vote for the person that you think should be playing more, not the one that should be “voted off” (whoops)

and he’s (or at least was) one of my favoriter cardinals, so i voted for him

but i really am losing confidence in his ability to turn it around. it’s a toss up. i’d say dunc has a slightly better chance of hitting again. it’s possible that rick really is just a pitcher

i hope he turns it around even if it’s not in a cardinal uniform. maybe it needs to not be in a cardinal uniform

“Do you want to be shot in the head, or in the chest?”

Ankiel is the better overall player. Duncan hasn’t been good offensively since early 2007, and he’s never been good defensively. Ankiel has been an above average fielder this year (just slightly, but much better than Duncan), and has more power. The only reasons you could argue for Duncan are that (1) he gets on base at a higher rate (2) he is under team control for longer and (3) he may get his power back in time.

I vote Ankiel, but a good week by Duncan could change my opinion.

because sometimes, he comes through in pressure situations. Not always, but sometimes. Ank NEVER does.

He’s a better player because of his defense and, IMO, has a higher offensive ceiling. Plus he’s Rick fucking Ankiel.

because of the mentions I listed above, but also because I believe Duncan would be a better pinch hitter, if they both remain on the major league roster.

Ankiel folded under pressure as a pitcher and was never able to take the mound again. He has not regained any of his “clutchiness” as a hitter. It is not only assumed, but expected of him, that he will strike out or ground into a double play with the game on the line. He DOES NOT and WILL NOT because he CAN NOT take a good, quality at bat 90% of the time (at least that I watch.)

Duncan’s defense in left field is very close to putrid. I’ll throw that out there as it is…no sugar coating it at all. However, with Ludwick and Rasmus carrying the outfield defense, I do not think that we need a star defender in left field. For him to be worth it out there, though, he needs to hit better. I do believe that he has the potential to hit better than Ankiel.

Ank, the better defender, has some adventures in the OF. He sometimes does not connect the cutoff man and costs us. He should be more controlled with his cannon of an arm. I have to give him credit for his hustle, even though I would’ve preferred him not run into a wall.
I think Dunc has improved on D, maybe just marginally.
Because our current malaise is lack of O, I’d go with Dunc right now. He at least takes a good at bat, and occasionally walks. Ank is just painful to watch on O, especially when there is a person in scoring position. I say to myself, “this time will be different”, but I am always disappointed. I don’t remember the number of times that I’ve said that in my head. Ditto for Tyler Greene at bats.
But if Ank were to bat 7th or 9th with less pressure, maybe he can get is going again. But at this point, he is going to be a free agent. Even if he gets it going, he’ll probably not be tradeable. So why keep playing him? Give Dunc more chances to get it going, and use Ank sparingly. I can’t believe I just said what I said.

i don’t know why, but i can’t. i love that guy for some weird reason.

neither one should be here. Dunk because of major surgery, Dick because of, well he can’t hit when it matters. he’s always closing his eyes & swinging as hard as he can no matter what the pitcher throws. sure he’s good in the OF. but that doesn’t make up for every gawd awful at bat he takes. which is 9 out of every 10.

so i say Ank goes buh bye.

during last weeks game against the Mets gave the best description I’ve heard of Duncan as a hitter: “stiff and rigid”

So, we have 2 redundant outfielders with similar skillsets.

We have one lumbering defensive liability with a good eye who sees quite a few pitches, doesn’t have particularly good contact skills and hits for (or used to hit for) power.

We have one talented OF defender who can competently play any spot and is definitely above average in the corners. He will swing at damn-near anything and while he makes decent contact he does not have a very good eye and also used to hit for power.

Not sure how similar those skillsets are, but I think we know basically what we can expect each to contribute (Duncan OBP, Ankiel decent defense), and what each will never really be able to do very well (Duncan defense, Ank OBP), each has the possible upside of excellent power and a decent batting average, and each has a worst-case scenario that is pretty frightening (Duncan becomes Dunn minus the power, Ankiel’s hitting approach continues to deteriorate until he hits like Adam Wainwright).

I think we have to take Ankiel in this situation. Even as a bad hitter he has contributed value on defense. He needs to stick to the corners where his range is good and his arm is fantastic, and I think Duncan simply has to ride the bench and become the full-time PH or be sent down on his final option in hopes that he can take the corner OF spot back when Ankiel is gone.

AKA has no value.

And he could get worse. Of course he could also get better, but I really don’t see how. Most people seem to think he’s lost his power. But he displayed good pop in ST. I think he just is totally mixed up hitting-wise and suffers from a severe lack of talent. With the way pitchers pitch to him he’s fooled all the time and he can’t hit anything but a fastball. This is what caused him to overwork himself in the first place and wind up on the DL.

It’s a chicken and egg thing. I believe Duncan’s poor play caused his injuries, not the other way around.

click for rock throwing goodness

Ankiel should be our 4th outfielder/platoon-mate for a RH in LF and Duncan should be in AAA. I see no real reason why either should be getting significant playing time at the moment.

When you have SUCH a huge hole in your lineup, I can’t see why we don’t go and get a RH OF bat on a rental. Doesn’t even need to be a traditional “impact” one (Holliday) – because Rick and Dunc are so close to replacement level right now, even adding a roughly league average OF will probably add 1-2 wins to our end-of-year total (I’d say probably more than one due to leveraging – at the moment, we’ve got limited ability to put a decent RHB up to the plate in high-leverage situations when the opposition are using a LOOGY, so I think the ability to better leverage those ABs will end up being worth at least one marginal win come the end of the year).

Duncan has no business being NEAR a major league roster right now. HE HAS NOT BEEN A RELEVANT MAJOR LEAGUE OF FOR TWO YEARS. Two years. And even then, he was only effective for roughly 6 months after a mediocre career in the minors. His power has gone because people have stopped throwing him fastballs on the inside part of the plate to pull. The book is out on Duncan, and has been for two years – fastballs away, and lots of breaking pitches. He’ll occasionally go the other way and slap one for a single, but he has NO POWER when he’s not pulling the ball, and can’t hit breaking balls for power. Just keep the fastballs out of his wheelhouse, and I think you can pitch to him quite easily.

I think he might develop a bit more power further on from his neck surgery, but if pitchers keep pitching him the way they are, I dunno if it’ll make much difference. I don’t think he’ll sniff 30HR in a season again, and with his terrible defence in LF he needs to be showing that much power to be an average player.

People on this site have been critical of the “Duncan is only on the team due to nepotism” argument but it’s one I’m personally strongly subscribing to. I realise we have few options in AAA (I’d rather see Jay or even someone like Shorey at the moment…) but when league-average OF are available to trade for a bag of balls, and we’re still running Dunc out there (INCLUDING against LHP!) when he’s clearly not up to it, I just can’t see any other reason. I think it must, at the very least, play a part.

I can’t quote him exactly, but Tony was talking about Ankiel heading into his free agent year and how the pressure is building up on Ank to put up some numbers because it’s now July and time is running out. Tony said something along the lines of Ank being able to set up his family with a big contract next offseason.

Did anyone else listen and catch that segment before today’s game and am I close to accurate in what TLR said?

With both of these guys, we’re sort of just hoping they do something worthwhile. Duncan is probably, at least now, a more useful hitter, but then again he’s still been a -2.1 RAR batsman…so better, but not good. Ankiel has been far worse, at -5. However, Duncan is pretty poor defensively to the tune of -2.8. The total package has Ankiel has been a .4 WAR performer, which is better than Duncan.

This essentially confirms what we know already…in order to be of some use the St. Louis Cardinals, Chris Duncan has to be an offensive force. If not, he’s useless. Ankiel can at least bring something defensively, whether he hits or not. With that in mind, I’m going to go with Ankiel.

By the way, do you all remember when Duncan had a .399 wOBA in 2006 and Ankiel cranked 25 home runs in 413 at bats last year? What days those were.

Both are pretty much automatic outs. Duncan puts the ball in play more, but depending on the situation, an Ankiel strikeout on three pitches might be preferable.

I went with Ankiel for the simple fact that while both have the potential to drop the most routine of fly balls, Duncan will look more embarrassing doing so.

I like them both, emotionally; I’m attached, I root for them.
Having said that, the answer is clear: I want them both on a boat to China