SuSlu: Duke out for the year

this could possibly be carrer ending and that is sad.

That’s all I feel like saying about it right now.

I hope it’s successful and he goes on to be healthy and productive outside of baseball for the rest of his life.

I don’t think he would have signed if he were to be a reliever. Good luck to him, please get helathy and sign a $4M contract with a national league team.

But, godspeed to Duke. We’ve probably seen his last pitch in an A’s uni.

Hope he can still pitch next year, even if it’s not for the A’s.

I had pretty much assumed this would happen but in the back of my mind hoped I’d get a chance to see him pitch again this season.
Duke, just know that everyone here on AN is rooting for you and whatever happens next, you’ll succeed.

this is sad, but i also think we have to consider the small number of outstanding starts he had this year as gravy. it wasn’t reasonable to expect much from him at all.

if the surgery is successful and he wants to try to pitch again, maybe we sign him to an incentive-filled contract for next year similar to what thomas signed in 2006.

yeah, this is sad, but more in humanistic terms than baseball terms. he seems like a great guy and this could totally lead to another bout of depression for him, which would make the whole thing sadder. but in purely baseball terms, there should be no surprise here, and we did get a handful of quality starts out of him this year.

Fewer times seeing the black alternate jerseys.

perhaps he’ll sign for a reasonable amount plus incentives with us again — you never know — looked like the surgery last year did the trick on his left (?) hip, maybe this will get the other one taken care of as well.

I like Duke, wish him all the best and hopefully a speedy recovery.

where I don’t care how it affects the A’s and don’t care who if anybody is to blame. This is the one where Duke the person should be in focus, and it makes me extremely sad to think how disappointing this must feel for him. I wish him strength in yet another uphill battle.

Chavy and Duke. Man, that’s some of the better players this organization has seen in (relatively) recent years. Both seem to be stand-up dudes, too. Good luck down the road, Duke, I want only the best things to happen for you.

Than this year. Last year it seemed that the A’s were counting on Duke to be the veteran ace in a young rotation. Before 2009 I was hoping they’d sign another good vet since I didn’t think Duke’s injury history boded well for unreasonably high expectations.

2010 was different. The young starters were a year more experienced, the A’s signed Sheets (who by all indications had benefitted from the surgery and year off, and just needed to play into shape), plus Duke’s contract was heavily incentive-laden.

plan for injuries. Given the nature of Duke’s contract and the way they’ve built a rotation ready to continue without him, it looks like the A’s and Duke were both aware that this was a possibility and they planned for it. I still think signing him was a good idea, but I also think it was good that they structured the contract as they did.

I think the same logic would apply for next year, so I’d be happy to see them sign him again on similar terms.

Also, I don’t think Duke should be in the bullpen. He’s made it clear he doesn’t like being a reliever, and he’s veteran enough that he can make that choice. I suspect he wouldn’t sign a contract without an understanding that he’ll only be used as a starter. If he has been given that assurance, whether officially or unofficially, it ought to be respected.

Duke is one of my favorite pitchers. Crafty, underrated, and great, he is a true artist on the mound, and the corners of the plate are his canvas. If I ran the A’s, I wouldn’t hesitate to take a chance on him again next season.

first Hopper and now this…

I often wonder if the worst move that he made was going from bullpen to starter. I understand that his health issues would have happened and there was nothing he could have dome to prevent them, but I just wonder if he hadnt been a starter maybe the issues would have been delayed. He was an All Star as a reliever, and is seems to me like neing a reliever would be much less stress on the body, but maybe I am off base…

We keep bringing him back only to see him hurt too early and getting more surgeries.

He is my favorite pitcher to watch when healthy and I feel bad for him. Might as well bring him back, like others said, for the league minimum just to see what happens.

The Giants pay Barry Zito $17MM per year, over 34 starts, thats $500,000 per start. For seven fucking years.

We paid Duchscherer $2MM this year and he gave us 4 starts, thats only $400,000 per start, and we have washed our hands with him (for now). We were 4-1 in games he played.

Other teams have paid a lot more for a lot less.

Whether he plays next year for the A’s, another MLB team, replaces Eric Byrnes in the Menlo Park beer league, joins the Peace Corps, becomes a monk, or hosts a sports and cooking show on the Bay Area’s new number one station KTRB.

duke pitched well when he could, the medical/training staff is not to blame, and the front office signed him to a reasonable deal.
$2 million is pocket change even for the a’s, i’d have no problem doing it again next year.

These things happen but man, it was awesome to see the Duke’s rise from an obscure relief pitcher to occasionally dominant starter.

Best of luck to the guy.

Terrible news. Not unexpected given how horrible things seem to come down upon him, but damn. I wish him a good recovery and, regardless of whether he ever steps foot on the mound again, I wish him all things awesome.

Add me to the ranks of those who would like to see him signed to a similar deal for next season. Low risk, high reward, given what he can do in those scant moments when he’s healthy. And just to hang onto him in case of a baseball miracle, because damn, he’s the one I’d want the hands of the baseball gods to touch.

Duke’s honestly the one guy other than Suzuki who has gotten me through parts of these recent seasons. :( So this just… damn, this sucks.