In an effort to boost their pitching depth before spring training, the Houston Astros signed former All-Star Zach Duke to a minor league deal on Friday.

Duke, a 28-year old 6'1 205 left-hander, pitched the first six seasons of his career for the Pittsburgh Pirates before being traded for a player to be named later to the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2011.

In 1,041 career innings, the Texas native has a 4.56 ERA and a record of 48-74 with 4.6 K's per 9 innings and 2.2 BB's.

His best season came in 2009, when he was an innings-eater in Pittsburgh, throwing for 213 innings and being named to the All-Star team as an injury replacement.

However, his pitching quickly regressed to the mean in 2010, with his ERA ballooning to 5.72, which prompted Pittsburgh to ship him off to Arizona, where he had the lowest inning count of his career last year, appearing in 29 games and starting only 9 of them.

For more news and notes on the Astros off-season, head over to The Crawfish Boxes.