In a somewhat surprising move, the Pirates designated Zach Duke, Andy LaRoche and Delwyn Young for assignment on Friday to make room on the 40-man roster. It was not surprising that those players were let go, but I figured the front office would hang on to them until the non-tender deadline in an attempt to make a trade. Regardless, here is CHONE’s true-talent projection for each player, last updated in August. For anyone unfamiliar with the CHONE projections, nERA is a neutralized ERA, without considering park or team defense.
CHONE |
nERA |
Zach Duke |
4.65 |
CHONE |
AVG |
OBP |
SLG |
Andy LaRoche |
.245 |
.325 |
.375 |
Delwyn Young |
.259 |
.316 |
.407 |
I am developing my own PLC projections, which will be released later in the offseason. Here is how this projection system sees these three players performing in 2011.
PLC |
AVG |
OBP |
SLG |
Andy LaRoche |
.242 |
.322 |
.357 |
Delwyn Young |
.251 |
.312 |
.391 |
As you can see, the Pirates are not losing much with the departures of Duke, LaRoche and Young. I do think Duke could have a decent season if he hooks up with a strong defensive team, but he will certainly need some help.