finnegan, both of whom are looking to bounce back from rough 2018 campaigns.
Duke had his own stumbles last year, particularly after joining the Mariners in a mid-season trade. He ended the season with a 4.15 ERA in 52 innings, with 8.8 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9. But Duke surrendered only a single long ball on the year and checked in with a monster 59.4% groundball rate. He also held opposing lefties to a meager .220/.283/.319 batting line.
I commend the Reds for trying to do everything they can to put a competitive team and one fans will want to come out and see on the field in 2019
Seems like all teams are WS or bust these days…
Yep. I hate that about today’s sports. Purposely being a terrible team to attain picks is just not right. It’s almost getting to the point where I would support putting every non-playoff team in an equal lottery for draft pick order.
The problem is it’s not really about tanking for draft picks. It’s that there is no point to having a mediocre baseball team, which is what a lot of these teams would be. If you’re not a title contender you may as well just try to rebuild your system. That’s the fault of the financial system in the game as a whole, not half the league just deciding they want to suck for the fun of it.
Well, there is a point in being mediocre. Fans. And, the mlb draft is an inexact science at best, so positioning is irrelevant after the first few rounds.
The problem is, such a theory excuses or even incentivizes mediocrity for owners.
If the MLB was more like the NHL with salary caps, and being forced to trade away or let players walk in free agency as a result, things would be much more balanced. Rays Athletics, Orioles to name a few are the small market teams who cannot afford players second contract and have to punt them away. It’s sad.
Except for guys like Chris Davis, Adam Jones, Nick Markakis, J.J. Hardy to name but a few.
The owners can all afford them. They choose not to do so.
you don’t get additional picks for losing games. you get a higher slot but i don’t think any mlb team values the potential of a 1st round pick vs the cost of putting a losing team on the field. it’s not like the 3 other sports where a top 5 pick can have an immediate effect on a franchise. in baseball it should be about letting the young players develop vs playing veteran players who might take you from bad to mediocre. if you look at the bottom teams most are in transition but were serious contenders historically over the last two decades.
Whether you want to believe or not a Team with a 250 Million a year cable contract can buy more players than a team with 30 million Contract. Now show me anyone that wants to take a Millions of dollar loses a year and that is why those owners do not do it. Some owners are still making millions the others would be losing millions.
I think a lottery system would be great for baseball as a whole
Haha!! Zach Duke in the same sentence as World Series…..
Nothing says competitive like signing Zach Duke…
Boy, ain’t that the truth! The words “Serious” and “Zach Duke” in the same sentence seems a bit melodramatic, don’t ya think?
I thought maybe they’d picked up another 5th starter to go with the other three or four
To bring in a guy like Duke!!! Wow!!! All in!!! Let’s send a message the Reds have arrived let’s get Zack Duke!!!
It is called depth, and relief pitchers can be great one year and bad the next. Spring training is the time to sort it all out.
So trying to improve the bullpen isn’t a move to try to win?
Define “everything.”
No they won’t. Beyond opening day, they won’t have a single sell out, even if they are in first place the entirety of the season.
Wake me when he signs
Perhaps you don’t understand the “Rumors” part of the website name… Rumor n. “a currently circulating story or report of uncertain or doubtful truth.” If you only want to hear when he signs, maybe you should pick another website to get your stories from.
Reds are trying so hard, I read “Zach Greinke”
Wish they would. Love to watch him pitch but that contract kills the snakes
I did too.
He was good for them in 2013……..
JT Realmuto about to get traded ya’ll !! Reeeaaallly soon
Where’s he going MPF?
Coming home to SD. He owns a condo in east National City and he grew up a Benito Santiago fan. It makes too much sense!
Nope.
Probably will go to San Diego
Would make sense if he got to choose his destination
Olly Perez and Duke, two promising early-mid 2000’s Pirates starters that ended up being very successful for other teams later on as relievers
I remember Perez when he came up in San Diego before being traded to the Pitts
It’s crazy to think it’s been nearly a decade since Duke was a Starting pitcher.
Serious Discussion? So he will sign in 3 weeks
I would think by mid April
My overall off-season excitement and anticipation has waned and is now being replaced by finally knowing the start date of the next “Stranger Things”. Let us know when you get something good.
Dukes ra9 has been steadily going up. If duke signs with Cincinnati, the rest of the divions teams chances of winning the division goes up.
I was thinking he would be a good target for the A’s.
Should sign back with ChiSox!
Like what the reds are doing. While it might look like they’re desperate, they seem to be taking their time and improving the club, without giving up top prospects.
I agree. Desperate to get to 70 wins again.
He was terrible with the M’s. Would be surprised if it’s a MLB contract.
OMG SERIOUS DISCUSSIONS WITH ZACH FRIGGIN DUKE??? Trembling with anticipation.
We can’t tell if your serious or a 13 year old girl texting her bestie.
On tanking. Why spend money on a veteran to just miss the playoffs at best when you can save money by trading and not signing big free agents, taking chances on minor league deals, seeing some prospects play against mlb pitchers and trying to pull a gem off someone’s scrap heap. Great job of adding talent by the Reds. It’s a little odd they waited for Votto’s worst year in eleven seasons. They could have signed a special each year for three years and traded them the next to bring in extra talent (arms) mainly. They should have traded their starting outfield before 2018. They got Santana whom I like for next year, and look at how many outfielders are out there. They still could have pulled in Kemp and Puig, and could have gotten Pederson who (especially in Cincinnati) would have a big year and could possibly learn a couple things from Bottom.
Go get Duke Williams he was not all that bad before for the Reds
I wonder…do team ever have non-serious discussions? Do they fly guys in and say..”We don’t want you…but do you like like Pepsi or Coke?
yawn yawn…when is there going to be a major signing or trade.
When you stop touching yourself.
This is a big one!
Certainly tops pandas giving birth at the San Diego Zoo.
You stay classy San Diego!
Is there any other way to engage Zach Duke but seriously?
That’s exactly what I was thinking. This is serious… well by Reds standards.
Pirates, for the love of God and everything holy, at least make an attempt at Duke. You need a left hander and this is the guy you could have thrown the $1.5 million at instead of Maurer.
Good for the Reds, they desperately need another couple of reliable arms to mix and match in their pen..It’s not extremely likely that Hernandez and Hughes are going to be able to sustain such a high level of success from last season.
That’s especially the case, since other than Hernandez and Hughes, the Reds are only looking at Garrett and Iglesias as reliable options in their pen. With only those four options as reliable arms out of the bullpen, it’s imperative that Cincy adds at least another two arms that are capable of mixing and matching to keep those four from wearing down by the end of the season.
Even with their offense, and the additions to their starting five of Wood, Gray, and Roark, and even with more expected growth from Castillo and DeSclafani, that should really help take some pressure of their pen, but yeah, they’re still going to need more than just four reliable arms out of the pen…
They still have Lorenzen in the bull pen right now, unless they move him to CF next year!!
This gets traded to the Mariners at the deadline, and Jerry Dipoto tells us how this guy has been so so good against lefty’s all season, and specifically how he hasn’t given up a lefty on lefty homer. Well I just happen to be at his first game pitched for the M’s when they were only a couple games behind the Astros. With a couple guys on late in close game Duke comes in, and of course gives up a bomb to Reddick. Duke may have been the most falsely advertised player I’ve ever seen as from the point on he couldn’t get lefty’s or righty’s out.
Duke*, not this
You got to see the only homer he gave up all year. You’re part of a small, exclusive group. Congratulations.
Look at the Reds! This is great for the game – coming from a Braves/Red Sox guy … love the creativeness here and changing it up. Reds and Braves match up. Need a CF – Ender can come in play. Need a solid young controllable pitcher – Braves are bleeding them and they all cant play. Taylor Trammel would look fantastic in a Braves uni. Any potential deals here???
Here’s the “deal” imo. Senzel will play some CF in 2019, along with Puig. Taylor Trammell will man CF beginning in 2020 and Senzel will move to 2nd base.
This is all subject to change of course. Could there be two rookies in the lineup at some point in 2019? Anything is possible. Right now the reds have Puig, Winker, Kemp, Schebler, and Ervin as OF’ers, With Senzel likely going to CF at least one of these outfielders will be dealt, possibly two. A lot will depend on Trammell’s development and the possibility of Scooter being dealt.
This spring will be very interesting for the reds.
Kemp is a great bench Bat, but belongs in the AL. Kemp to AL for a CF.
Bingo, Dj. Senzel is Zobrist, Jr. He will be available to play LF, CF and 3B as well as an emergency SS. Ultimately he will start at 2B once Scooter is dealt. The Reds FO’s cards have not all been played yet with that crowded OF. Kemp will probably start off platooning with Winker in LF and may be trained to back-up Votto.
As long as Schebler is on the roster, there’s another back up for CF. I see it as Scooter, Scheb and Ervin as being on the trade chip list unless a mega deal happens. They may try to hold onto Scheb until they see how Puig does in RF. If he has a good first half they may look to extend him on a longer term deal and move Scheb at that point. Will be interesting to see how it all plays out going into the trade deadline if they are not contending.
Zach Duke was an M for half a season. What should have been a really good pick-up for Seattle, didn’t work out…. Surprised that he landed a Major League deal. Good luck to the former Pirate/Twin.
If Zach gets signed they are throwing him into the mix in ST to see who rises and who sinks between him, Peralta and Finn.
My issue with the loogy relievers are walk rates. The sites list batting average against lefties and k rate or %, but don’t list how many walks they give up. Who wants to get one of these guys they bring in for one or maybe two batters that walk 1/3 of the batters they face.
It seems like he pitched for the Pirates in the Leyland era, it’s been so long.