Blogs By FansC70 At The Bat
Sponsor


Cardinals_WideSkyscraper.jpg

Baseball Schedule is your best source for the latest St Louis Cardinals Schedule information as well as keeping up with division rivals including Cubs Schedule, Reds Schedule, Brewers Schedule and Astros Schedule.

Bet on the Cardinals with Sports Interaction's MLB betting lines


Slots Galore Casino Tournaments

Get your tickets from Bubba! Cheap St. Louis Cardinals Tickets and more, including tickets for the next MLB All-Star Game. Bubba's got Boston Red Sox Tickets and New York Yankees Tickets

Authentic, large selection of Cardinals memorabilia, guaranteed and certified.

Subscribe
RSS Feed

Archives

Players

Categories


Alliance tickets has an extensive inventory of St. Louis Cardinals Tickets , Colorado Rockies Tickets, San Francisco Giants Tickets and Seattle MarinersTickets.

With all of the St Louis tickets out there, Cardinals tickets and Rams tickets make for great presents. GoTickets.com can fill all of your sports tickets needs, just check out our testimonials!

More Turnover In St. Louis

Posted on January 5, 2012 at 9:29 PM
Filed Under: St. Louis Cardinals
It's a rare evening post, but the news that just broke is pretty rare in and of itself.

Dave Duncan is either stepping aside permanently or taking a leave of absence, depending on which story you read.  With John Mozeliak quoted in the latter, it is possible that we'd see Duncan return to his place in the dugout later in the season, but the first story talks about him working in another role in the organization.  (Apparently the press release from the Cards, which has come out since I started this post, goes with the leave of absence idea, but you have to figure that it's not a short one and, if it's not, it becomes very hard for Duncan to return.)

Whatever the terminology, however long he's gone, it is pretty clear that there are personal reasons behind this move and those reasons are the health of his wife, Jeanine.  While there's been no clarification or explanation given at this time, it seems reasonable to assume that her battle with the brain cancer that was discovered last season is becoming a harder fight than it was late in 2011, when Duncan was not only able to return to the dugout for the playoffs but was able to reaffirm that he would be able to return as pitching coach.

The smart money seems to be on Derek Lilliquist filling the gaping void that Duncan will leave in the coaching staff.  Lilliquist had that honor last year during Duncan's first absence and, coincidentally or not, that's when the Cards made their run.  It would appear the pitchers respect him and will listen to him, so perhaps there won't be too many beats missed in this transition.

Still, you don't really replace Dave Duncan.  Look at the coaching staff turnover in the last few weeks.  Tony La Russa is gone.  Joe Pettini is gone.  Dave McKay is gone.  Now Duncan is gone.  While there's no doubt that the people that are replacing these guys are good guys, talented guys, they definitely aren't as experienced guys.  One of the selling points of Mike Matheny's nomination as manager was that he'd be surrounded by some long-time baseball coaches.  That doesn't seem to be the case anymore, with the exception of Jose Oquendo.

This is going to be a really tough transition for the Cardinals.  It's good that it's a fairly veteran group of players. Even the young arms have been baptized by fire and so are probably older than their baseball age.  People have come up knowing the focused, disciplined "Cardinal Way" and aren't likely to deviate much from that, even with a staff that knows more about being coached than actually coaching.

Above all, though, prayers and best wishes to the entire Duncan family.  This can not be an easy time and my hope is that Mrs. Duncan will bounce back and Dave can be back in the dugout quickly.  That's what we are all hoping for, I'm sure.

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta


Leave a comment




1 Comments

1 Comment | Leave a comment

user-pic
WilliaminMaine | January 6, 2012 10:24 AM | Reply

Duncan has the right priority and we all need to be praying for him and his family. All the best to him.

Leave a comment




Cardinals_MediumRectangle.jpg

UCB_11_trans_dark_sm.png

Search



BallHyped Best Sports Blogs Book
This blog was featured in the Best Sports Blogs of 2010 Book!
• Pick up the limited print edition
• Free Best Sports Blogs ebook 


United Cardinal Bloggers

FRIENDS OF THE UCB


Download the iPhone or Android UCB app by clicking on the nice orange picture.
Open in Mobile App 

And check out the UCB Network over at LockerDome!
lockerdome-share_63x63.png
  



Other Cardinal Blogs

Recommended Cardinal Forum

Other Cardinal Sites

General Baseball Blogs/Sites



Heroes
Matt Holliday (5)
Matt Carpenter (4)
Rafael Furcal (4)
Carlos Beltran (3)
Jaime Garcia (3)
Jon Jay (3)
Kyle Lohse (3)
Lance Lynn (3)
Yadier Molina (3)
David Freese (2)
Adam Wainwright (2)
Lance Berkman (1)
Allen Craig (1)
Shane Robinson (1)
Fernando Salas (1)
Jake Westbrook (1)

2011 Top Hero: Lance Berkman (24)
2010 Top Heroes: Matt Holliday and Albert Pujols (24)
2009 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (28)
2008 Top Hero: Albert Pujols (25)

Goats
Matt Holliday (4)
Carlos Beltran (3)
David Freese (3)
Jaime Garcia (3)
Jason Motte (3)
Marc Rzepczynski (3)
Adam Wainwright (3)
Rafael Furcal (2)
Tyler Greene (2)
J.C. Romero (2)
Fernando Salas (2)
Mitchell Boggs (1)
Matt Carpenter (1)
Tony Cruz (1)
Daniel Descalso (1)
Jon Jay (1)
Erik Komatsu (1)
Kyle Lohse (1)
Victor Marte (1)
Eduardo Sanchez (1)
Jake Westbrook (1)

2011 Top Goat: Ryan Theriot (12)
2010 Top Goat: Brendan Ryan (14)
2009 Top Goats: Rick Ankiel and Todd Wellemeyer (13)
2008 Top Goat: Troy Glaus (13)

2012 Happy Flights
Happy Flights: 7
Happy Flight Opportunities: 12
Happy Flight %: 58%

Through 5/20

    Cardinal Nation Approval Ratings (March 2012)
    Adam Wainwright 91.9% (down 2.8%)
    Chris Carpenter 90.1% (up 3.2%)
    Lance Berkman 88.6%
    Tony La Russa 88.2% (up 17.4%)
    Yadier Molina 87.4% (up 3.7%)
    Matt Holliday 87.3% (down 3.8%)
    David Freese 85.5%
    John Mozeliak 85.4% (up 13.3%)
    Mike Shannon 85.3% (up 0.4%)
    Jose Oquendo 84.7%
    Derrick Goold 82.8% (down 5.0%)
    Mark McGwire 82.6% (up 20.1%)
    John Rooney 81.5% (down 2.8%)
    Mike Matheny 81.1%
    Bill DeWitt 79.8% (up 8.8%)
    United Cardinal Bloggers 78.9%
    Skip Schumaker 73.3% (up 9.2%)
    Jim Hayes 71.9% (down 4.2%)
    Jon Jay 71.1%
    B.J. Rains 69.5% (down 0.9%)
    Kyle Lohse 68.9% (up 13.8%)
    Dan McLaughlin 68.0%
    Joe Strauss 67.7% (up 10.2%)
    Ricky Horton 67.5% (down 1.6%)
    Al Hrabosky 66.4% (up 3.2%)
    Albert Pujols 54.9% (down 45.5%)
    Colby Rasmus 46.5% (down 35.3%)

    2011
    Dave Duncan 87.9% (up 0.9%)
    Matthew Leach 85.5%
    Pop Warner 76.7%
    Ryan Franklin 72.8% (up 3.1%)
    John Vuch 68.9%
    Jeff Luhnow 66.4%
    Dan Lozano 58.7%

    2009
    Rick Ankiel 83.9%
    Chris Duncan 69.1%


    Looking for St. Louis Cardinals Tickets?  TicketCity is your source for New York Yankees Tickets and World Series Tickets.

    Looking for Cardinals tickets? Stop by OnlineSeats. We’ve got Blues seats and even Rams games. Go to the coasts as well and catch a Celtics game or get Dodgers tickets.

    Referrals