Some people have questioned why they need to come to The Cardinal Nation at Scout.com and check this site, The Cardinal Nation blog, when they think they can get the same information elsewhere.
Here is a good example looking at how four main sources rolled out the news this week of the St. Louis Cardinals prospects selected to play in the Arizona Fall League.
Note the times and dates of the articles as well as the number of words devoted to Cardinals prospects. Articles are listed in time sequence of posting.
Tuesday, August 25
MiLB.com: 1:00 p.m. (CDT)
“Strasburg, top picks highlight AFL”
0 words (general AFL article did not mention any Cardinals, but rosters were posted elsewhere on site)
The Cardinal Nation: 1:28 p.m. (with a 2:30 p.m. update with individual capsules on all eight players)
“Jones Leads Eight Cards to Arizona Fall League”
1330 words
Future Redbirds blog: 1:48 p.m.
“Arizona Fall League 2009”
87 words
Wednesday, August 26
Post-Dispatch: 10:16 a.m.
“DG’s 10@10: The Cardinals’ Three-Headed Monster”
228 words (item number six in a multi-subject blog post)
The Cardinal Nation blog: 2:28 p.m.
“Cardinals early Arizona Fall League leftovers”
908 words
Post-Dispatch: 3:11 p.m.
“Eight Cardinals prospects to go to Arizona”
169 words (article)
| Cardinals AFL coverage | Tuesday words | Wednesday words | Total words |
| MiLB.com | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| The Cardinal Nation/TCN blog | 1330 | 908 | 2238 |
| Future Redbirds | 87 | 0 | 87 |
| Post-Dispatch | 0 | 397 | 397 |
So, there you have it. If you haven’t already, click on the article titles and check them out. Are they all equal in timing and depth of Cardinals-related content delivered?
Further, which one will be reporting live from Arizona for the seventh year in a row and which ones will be following box scores? And don’t forget our best-of-breed Cardinals Minor League Notebook, provided free seven days a week.
Sure, some articles on Scout.com are subscriber-only (the ones referenced here were not), but sometimes, you get what you pay for.
Think about it.
I’ve been a subscriber for three years, I think. Can’t imagine following the Cardinals without it.
Please consider supporting the new Cardinal Nation so as to help out the wordsmiths who toil away, outworking the PD.
Brian, since DD refused to give the PD an explanation for his missing the game the other day, citing his policy of being pissed, why dont you get the scoop for the blog.
http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/commishs-hot-stove/commishs-hot-stove/cardinal-beat-updates/2009/08/duncan-says-hell-rejoin-cardinals-tonight/
Duncan has a right to his privacy. If he doesn’t want to say, that is good enough for me.
Dave Duncan has served the Cards wonderfully for many years. Fortunately, fans do not have a right to know every little thing about every Cards employee.
He was probably hiking the Appalachian Trail.
The evolving and probably deteriorating relationship between the organization and a key contributor to its on field success can effect everything from the Managers decision to stay or go, to the mood in the dugout and clubhouse dynamic, all of which might bear on Albert’s and Matt’s decisions, etc, etc. Duncan’s highly out of character action, bitterness, media squabble, etc are or might be evidence of something which could affect the team in post season and beyond in a huge way. So the paying customers are certainly entitled to know what’s going on. As we’ve seen in the past, the local sports media won’t ask the tough questions and dig out the answers on behalf of the people who ultimately pay all the bills.
bb, many probably share your general uneasiness about the team’s environment, but that is not something that is easy to gauge.
To be clear however, I was discussing the very specific point of a team employee asking for a personal day off. It is within Duncan’s right to say or not say what he was doing on his day off and I do not believe the fans, paying or non-paying, or the media have any entitlement in that particular area.
blingboy, we disagree about the private rights of ballplayers and coaches. No fan is entitled to know the private lives and thoughts of players. Buying a ticket only gives you access to a seat upon which to sit inside a ballpark and a chance to cheer or boo or make other noises. Thats it, nothing more.
Dave Duncan has helped revive Joel Pineiro and Ryan Franklin, two mediocrities now enjoying a brilliant season. He has helped Wainwright blossom. Wellemeyer was signed off the junk heap and was turned into a surprise winner last summer. Whatever success the Cards enjoy, Duncan is a valuable contributor to it.
Duncan could be frustrated that his son’s promising career has been sidetracked by a neck injury, suffered in the line of duty. Baseball luck can be fickle and cruel. Its the nature of the game. Some players thrive and many others do not.
Brian, I agree about individual privacy. But also to be clear, deteriorating dynamic right now could mean disaster in post-season and off season, and this personal day off thing could be evidence of a major rumbling in that area.
Long before the day off, there were rumors that Duncan’s unhappiness over how his son’s career was handled might affect his future employment with the Cardinals. Beyond that, what more is there to say? We will have to wait and see. Picking that scab now will do nothing to help the 2009 team play better.
The fans have no right to know Duncan’s career plan until he is ready. This same argument was used by the Post-Dispatch over and over two years ago when La Russa’s contract was last up. Fortunately, this year they have been restrained.
In the meantime, I also do not believe that Duncan will let this affect his job performance one iota. There should be no questioning his professionalism as a pitching coach.
Duncan is a pro and so are his pitchers. I do not believe for one second that Carpenter, Wainwright, Pineiro, Franklin and the others will pitch differently for the remainder of the season because they are worried about where Duncan will be employed in 2010.
The true professionalism of all concerned is a big plus. Smoltz adds more. But none are immortals immune to the intangibles that can affect individual performance and team success. To say that turmoil will not affect job performance “one iota” and team results because they are true pros is something we will have to differ about.
Don’t mistakenly over estimate the importance of Dave in pre-game meetings BB. He has developed some very strong personalities among his starters and it is my understanding that the starter of the day often coordinate said meetings. His real value there has been established and functions without too much involvement. His influence on high stress pitch selections and defensive sets as they pertain, should not be underestimated. His “Book” and its usage are an expression of his own personal virtuosity. His focus is at least equivalent to Tony’s in game awareness.
I’m adding a few thoughts from my morning walk Brian. Feel free to edit if they appear too “vague” for you site goals.
According to Matt Holiday, St Louis and Scott Boras have started a negotiation. The Cardinals will have started the dialog by asking for a number, even just a ball park figure. Boras will evade in double speak to his “market definitions” or his favored contract parallels with a slant on the number of years in the commitments. Cardinals will talk their vision probably using the T. Hunter 5/90 formula. A dialog here is essentially irrelevant since both sides know that Boras’ real goal is to get Holiday to Free Agency. His value there is much more beneficial to Scottie’s needs and goals than it is relevant to Holiday’s eventual “nest egg”. BD especially knows this! He will be evaluating marketability right up until the his chosen time. He will then make the “Cardinal Offer” based on what ever logic he decides will serve his business plan.. This offer will be formal and on paper. This necessitates Boras tell Holiday the contract numbers which he will have avoided doing up until this point. Scottie’s whole mission in life is to get Holiday passed this point, so that he might be used as a market bludgeon for shaping Scottie’s world view.
BD will always have multiple targets and goals for his plans.
1) The comfort and vulnerability of Holiday’s pregnant wife and a rather lucrative offer from the Rockies turned down under Scottie’s supervision are no doubt issues to target. 2) The state of mind of Albert Pujols will a prominent concern. Few teams have publicized the size of their pie more than St Louis. BD can piss Albert and his agent off big time if they end up serving too large a slice to Holiday/Boras at this point. Might this be a reasonable tactic to leverage Albert one way or another? I have always contended that BD may not really want to give Albert 200 million dollars. His tactics up until the All Star hype defiantly suggested a flexible position. I have also contended that the Cardinals recent dramatic change in philosophy doesn’t necessarily negate this position. The money they are using now is essentially a check from Boston for Lugo’s salary next year. BD has changed tact but not necessarily his business plan. He has just borrowed against next years surplus. The value of minor league talent he spent has always been a topic of some debate. He will not allow Albert’s popularity to give his agent some free swings at his bank account. It appears that he has remedied that problem somewhat with recent moves.
I support Mr. DeWitt at this point. This is the nature of the game. I think the Franklin contract shows DeWitt is aware of Market timing and player disposition. Your good Billy D.
Strictly off topic here Brian, it looks like Stavinoha is done for the year. Probably not enough time for him to get back into the groove to get the call to St.L. Too bad too, he earned another shot in my books.
Yes, in fact I posted a hot news about Stavi at Scout.com earlier today. Broken hand. A real shame for him and Memphis’ playoff hopes.
Does Dave Duncan have any genuine reasons to be unhappy with the Cards in relation to his son Chris? Its hard to see where there are grounds for unhappiness.
Chris got drafted in the first round and got a nice signing bonus. The Cards invested 6.5 minor league seasons educating Chris in the arts of baseball. The Cards were able to find Chris ML at bats in LF. So Chris received plenty of opportunity, not unfairly much, but not unfairly too little either.
Duncan came up in mid-season 06 and was a big factor in helping the team to the playoffs and winning the WS. He continued with a strong first half in 2007, before misfortune struck. Duncan suffered two injuries, probably while making a diving catch in the OF. The first was painful and helped mask the other. The first was a sports hernia thing, some sort of stomach muscle tear for which he received an operation. He hit weakly in 2008 and it was revealed, finally, that he was playing through neck pain that he did not tell doctors about and this was found out to be a bulging disk. He kept playing with this injury, until it shortly ruptured, a crippling pain. The Cards found a specialist doctor who restored and saved Chris’ quality of life via insertion of a metal disk. Despite being vigorous enough to play, Chris has not recovered all his prior hitting abiliities and could not hit well enough to maintain a ML roster slot.
Its not clear to me where the Cards have done something wrong. Its an unlucky, tough situation. Life is not equally fair to all.
If Chris cannot rebound in future and is washed up, what is the reason? He tried to play the game “the right way” by attempting diving catches in LF, resulting in a neck injury? If so, he was injured doing what his father and TLR presumably expected of him. Did he get poor quality slow recognition of his neck injury? Its not clear from public reporting that this is so, because Chris did not seem to aggressively seek more medical care. In fact, it seemed like TLR saluted him for playing through pain. If so, Chris could blame TLR for letting him play, but TLR is his father’s long time colleague and friend, so TLR does not make a great target for blame.
Dave Duncan has been around the game for decades. Dave knows if a player cannot produce good numbers, no team can afford to carry him on the roster. Its just the nature of the game, a harsh reality. The Cards gave Chris a lot of play in 08 and 09 and he could not produce enough with the bat and was poor defensively to boot. He had to be sent down and if TLR or Dave doubted that, it was a good thing Mo traded Chris. If Dave is unhappy, its hard with the Cards, he can choose to leave. But its hard to see how the Cards did anything wrong, in relation to Chris. His injuries are misfortune and its a fine line at ML level between success and failure. An unlucky injury can cause a little slippage and end a career. We will hope Chris will find a AAA roster slot and re-establish his hitting abilities.
Well said Jumbo; astute, intelligent, well thought out and down-right bang on! Simply brilliant! If fact, I’m not sure if Brian could have written it any better.
It was pretty obvious Chris would have been of most value to an American league team as a DH/1B, and if we had dealt him we could have got equal value in return. That would have been best for Chris and he wouldn’t have gotten injured trying to play left field (which often looked like an injury waiting to happen). Probably he was not dealt and came to the majors in the cards org at daddy’s behest, risking death in left field. Maybe DD’s beef is really some kind of subconscious psychological guilt related thing.
Jumbo, Dave probably went to Huston because Chris was standing on a ledge. I don’t think its more complicated than that. Dave realizes that in the end Chris was trashed instead of placed. He is just dealing with distractions he probably doesn’t want either. He will be aware of some considerations we are not privy to. Dave makes a good living for a pitching coach. He will never leave Tony because the space he needs to work is a space they both share. A real rarity of co-development. I wouldn’t pay much attention to it.
I had been knocking around the idea of a Dave Duncan article and this discussion prodded me into assembling it. Now posted on the front page.