St. Louis Globe-Democrat

When presented an opportunity this week to let his client, Chris Duncan, talk about his unceremonious exit from St. Louis last summer, agent Barry Meister politely declined.

“He’s going to let his bat do the talking,” Meister said.

For that to happen, Meister has to find a team willing to sign the free-agent Duncan, who was traded by the Cardinals to Boston July 21, then released by Triple A Pawtucket a month later.

Meister says he is actively talking to “about four” clubs “who are really serious” about signing Duncan. Meister declined to reveal the four teams, but it would be a safe bet that most, if not all, are in the American League, where Duncan could either play first base or be a designated hitter.

The hardest part of evaluating Duncan for any club considering signing him is determining how well he has recovered from the surgery on his neck in Nov. 2008. It was that injury, Meister believes, which had the greatest impact on Duncan’s drop-off in performance from his first two years in the majors.

In the combined 2006 and 2007 seasons, Duncan hit 43 homers and had 113 RBI in 217 games, a performance good enough to allow most clubs to live with less-than-perfect defense, a lot of strikeouts and probably a .260 or so average.

In the 2008 and 2009 seasons, before the surgery and while he was still recovering, Duncan hit just 11 homers and drove in 59 runs in 163 games – a performance that then makes his other deficiencies a liability. In his one month at Triple A Pawtucket, Duncan hit only .188 with two homers and 10 RBI in 85 at-bats.

“Obviously you could tell he was not 100 percent by the way he performed,” Meister said. “Beginning in the middle of last season, he had problems with his stamina. The doctors told us after the surgery it could be nine to 12 months before the nerves in his neck fully regenerated to the point where he would have the same strength as he did before the surgery.”

The numbers do give an indication that strength and stamina might have been part of Duncan’s problem. In April, he hit .297 with two homers and 13 RBI. By July, he was limited to just four hits, all singles, in his last 44 at-bats as a Cardinal and struck out 17 times.

Duncan and his brother Shelley, also a free agent, are living in Arizona this winter, working out with physical trainer and therapist Brett Fischer.

“He’s getting a lot stronger,” Meister said. “We’re looking for the best opportunity we can find for him.”

Meister said even if Duncan did want to discuss his feelings about his experiences with the Cardinals, he would not let him do it.

“We’re forward-thinking now,” Meister said.

One long-time unabashed Duncan supporter, Cardinal manager Tony La Russa, has not lost any faith in Duncan and believes whichever team signs him will be getting a good and productive player.

“He’s healthy and hungry to prove,” La Russa said. “He’s out there for somebody.”

Moving on: Another former Cardinal prospect, Brett Wallace, was traded for the second time in six months this week, moving from Oakland to Toronto as part of the megadeal which sent Roy Halladay to the Phillies and Cliff Lee to Seattle.

As happy as he was with the deal which sent him home to the Bay Area, Wallace was more realistic about this trade. Part of that realism was understanding the move actually will give him a better chance of sticking in the major leagues in 2010.

In just a couple of months playing at Triple A for Oakland, the A’s realized Wallace did not project as a major-league quality third baseman defensively, the same judgment the Cardinals had made. There really was not any way he could switch positions, either, since the A’s organization is stacked with young first basemen.

With the Blue Jays, Wallace might get a chance to play first if Lyle Overbay is traded, as has been rumored, or to be the designated hitter. He also, at least based on early reports, will have a chance to convince the Toronto brass that he can play third, where he will go to spring training competing against Edwin Encarnacion for the starting job.

Top rotations: The Sporting News did not let the ink dry on the new contracts this week, with John Lackey moving to the Red Sox as a free agent along with the big trade, before ranking the top five rotations going into next season.

It was no surprise that the Red Sox came out on top but there were a couple of somewhat surprising choices in the middle.

Named as the second-best rotation heading into next year was the Braves, and third was the Chicago White Sox.

The Sporting News’ cited the fact that three of the Braves’ five starters in 2009 finished with an ERA less than 3.00, and those three did not include Tim Hudson. That depth is one of the reasons Atlanta has been talking to teams interested in Derek Lowe.

With the White Sox, TSN is banking of a return to health for Jake Peavy, the former NL Cy Young award winner traded last summer, and Freddy Garcia, who has made only 23 starts over the past three seasons.

Finishing fourth on the list of best rotations was the Yankees. The Cardinals were fifth.

Free agent musings: With Lackey signing with the Red Sox, the best starting pitcher candidate still on the free-agent market just might be Joel Piniero. … Another former Cardinals’ pitcher, Jason Marquis, has been drawing a lot of interest, with the Washington Nationals among the front-runners, especially if they don’t sign Jon Garland … Don’t be surprised if agent Scott Boras tries to push Rick Ankiel to the Cubs. The Cubs need a centerfielder badly, and Boras is determined to find Ankiel a multi-year contract, and a place where he can play everyday. … Speaking of Boras, there have been some suggestions that if the Cardinals either don’t sign Matt Holliday or break off negotiations, that they might then have an interest in outfielder Johnny Damon. Boras also represents Damon. Does anybody think there might be a slight conflict-of-interest brewing here? Damon also has been listed as a possibility in both Atlanta and San Francisco. … With Christmas coming up on Friday, some agents and clients will be quite active this week trying to get deals completed. Not much ever happens in baseball between Christmas and New Year’s.

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