12:36pm: The White Sox have announced the signing of Duke to a three-year, $15MM contract. Duke will earn $4.5MM in 2015, $5MM in 2016 and $5.5MM in 2017, according to the team’s release.
11:45am: Duke’s contract is a multi-year deal, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports.
11:36am: The White Sox will announce the signing of left-handed reliever Zach Duke later today, reports Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com (Twitter link). The 31-year-old Duke is a client of Relativity Sports.
Duke quietly had a dominant season in the Brewers’ bullpen in 2014, pitching to an electric 2.45 ERA with 11.4 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 and a 57.7 percent ground-ball rate. Opposing lefties hit just .198/.267/.302 against Duke last year, though righties couldn’t figure him out either, mustering a mere .242/.288/.298 against the well-traveled lefty.
Duke first surfaced in the Majors with the Pirates in 2005, finishing fifth in NL Rookie of the Year voting on the strength of a sparkling 1.81 ERA in 84 1/3 innings out of the Pirates’ rotation. He made 145 starts for the Bucs over the next five seasons, twice reaching 200 innings, but Duke was never able to replicate that early success and served as an innings eater with Pittsburgh in the rotation, posting a pedestrian 4.80 ERA in 879 2/3 frames.
Following his stint with the Pirates, Duke bounced around from the D’Backs to the Nats to the Reds before landing on his feet with the Brewers and turning in his brilliant season. With Milwaukee, Duke’s velocity stepped up a tick to an average of 89.7 mph, and he began to throw more sliders and more curveballs at the expense of his changeup and four-seam fastball. With the Brewers, he relied primarily on a two-seamer, his slider and his curve, and he also dropped his arm slot to feature more of a sidearm delivery. He’ll look to continue to benefit from those adjustments in a White Sox bullpen that had a strong need for lefty arms.
Duke will slot into manager Robin Ventura’s bullpen and quickly become the top left-handed option, with Scott Snodgress and Eric Surkamp currently representing the only other southpaws on the team’s 40-man roster. He’ll join the returning Jake Petricka, Daniel Webb, Javy Guerra, Zach Putnam. Nate Jones underwent Tommy John surgery in July. That young group is largely unproven, and reports have indicated that the Sox would be on the lookout for multiple bullpen arms, so it won’t be a surprise to see GM Rick Hahn pursue further bullpen upgrades.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Good start to the offseason
I like this move, likely a 2 year deal for reasonable money as well. A solid, shrewd move
Great signing…of course we need to know the details ($$$) to make a true analysis but this is a great start for the rebuilding of the White Sox bullpen!
i could see somewhere around a 2 year 8-10 mil
Excellent signing for our bullpen.
Drat! Was hoping for a ninja move by AA. Jays NEED bullpen help this offseason
Same here as a Mets fan. We needed another lefty in the pen.
he really turned himself around since he was in washington, well deserved for zach
He was great last season, nice under the radar move. Still think they pursue Thatcher and Gregerson, this bullpen needs all the help it can get.
I was really hoping the O’s would sign him to replace Miller. Good signing for the White Sox.
What did Zack Duke do differently in 2014? At age 31, with a 88 MPH FB and a career 5.0 k/9, Duke posted a career best 11.4 k/9 and a FIP of 2.14,
More control, better mechanics?
Threw his curveball more, and he also used different arm slots. He also uses a sinker to keep the ball on the ground, which paired with a good defensive team is a good thing.
Good point! Duke nearly doubled his curve-ball and slider usage while cutting down on his 4 seam FB and change-up
i think its also the point that he isnt a starter anymore, he struggled doing that
Duke stopped starting in 2011
i know, thus thats when he turned it around, he didnt do anything in the majors except a few games with the nats until he got to the brewers, had a lot of time in the minors to fix it
He met Rick Kranitz.
Those triple-slash lines against right-handers aren’t exactly in line with his career numbers.
Awesome! I believe we will still get possibly Gorzelanny or Cotts and Gregerson. Yesterday Rick Hahn talked about getting a veteran clubhouse leader. First free agent to come to mind is Torii Hunter.
Going forward, I’d be down with Gregerson and Adam LaRoche. Maybe Cotts for nostalgic’s sake.
This. LaRoche seems to be the only lefty power bat/DH option left that won’t cost an arm and a leg and actually produced last season. Need to get Abreu some protection.
Sad to see him go, I really liked him in Milwaukee’s bullpen. Best of luck to him in Chicago though.
Nice signing…still would like the Sox to get Miller and/or Gregerson to fill out the pen.
something to talk about finally this offseason as a sox fan
There’s been plenty of speculation so far just nothing concrete until now.
well i mean the offseason literally just started 😉
Cardinals could have used him… time to get Miller!
Shoot. This was the main guy I was hoping the Tigers would get.
He has small sample bullpen variability written all over him. As in, “you sure this is the same guy who pitched so well last year? What the heck happened?”
its for three years 15 million per reports
3 years, 15 million
Jones underwent back surgery in May and Tommy John due to a setback in July. He’s a non-factor until at least mid season.
edit: Original said April and June respectively.
Oh man, I completely spaced on Jones’ TJ surgery. Thanks for that correction. Fixed in the post.
If Duke gets 15 million Miller must be getting at least 35 million.
Somewhere in America, Andrew Miller is rubbing his thumbs and his middle and pointer finger together, saying “cha ching” over and over again. He is getting at least 4 years 35 million now. This is definitely an overpay for Duke.
Now all I can picture is Andrew Miller’s wife walking into a room and seeing him continuously rubbing his fingers together going “cha ching”, then walking away shaking her head.
So if Duke gets this, how much is Andrew Miller going to command? $6, 7 million per year?
David Robertson money.
Zack Duke was a nice bullpen arm, but he wasn’t a shutdown guy. Not worth a 3 year commitment. Good luck with this one White Sox. Paying $5mil for a player who can’t close or setup seems pretty steep.
As a Brewers fan I am happy they let him go. Easy to replace a player like Duke who is surely to regress.
“Easy to replace a player like Duke who is surely to regress” Tell the Detroit Tigers it easy to find bullpen arms
Seeing the Brewers picked up Duke for nothing last year I would have confidence. Some teams are able to go get bullpen arms while some just can’t.
Also isn’t Detroit’s problem mainly closing? Big difference between Duke and a closer.
Well, Detroit’s plan for their bullpen is to stockpile as many washed up closers as possible, which can either work out really good or really bad.
I think that this is a lot of money for a reliever that struggled to a 6.03 Era a year ago and has been up and down in his career. But if he can resemble what he did this season, this could be a really solid move.
Way to much money
Holy smokes. I’m teaching my son to throw left handed
Mets should have signed Duke! Guess we’ll be dumpster-diving again.
That’s a lot of money. But that’s how things have been going so far this offseason. Andrew Miller’s gonna be getting Papelbon money.