Duncan deserved better from baseball’s “best fans”
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009Chris Duncan was freed yesterday. Cardinal fans should take the opportunity to do the same for their minds. With the Cardinals trading the clubhouse-popular but fan-loathed Duncan to the Boston Red Sox for the questionable Julio Lugo, the putative best fans in baseball — or at least a not-insignificant subset of them — have lost their whipping boy. Duncan deserved to be treated better.
After spending nearly his entire minor-league career as a first baseman (he played only 47 games in the outfield), Duncan learned the challenges of left field on the job in the majors. He was constantly heckled for his defense — even in the World Series — but played better than he looked; although he never looked graceful, he got the job done through effort and hustle. True, his career -8.7 UZR/150 made him a perenially below-average fielder, but he was far from worst in the majors (see Hideki Matsui, Adam Dunn and Scott Hairston). Unfortunately, fans accustomed to the naturally gifted Rick Ankiel’s gaudy displays of arm strength never appreciated Duncan’s attempts to limit his liabilities and mistook want of talent for lack of effort. Moreover, fans’ obsession with defense distorts its importance relative to offense.
Duncan’s offensive contributions were constantly being obscured by fans’ and writers’ noisome allegiance to antiquated stats. Whereas most thinking people are now aware (and have been for several years) that on-base percentage is the primary indicator of a player’s offensive value, St. Louisans regularly referred to Duncan’s less-than-impressive batting average rather than his quite-good OBP. To be sure, they weren’t helped by the enlightened traditional media, who pride themselves on telling us what to think. To wit: In the Post-Dispatch release detailing the trade, Duncan’s obituary contains nary a reference to his OBP, yet notes his BA three times. For the record, Duncan had a .348 OBP with the Cardinals, fourth-best on the club during that period. Which brings us to a final point: Duncan’s proclivity to strike out. Strikeouts undoubtedly make for ugly baseball, but they’re really secondary to whether a player creates runs. Case in point: For his career, Duncan has struck out 316 times; during that same time, Yadier Molina has struck out only 142 times. Yet Duncan created runs at a much higher rate: 5.70 per 27 outs to 3.69 RC/27.
The trade is not only a new opportunity for Duncan, but it is a chance for Cardinal fans to start afresh, too. With so many newcomers to the Cardinals commending the fans for their warm welcomes, it’s a shame that one of the team’s own never received the support that Cardinal fans are capable of. As Derrick Goold points out, Duncan had a severe home-road split disparity — for his career, his Gross-Production Average (GPA) at home was .252; on the road, .290. Duncan’s Cardinal tenure might’ve turned out differently had he not been booed so lustily. And to think, it was due to ignorance.
