St. Louis Cardinals: Too Many Good Outfielders

I can’t remember who told me as a child, but I’m pretty sure it was either my father or my grandfather. Regardless, it was good advice.  

“You got to always know the enemy.” 

I’ve followed this advice throughout my life. That’s why I know a lot about the teams in the National League’s Central Division.

The Cubs are my favorite team, but I can tell you about almost any team in the Central Division, mainly the Brewers and Cardinals.

Milwaukee has become the Cubs' No. 1 enemy in the last couple of years, and the Cardinals have always been a thorn in the Cubs’ side. That’s why I know the Cardinals have a problem on their team and it’s not the good kind of problem for any team in the Central. 

The Cardinals have plenty of options in the outfield, but all of them have great numbers. So the problems are:  

Which guy do you play? 

How do you give each guy enough playing time? 

I’ll go through each guy and then you can draw up your conclusions on who should play. At the end, I’ll throw in my two cents in who should play and who should grab some bench. 

Left Field

Chris Duncan is currently the starting left fielder, but his time there might be coming to an end. Duncan has shown flashes of his success from two years ago, but for the most part he’s trying not to be that guy anymore. 

He doesn’t really want to be known as a home run guy, so he has completely changed his approach at the plate.

Two years ago, he only walked 30 times in 280 ABs with a .363 OBP. Last year, he only walked 55 times in 375 ABs with a .354 OBP. This year, he has walked 10 times in 48 ABs with a .407 OBP.

He doesn’t want to be known as an all-or-nothing guy, such as his brother who plays for the Yankees. Instead, he has concentrated in the offseason on working counts.  

Currently, Duncan has good numbers: 11 runs, two home runs, six RBIs, and one stolen base while batting .275; but having good numbers with all this competition may not help him keep his job. 

Brian Barton is Duncan's backup. He is widely unknown, because he receives very little playing time and hasn’t done anything newsworthy yet. His numbers are: .343 average, four RBIs, four runs scored, six strikeouts, with no home runs in only 35 ABs.

You’ll notice that I listed strikeouts, That's because he's a strikeout machine. 

In 2006, when he split his time between A and AA ball, Barton struck out 109 times in 295 ABs-that's a strikeout every 2.70 ABs. In 2007, he struck out 117 times in 389 ABs-that's a strikeout every 3.32 ABs.

Basically, if this guy is starting the game and you're the opposing pitcher, you're almost guaranteed a strikeout.

So you’re probably wondering why he’s currently sitting up in the majors instead of back in the minors working on not striking out so much. It's because of his speed potential.

In 2006, he stole 41 bases with an 84 percent success rate. In 2007, he stole 21 bases with a 68 percent success rate. 

Center Field

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