Dave Duncan May Be Done in St. Louis After 2009

Tony La Russa and his pitching coach Dave Duncan go together, as the saying goes, like peas and carrots. They've been coaching together since 1985, when Duncan joined La Russa's staff with the White Sox. Since then, they've jointly moved to Oakland and then St. Louis, with Duncan's strong pitching staffs anchoring La Russa's perennial contenders.

That's why it's so surprising today to read in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Duncan seems to be growing disillusioned with the Cardinals and may not return to the team, even if La Russa does come back for a 15th year with the Cards in 2010. Duncan's growing disillusionment seems to stem from two places: the trade of his son Chris to Boston -- which he believes the St. Louis media fueled -- and anger over the way the Cardinals are developing their minor league pitchers, which he believes is different from his own pitching philosophies.

A quick glance at the Cardinals' current pitching staff shows why losing Duncan would be such a big blow to St. Louis. The Cards are third in the National in runs allowed per game. That's got a lot to do with guys like Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, who any pitching coach would love to have, but it's also due in large part to Duncan's worth with pitchers like Joel Piniero, Kyle Lohse, and Ryan Franklin.

It doesn't take much more than a glance at John Smoltz to really understand what Duncan brings to the table. After his disastrous stint in Boston, most wrote Smoltz off as toast. The conventional wisdom was that his struggles as games progressed were because he simply didn't have the arm to throw deep into games anymore. Duncan, instead, saw a guy that was tipping his pitches and now in two starts with St. Louis, Smoltz has only allowed one run in 11 innings, striking out 15 batters in that span.

That's exactly the sort of thing Duncan's been doing for years. I have to believe the Cardinals would be willing to do anything in their power to keep him in their dugout.