Trying to return from disc replacement surgery in his neck proved to be too much for Chris Duncan, who was traded to Boston in late July for middle infielder Julio Lugo in a move that unearthed a number of issues.
After having toiled without distinction in the St. Louis Cardinals minor league system since being taken in the first round of the 1999 draft, Chris Duncan burst onto the major league scene with 22 home runs in 280 at-bats during the latter part of the 2006 season.
Along with several periods of great promise, the younger son of the Cardinals’ long-time pitching coach Dave Duncan also struggled with injuries and consistency over the following three years. Despite having played in the outfield in fewer than 100 minor league games out of roughly 800, the natural first baseman became a full-time outfielder in the majors.
Duncan took considerable heat from impatient fans for both his hitting slumps and fielding woes, not to mention his family ties. After a double hernia wrecked his 2007, he underwent unprecedented surgery to remove a cervical disc in his neck and implant a metal replacement in August 2008.
Later comments by those involved made it unclear as to how long Duncan continued to play while injured and who knew what. The level of seriousness had been kept under wraps almost until the surgeries were held, an environment that the Post-Dispatch’s Joe Strauss labeled a “conspiracy of silence”. The player had been lauded by his manager Tony La Russa more than once for playing with pain.
No one knew what to expect from Duncan in 2009, but he showed he was apparently ready to go when he played in 28 of 31 spring games and his 86 at-bats was just one off the team’s Florida high. After a good March and April, Duncan fell off dramatically, however.
In the midst of a long slump, the left-handed hitter was dealt to Boston on July 22 for overpaid and underperforming reserve infielder Julio Lugo, who remains under contract for 2010, but whose salary will be paid by the Red Sox*. From May 1 until the trade, Duncan had been 38-for-191, .199, with three home runs for the Cardinals, yet the move was a surprise to most. That included his father, who was unaware of the trade until completed.
Likely in frustration, normally quiet Dave Duncan made uncharacteristically strong public comments critical of the trade, questioning the exchange of a player from the 40-man roster (Chris) for one who had been designated for assignment (Lugo) while taking a swipe at the players in the minor league system. Duncan criticized those who made the deal, suggesting they wanted his son out of the organization and also expressed dissatisfaction over the organization’s minor league pitching philosophy.
Further, the pitching coach reportedly lashed out at team medical personnel over treatment of his son and at the segment of fans and media that ridiculed Chris. Dave also left an open question about his future with the organization, stating that when he made his decision, it would be “a personal decision, not a professional one.”
The day before the trade, La Russa had expressed his own strong remarks to the media. The manager labeled Chris’ critics among the fan base as “unfair”, saying they “make me want to vomit”.
Perhaps Chris pushed himself too hard too fast, he faded after a good start, and his poor 2009 stats were the result. His numbers did not improve in a new uniform, a situation his agent later attributed to fatigue. Duncan was released by the Red Sox on August 20 after batting just .185 with Triple-A Pawtucket and remains a free agent.
Dave Duncan’s widely-publicized remarks led to speculation that he would leave La Russa’s side after 14 years in St. Louis and 26 years overall. Considered by many to be the best pitching coach in the game, his potential loss generated significant concern among many in the Cardinal Nation. Though not confirmed, there were reports of feelers having been sent out by other clubs to gauge Duncan’s interest in being their pitching coach or even taking on a managerial role.
By late October, the tense situation had improved to the point that both La Russa and Duncan agreed to return for a 15th season with St. Louis. Considerable changes were made in minor league coaching assignments for 2010 and likely other Duncan concerns were worked out behind closed doors.
* For the record, in the trade, the Cardinals received Lugo and cash considerations from the Red Sox in exchange for Duncan and a player-to-be-named-later or cash considerations.
At the time of the deal, it was widely reported that Boston was to pay all or almost all of the approximately $13.5 million due to Lugo on his current contract for the remainder of 2009 and all of 2010.
However, to complete the trade, the Cardinals later provided cash considerations back to Boston as opposed to giving up a second player. Those details were undisclosed, obscuring the net amount of cash that ultimately flowed between the two organizations.
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Brian, nice summary, and thanks for the link back to my 2006 article. I’d forgotten all about that one!
Nice link Brian. Lou’s old article adds another layer of wierdness to the whole Chris Duncan thing. Is there any word at all as to how Chris is doing with getting healthy and getting a job? I know nothing about the minor league free agent market, do those guys tend to get signed later in the off-season?
Memphis is the toughest hitting park in the PCL. Considering this, Kid Duncan’s hitting at AA and AAA was projectable to the majors. His defense was a problem.
And it turned out that his defense threatened his career, since it was probably an outfield diving catch that provided the sports hernia and a belatedly diagnosed cracked disk.
The Cards probably did not give the Red Sox much cash in lieu of a 2nd player, since the Sox were willing to pick up Lugo’s high salary. They were desparate to unload him and took little in return.
It is interesting the Sox gave up on Duncan so fast, based on a few weeks at Pawtucket. Whereas the Cards stuck with the Kid for a long time at the ML level, the Sox were not patient.
Kid Duncan is going to need to re-establish himself at AAA in 2010 to have another ML at bat.
For me to rank this story as #12, it was as much or more about potentially losing Dave as it was about Chris, but of course in real life, it got all tangled up.
Jumbo said: “Memphis is the toughest hitting park in the PCL.”
Please share the specifics behind this statement. Thanks.
P.S. It can only be speculation as to the cause of Duncan’s injuries and what aggravated them. At the time, some close to the situation suggested weight-lifting was a factor, but no one knows. At least certainly not us here in this forum. As such, it may never be possible to tie a nice, tidy bow around the situation.
I don’t think Boston especially wanted CD in the first place, Jumbo. Probably didn’t want to be on the hook for future medical problems and DL down time. The Cards needed to move him and made it a part of solving Boston’s Lugo problem. Solved the Cards problem too, except that, as Brian just said, it led to possibly losing DD (and even more importantly TLR, since he would be ‘where ever DD is’ in 2010)
With no intent to imply anything or accuse anyone, was there ever any suspicion of PED use linked to CD back in his minor league days?
There is a 6 month deadline to conclude business using the “player to be named” statutes. Its coming up.
The Colby/Shumaker/ Kennedy maneuver was about BD getting his prospect playing time. For Tony, going into the year with 4 outfielders, begs the question whether creating opportunities for Chris wasn’t the real reason for his acquiescence.
We have such a panoramic view of these issues in hindsight. The important revelations are in the dynamic of the division between on field and off field operations. Both parties seemed willing to compromise baseball logic to achieve their personal goals.
I wonder if the trade deadline for Holiday and the completion of Lugo’s unconditional release deadline reveal anything?
Brian:
Within the past year, Baseball America had a nice article on the park effects within the PCL, because there is such a range. I do not have a subscription anymore, so this is the only clue I can offer you. It seemed like a thoughtful article, as I recall.
I agree entirely that we cannot know for sure the source of C. Duncan injuries. Bling hypothesized that Chris injuried his neck when he suffered a head injury just before Hancock’s fiasco. I cannot rule this out, nor can I rule out that Duncan ruptured a disk while lifting weights. But I also think some weight has to be paid to what Chris said. He said he got hurt in a game in late July 2007 and that this created the hernia and the neck problem, though he Duncan thought the neck pain was just a :”crick.” (This what Chris said to the P-D circa August 2008, after his neck operation.) I have a choice between regarding Chris as a liar and deferring to his explanation. Since his explanation makes some sense and cannt be rejected, I choose to accept it as the likeliest explanation.
Does this guarantee it is true? No. We live in a world in which there are many explanations for things and we have to caveat emptor choose among the explanations. Since Duncan is the biggest expert on how he feels, I tend to accept his views, because I do not know of more credible explanations.
One constant in the Duncan story was a lack of clarity about how he was hurt, what was hurt, how much he was hurt and when it happened. It was a multi-edged sword. Was it admirable that he was playing in pain, was he taking inappropriate personal risk, was important information not being shared with everyone or perhaps a combination of them all? We will never know…
It seems plausible, to me, that a crack in a neck disk could be subtle and hard to diagnose and not superpaiinful to begin with. His muscle injury pain would have taken precedence, to begin with.
By spring 2008, Chris was playing in neck pain and this seemed known to TLR, since he expressed admiration.
I dunno what can be done with a bulging or damaged disk. Maybe playing in some pain is all you can do. Maybe its pain drugs until a disk ruptures, followed by replacement. Maybe there is nothing in-between. Maybe nothing else could have been done.
It is a real sad story about Chris Duncan. Darn serious injury and I think that he never has fully recovered. Hope he can have a normal life with his physical problems. If he makes it back to pro ball and is able to contribute meaningfully to his team that will be some kind of special.
It is unfortunate for him that he wasn’t able to play first base in the bigs and had to learn left field on the fly.
Three more days till Lugo was a FA. Did Boston absorb Duncan’s salary? How not? Did the demotion to AAA effect more than his 40man designation which was problematic for Boston?
If the PTBN money is greater than 1.5 M…………….. what does that mean? Anyone know the answers.
WC: “The Colby/Shumaker/ Kennedy maneuver was about BD getting his prospect playing time. For Tony, going into the year with 4 outfielders, begs the question whether creating opportunities for Chris wasn’t the real reason for his acquiescence………Both parties seemed willing to compromise baseball logic to achieve their personal goals.”
There was Ankiel too, Westy, as far as compromised logic goes. And K. Greene hanging around. And Luddy getting benched. And top prospect Rasmus being shuffled through the lineup batting everywhere except 3rd. It has to create ‘atmosphere’ issues when what happens on the field gets repeatedly trumped by various agendas, and there were three: BDW/Mo, TLR/DD, AP. The large number of different lineups? Mo is trying to have the agendas in cosmic alignment this year by eliminating the the points of divergance. An outfield of Holliday/Rasmus/Ludwig, day after day is one objective. I have said before that a full time 2nd baseman would further the cause, or at least an everyday #2 hitter. Telling Ryan he’s the leadoff man, end of discussion. Mo is smart and will try hard to avoid letting a battle of agendas traumatise the team all year long causing burnout and frustration a few weeks before the end.
4 out fielders…..Chris, Colby, Rick and Ryan……………..Ludwick started off the year in a terrible funk.
Dave was trying to bury Chris on the injured reserve at the time he was offed. If the PTBNed money is 400,000……….Red Sox were doing Garbage duty with face saving considerations for Dave. That could also be seen as a bribe in an attempt to temper Dave’s angry reaction buy maintaining Chris’s perceived value……………….. If the PTBNed money is over 1.5……….clearly that suggests “other arrangements”……………………….. Lugo was reviled in Boston. He could have been had for the prorated minimum in 3 days. Some business was done here. Lets watch and see.
The idea of Scott Boras and MO/BD in a protracted negotiation has my undivided attention. BD is hardly what you’d call flexible. Boras know this. He knows what they will pay also. They would get to that in a hurry. Any elongation of this process would be a delaying tactic by Boras. Question is, that being obvious, is BD depending on that for some reason? ………. I’ve heard it said that the Holiday’s are looking at real estate in Missouri already. That strongly suggests to me the they feel Scottie is following their directive and will come up with as much blood as BD will donate.
There are problems inherent in this position. Scottie knows he could probably get 12/16 million on a one year delaying deal, giving him more weapons in any collusion grievance which is bound to happen after this year. Regardless off what the Holidays think, either side might sabotage these negotiations to further their own agendas. Lets face it, the Cardinals were waiting for some reason. Was the apparent Boston/NY agreement know to them, or are they stuck in a negotiation that they really weren’t planning on. If it breaks down, all will have their excuses I’m sure, but I’m sure curious as to the details. If the family thinks they will be content with anything at this point, and are left with no security………..I’m dying to here why.
There is no reason for SB/MH to agree to the Cards deal right now. Why not wait and hope for a miricle. BDW/Mo seem to have no plan to apply pressure or force a decision. It’s as if BDW and Mo are taken by surprise to still be in it at this point. Westy hypothesized some time ago that BDW’s strategy was to make a respectable offer, then let NY or whoever swoop in, so he could put his checkbook back in the vault. The lack of swoopage has taken him by surprise which is why he just sits there. (This is just madd musing, I don’t really believe it, I also don’t get the Lugo connection, we will trade him for a left swinging utility if we’re smart)
I doubt very much Duncan got a sports hernia diving for a ball!
Do I think Duncan got some breaks/special considerations over his career because he was
Dave’s boy – yes.
Do I think Duncan made the most of those thus earning himself some level of respect – yes.
What I don’t know (probably never will) is if the league figured Duncan out or injuries led to hsi down fall.
My guess is Duncan will see maor league time again. How h’ll fare I’m less sure of.
Boras’s miracle would be Bay flunking his physical.
I wonder if having a metal disk in his neck would be a problem with passing a team’s physical, and if it would cause insurability problems. It seems somehow not smart for him to be engaged in an occupation that involves periodic collisions and impacts, etc. Maybe he should become his dad’s understudy and go into coaching.
If Chris Duncan could play first base and or dh that would minimize his risk of collisions and impacts. He may be too messed up physically to hit again tho.
Chief……….. Chris’s injuries are less than advertised. However, they are potentially more dangerous than someone should take for sport. 1st base can be very hazardous. He would make a good DH………….if he could hit. His swing is fine. His emotional/cognitive dissonance created by his attempts to mirror or counter if you will, his fathers pitching strategies made him an idiot tactician. He looked like a natural hitter for a while. Then he started to think. Not so good.
Well, Duncan passed the Cardinal’s physical and supposedly Boston’s so that seems a non-issue.
The size of any Duncan contract in the near future means insurance wont be an issue either.
Duncan signed a minor league deal with Washington that includes an invite to big league spring training camp.
Good to hear. Any thing known about what he has been doing this winter. His health, etc. I guess there will be a physical to pass.
MLB.com dates the transaction as 1/19 and has him on the NRI list, so I assume it is done. The only news I saw this winter was the Rob Rains discussion with Duncan’s agent. The view was he was just tired last year and is fine now. Not sure who ever to believe about that kind of stuff, but the Nats must be satisfied. Both manager Jim Riggleman and new first base coach Dan Radison come from the Cardinals so they certainly know Chris.
Yeah, good for Chris.