27-year old lefty starting pitcher Zach Duke has been pretty awful for the Pirates this year. He has started 19 games for the Pirates this year and he is 5-10 with a 5.32 ERA and a 1.61 WHIP. He has given up 142 hits (17 homers) in only 108 1/3 innings for the Pirates this year as he has been throwing batting practice. Duke burst onto the scene for the Pirates in 2005 when he pitched in 14 games (all starts) and he was 8-2 with a 1.81 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP. But since then he has not been a good pitcher. He has pitched in 136 games (135 starts) in his last five years for the Pirates and he is 34-63 with a 4.69 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. I’m thinking the Pirates are going to try to trade Duke before this month is over as he’s not really helping them too much.

The Pirates have traded 29-year old switch hitting catcher Luke Carlin to the Indians for a player to be named later. Carlin played in 63 games in AAA for the Pirates this year and he was 49 of 205 (.239 avg, .648 OPS) with 23 runs scored, 2 homers, 23 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. This was a good deal for the Pirates as Carlin wasn’t going to help them at any point in 2010.

The Pirates have dealt 27-year old righty swinging shortstop Brian Bixler to the Nationals for cash considerations. The Pirates had just recently traded a player to be named later to the Indians for Bixler. He only played in 11 games in AAA-ball for the Pirates this year and he was 6 of 35 (.171 avg, .423 OPS) with 1 run scored, 1 RBI and 3 stolen bases.

The Pirates gave 29-year old lefty swinging OF/1B his first real shot at playing the majors after 11 seasons in the minors and he looked good. Jones has followed up his solid 2009 with a good year showing that his success wasn’t a fluke. Jones has played in 107 games for the Pirates this season and he is 108 of 405 (.267 avg, .762 OPS) with 44 runs scored, 15 homers, 62 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. A lot of teams wanted to trade for Jones at the deadline last week but it would have been dumb for the Pirates to have done so because he’s cheap right now. Look for Jones to be a fixture in the Pirates for the next few years due to his production and contract status.

The Pirates have claimed 27-year old righty reliever/starter Chris Resop from the Braves and they have also claimed 37-year old righty reliever Chan Ho Park off waivers from the Yankees. It will be interesting to see how the Pirates decide to use Resop. He pitched in 1 game (0 starts) for the Braves this year and he was 0-0 with a 22.50 ERA and a 4.00 WHIP. He has now pitched in 58 games (0 starts) in his major league career and he is 3-3 with a 6.14 ERA and a 1.78 WHIP. It will be interesting to see if the Pirates choose to use Resop out of the pen as he has been excellent as a starting pitcher in the minors this year. Resop has started 17 games in AA+AAA-ball this year and he was 6-3 with a 2.19 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP there.

Chan Ho Park pitched in 29 games (0 starts) for the Yankees this season and he was 2-1 with a 5.60 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP. He has now pitched in 452 games (287 starts) in his 17 years in the majors and he is 122-96 with 2 saves, a 4.37 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP. Park might do better in the N.L. plus Yankee Stadium is night too nice to right handed pitchers.