Seattle Mariners: Re-grading the trade deadline
By Ty Gonzalez
LHP ZACH DUKE
The Mariners initially walked away from this deal thinking they were getting one of the more viable left-handed relievers on the market. Duke entered the Mariners’ clubhouse with a great track record of erasing left-handed hitters and had yet to allow a single home run.
So, of course, he allowed a two-run dinger to the left-handed hitting Josh Reddick in his Mariner debut. Ironically, that’s been the only home run he’s allowed all season. Yet, Duke’s time with the Mariners has been nothing short of a disaster.
At face value, you’ll notice that Duke has only allowed one run over his last 18 appearances. However, when you dive a little deeper, you’ll find that in the six games he’s been brought in to face lefties, he hasn’t been able to get the job done. That was the one job he was given, and he failed to do it on a consistent basis.
With Marc Rzepczynski and now Duke, Jerry Dipoto has failed to land a successful left-handed specialist for his bullpen. Even James Pazos, who started the year off hot, has fallen apart as the season’s progressed.
Because the Mariners didn’t give up a whole lot of value for Duke, I won’t give the deal an F, though I’m very tempted to. Still, very disappointing.