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Zach Duke Ready To Fill Any Bullpen Role For The White Sox

(CBS) As the White Sox have started spring training, a big focus will be on arguably their biggest weakness of 2014: their bullpen.

Chicago has revamped the bullpen with the addition of right-hander David Robertson and left-hander Zach Duke. While Robertson's role as a closer is set, there's more mystery to how the White Sox will use Duke.

He could be the eighth-inning guy one day. He could be a left-handed specialist the next. He could simply be used whenever a high-leverage situation presents itself.

It's all cool with Duke, who signed a three-year, $15-million deal with Chicago this past November.

"I'm not really certain at this point," Duke said of his role in an interview on the Spiegel and Goff Show on Tuesday morning. "I kind of assume (it's) based on the opposing lineup, what they got coming in the seventh or eighth. I could be used either in the seventh or the eighth, depending on the lefties and whatnot coming up. It doesn't really matter to me, pitching seventh or eighth or whatever, just as long as we can preserve the lead and get the ball to the ninth with us still winning."

With the White Sox coming off a 2014 campaign in which they had a 4.38 bullpen ERA -- third-worst in baseball -- Duke will be an important bridge from a talented starting rotation to Robertson.

Duke believes he can be the everyday setup man and a rock for the White Sox to rely on. That's in large part because in 2014, he revamped how he attacked right-handed hitters. He relied on sliders more, holding right-handers to a .242 average and .586 OPS.

Duke had a 2.45 ERA overall in 2014.

"I've faced both my whole career, and yes, I did kind of re-establish how I attack righties last year," Duke said. "Kind of with my new repertoire of pitches, I've become more breaking ball dominant, with good success. I used to be mostly sinker/change-up to right-handed hitters. Now they don't really know if the ball is going to be coming in toward them or away from them, which really helps me out."

Because of their struggles in 2014 and because of the versatility of several position players on their bench, the White Sox have expressed an openness to carrying 13 pitchers -- five starters and eight relievers. Most teams only carry 12 pitchers.

"If we get some pieces together, we'll be able to do some really good matchups and get the ball to David in the ninth," Duke said.

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