KSDK Channel 5's pregame show for today's broadcast included a piece
by Frank Cusumano about Dave Duncan. Cusumano was disgustingly pro-
(Dave) Duncan, focusing only on the positive. Cusumano opened by
saying Duncan must be the most underrated coach in baseball. He gave
the usual example of Dave Stewart, also mentioning Eckersley, Andy
Benes, Woody Williams, and Bottenfield, usually listing their records
for Duncan and outside Duncan, often in terms of games above/below .
500 or the most wins in a season with Duncan and without.
It's easy to give examples of pitchers who did much better when they
escaped Duncan. I'll name two: Jose Rijo and Danny Haren. Other
pitchers were successful before they joined Duncan's team, then did
little to nothing under Duncan.
Pitchers get injured A LOT with Duncan as their pitching coach.
Bottenfield's 1999 season was an anomaly, with his 18 wins more from
luck (good run sup****t, opponents started their worst pitchers against
him, the terrible Cardinal bullpen that blew leads by Oliver and
Jimenez always preserved his leads, etc), then from Duncan's guidance.
Looks like Channel 5 is approaching 550 AM in terms of ****lling for
the Cardinal organization.
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