Chris Duncan in Left: Making the Routine Look Like Roulette

[businessmansspecial]

A lack of speed may require a Duncan, Dunn, or Floyd to have to lay out for a ball that an Edmonds, Hamilton, or Soriano get to with ease.

I know what you're saying here, but I think Duncan has above-average speed for a LF. He's probably faster than Edmonds right now.

I agree.

[jim]

This thread seemed worth rekindling after Saturday's Cubs game.

I'm no longer merely worried for his defense; I'm now worried for his safety. He's not only gonna fail to make the play, he may kill himself.

He's a bull in a china shop. Can you imagine the destruction he caused as a kid growing up?

Seriously, he looks just about the same OF as last year. I think it's possible that he can improve on his routes etc.., but he's just always going to be a little, ... awkward is the word I guess.

[skmsw]

he's just always going to be a little, ... awkward is the word I guess.

(chuckle) OK. The word I was thinking of was "bad," but "awkward" and "bad" are probably not mutually exclusive, right?

If Duncan LOOKS bad but still makes the catches -- which has been suggested in parts of this thread and others -- I'm fine with that. Especially since [although some of his good catches only look good because he was slow getting there and had to make a sensational play to overcome a bad first step or wrong route or bad footwork] he's made a genuinely good play or two that average defensive LFers don't make.

But the stuff that makes him look bad when he IS catching the ball is stuff that is going to result in him NOT catching catchable balls a lot more often than average LFers. He doesn't just LOOK bad but still make the play; he IS bad defensively. I'm not saying he misses them ALL -- naturally he catches most of them. But he's probably going to miss more that he should have caught than just about any other outfielder in baseball.

It's still April. I've already seen him drop a fly ball; play a line drive hit right at him into a double; have at least two singles fall in front of him that should have been caught; and yesterday, played two fly-outs into extra base hits. And that's only the ones I've seen.

Left field is not a hard position to play, but that doesn't mean it is unimportant. On a team that is apparently not going to produce a lot of offense, we can't afford to be turning outfield outs into hits and runs very often.

[TimeForGuinness]

Chris Duncan will be the David Eckstein of the OF, not very good talent wise but will try to make it up with hustle...and it won't look pretty.

Not trying to defend Duncan, but So, Jimmy, and Preston have looked just as bad.

[ghostrunner]

Left field is not a hard position to play, but that doesn't mean it is unimportant. On a team that is apparently not going to produce a lot of offense, we can't afford to be turning outfield outs into hits and runs very often.

But if he's hitting well, we can't afford for him not to play either. I wouldn't say he's cost us any games with his glove, and I think he's won a couple swinging the bat. And if he's still hitting this well at mid-season I wouldn't replace him before I'd replace Wilson or Encarnacion.

[Jim Hendry's Chins]

Disclaimer: I am a Cubs fan.

Statement: Chris Duncan in LF puts a big smile on my face.

[DynamicDynamite]

Not trying to defend Duncan, but So, Jimmy, and Preston have looked just as bad.

so so true...