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Pirates Designate Jeff Locke For Assignment

Ladies and gentlemen, our long national nightmare is over. Jeff Locke is no longer a Pittsburgh Pirate.

For six seasons Jeff Locke has driven fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates up a wall. He was maddeningly inconsistent as a starting pitcher. And, over time, his inconsistency turned into flat out poor pitching.

The deadline for Major League Baseball teams to offer contracts to arbitration eligible players is Friday. Earlier in the offseason I wrote that the Pirates should non-tender Locke. And that is what has happened.

Jeff Locke is coming off the worst season of his Major League career.