Old friends find new jobs

Two former Pirates have landed with Major League teams in recent days.

Jared Hughes signed with the Reds for two years, with a 2020 club option, the team announced.

Hughes kept getting groundballs in Milwaukee last season, and whiffed a decent 7.24 per nine, though the Brewers non-tendered him earlier this month. He’ll head to Cincinnati, where the bullpen is no longer historically awful, rather just towards the bottom of the league. It’s a good landing spot for Hughes, and he’ll get some chances there.

While Hughes bounces around the National League Central, one of the older dark-ages Pirates, Zach Duke, is leaving the division, signing a one-year deal with the Twins.

Duke leaves the Cardinals, having been there since the second half of the 2016 season. He had an ugly 2017, but credit to him for hanging on. Very few 2005 Pirates remain in the league.