The Cardinals organization issued a statement on Twitter: “We are deeply saddened by the passing of Chris Duncan after his courageous battle against brain cancer. We extend our heartfelt sympathies to his wife, Amy, the entire Duncan family, and his many friends.”

Duncan played his entire career with the Cardinals from 2005 to 2009, finishing with marks of .257/.348/.458 across 1317 plate appearances and 389 career games.  He hit 43 of his 55 career home runs over the 2006 and 2007 seasons, winning a World Series with the 2006 Cardinals.  Duncan was a big part of that 2006 title team, as he chipped in a red-hot second half, hitting .295/.374/.604 with 19 homers after the All-Star break. Dave Duncan was the pitching coach for that ball club, helmed by Tony La Russa, which snuck into the playoffs with just 83 wins.

In recent years, Duncan became a popular radio personality in St. Louis, chronicled in a great piece about his passing by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

• We've heard that the Brewers have begun to explore the possibility of extending Prince Fielder's contract, but ESPN's Keith Law thinks "it makes no sense for the Brewers to keep Fielder" given that the team doesn't look like a contender this season or next.  Law also describes Fielder as, "the type of player who doesn't age well."
• Kerry Wood isn't bothered by trade rumors linking him to Minnesota to fill the Joe Nathan void, reports Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com.  Castrovince adds that it's "hard to imagine" the Twins acquiring Wood given the veteran closer's $10.5MM salary in 2010 (plus an $11MM option for 2011 that vests if Wood finishes 55 games this year).
• Speaking of Wood, Paul Hoynes of The Cleveland Plain Dealer argues that the Tribe shouldn't deal Wood to a division rival until the Indians know what kind of a team they have this season.  If they contend, then they could keep Wood for a pennant race.  If they don't contend, Wood will still have trade value at midseason.
• Tyler Kepner of the New York Times talks to Matt Stairs, who is enjoying his role in the Padres camp as "the grandfather of the team."  Stairs said he won't go to the minors if he doesn't make San Diego's opening day roster, and he might just return to his job as a hitting coach for the University of Maine's baseball team.
• MLB.com's Matthew Leach reports that Chris Duncan doesn't blame the Cardinals for dealing him to Boston last summer.
• Anthony Ranaudo, thought by some to be the top pitcher available in June's Amateur Draft, may fall down the draft board after battling elbow problems, reports ESPN.com's Jason A. Churchill.
• Nationals GM Mike Rizzo told MLB.com's Bill Ladson that despite Stephen Strasburg's strong outing on Tuesday, "it's not going to change my plans" about how Strasburg will be brought along.  Strasburg may well start the season in the minors, but ESPN's Buster Olney thinks it could be a brief stay: "You get the feeling that his time in the minors may be as short as it was for Tim Lincecum."  Lincecum, for the record, has made only 13 lifetime appearances in the minors and made just four minor league starts in 2007 before being called up to San Francisco.

Duncan, 29 in May, hit .227/.329/.358 in 304 plate appearances for the Cardinals last year before being traded in July to the Red Sox for Julio Lugo.  He was released from the Triple A Pawtucket club about a month later.

Talking to Rob Rains of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat in December, Duncan's agent Barry Meister suggested his client's neck injury and surgery caused his poor performance in 2008-09.  Duncan hit .273/.358/.527 in his first two seasons with the Cards.  It's been a busy offseason for the Duncans, as Dave re-upped as Cardinals pitching coach and Shelley landed with the Indians.

Duncan, 28, was traded by the Cardinals to the Red Sox for Julio Lugo just before the trade deadline, only to be released about a month later. A career .257/.348/.458 hitter, Duncan's offense has tailed off in recent years, bottoming out at .227/.329/.358 in 304 plate appearances last year. Defensively, he's been bad everywhere he's played.

Personally, I think it would be pretty cool to see some team platoon the lefty hitting Chris with his righty hitting brother Shelley Duncan, who became a free agent earlier in the offseason.

• As Matthew Leach of MLB.com reports, manager Tony La Russa doesn't believe Chris Duncan, who was recently released from the Red Sox, will want to rejoin the Cards. "That's his call," the skipper said Friday. "It's not ours. My guess is he's not real pleased with us."
• Maury Brown of "The Biz of Baseball" has a review of MLB's draft slot recommendation system.  His conclusion?  It needs fixing.
• Matthew Pouliot of NBCSports.com continues his "Restoring the Rosters" series with a look at the Oakland A's. It's a must-read for all of you Moneyball fans.
• MLBTR's own Mike Axisa takes a closer look at the Dustin Pedroia–Robinson Cano debate over at River Ave. Blues.  Joel Sherman first drummed up the discussion with this piece in the New York Post, in which he asked seven MLB executives to choose between the two second basemen.

Duncan crushed right-handed pitching in 2006-07, but has been derailed by injuries since.

They also dealt a pair of prospects for Adam LaRoche, adding a power bat who normally excels in the second half. And according to Jon Heyman's Twitter feed, they may not be finished yet.

"Red Sox dealing up a storm. Now have Chris Duncan (for Lugo). still scouting Victor Martinez, though," Heyman tweets.

No details yet on what it will take to get Martinez, other than continued interest from Cleveland in Clay Buchholz.

3:32pm: Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post Dispatch reports that the Cardinals will trade Chris Duncan to the Red Sox for Julio Lugo. Via Twitter Miklasz says the Red Sox will still pay Lugo's salary and Sean McAdam of the Boston Herald agrees.

Duncan has a career .851 OPS against right-handers and is under team control through 2012. Reid Laymance of the Post-Dispatch says the Red Sox are expected to assign Duncan to Triple A Pawtucket.

This from Wellemeyer himself: "I know it’s getting close, I’ll tell you that much."

Wellemeyer, 30, went 13-9 with a 3.71 ERA in 2008.

Leach notes that deals might be close for Chris Duncan and Brad Thompson, too. General manager John Mozeliak said he would like to avoid arbitration with Duncan and Thompson, as well as Rick Ankiel and Ryan Ludwick.

Mozeliak is hopeful that none of the five players will actually go to arbitration. Ankiel is especially challenging given his short tenure as an outfielder, Leach writes.

Meanwhile Scott Lauber says the Cards may be interested in Madson as a potential closer.

8:36am: Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says the Cardinals remain focused on short-term deals for starters.  Possible names include Oliver Perez, Andy Pettitte, Brad Penny, and Randy Wolf.  They’ll meet with Wolf’s agent by tomorrow afternoon.

John Mozeliak now seems open to a two or three-year deal for a reliever.  He could trade an outfielder like Ryan Ludwick for a top guy, but shot down the idea of Ryan Madson.  Makes no sense, Madson is only under team control for one more year.  Schumaker and Chris Duncan are trade bait for Mozeliak.

8:28am: Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun says the Cards have interest in Blue Jays lefty Scott Downs.  Downs is owed $7.75MM over the next two seasons.

8:01am: We know the Cardinals chatted with the Braves about Mike Gonzalez and Blaine Boyer. Gerry Fraley says they also had trade talks with the Phillies, hoping to trade an outfielder for a reliever.  Rick Ankiel and Skip Schumaker are apparently popular with other teams.

• The Pirates are not opposed to creating a hole at shortstop for the rest of the year by trading Jack Wilson.  They would just need the right return.  Teams are still calling on Wilson, with the Dodgers confirmed and the Tigers possible.
• A Jason Bay deal seems less likely – the Pirates’ price is high for their star.
• Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte continue to draw interest, with John Grabow in the mix as well.  Nady or Marte would require two prospects each.  Nady’s suitors are the Rays, Mets, Yankees, and Braves.  Marte has roughly a dozen suitors.
• Ed Price of the Newark Star-Ledger says the injury to Hideki Matsui led to heightened interest from the Yankees in Nady and Bay.  They’re also in on Marte and Grabow.  The Bucs aren’t interested in Melky Cabrera.
• Interesting stuff in this John Perrotto article found via DRays Bay.  He names the Red Sox, Tigers, Mets, Yankees, Phillies, Cardinals, and Rays as teams interested in Marte.  The Tigers, Phillies, and Cardinals also have an eye on Grabow.
• Perrotto runs through all kinds of names of interest to the Pirates: Anthony Reyes, Chris Duncan, Jeff Larish, Matt Joyce, Ross Ohlendorf, Brent Lillibridge, Brandon Jones, Jeff Niemann, Jon Niese, Eddie Kunz, and Bobby Parnell. 

• The Hardball Times has an interview with Pirates GM Neal Huntington. It’s plenty long. He talks about the dynamics in dealing with his former team, the Cleveland Indians.
• Steve Trachsel might be on his way out with the Orioles. Tough to argue against that move. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the O’s are in the cellar, and might not climb out for the rest of 2008.
• Chris Duncan down, Joe Mather up. Could Mather be the piece that rounds out a powerful outfield? Or could he be trade bait to bring back, say, a second baseman?
• Glendon Rusch is back in the majors, having been recalled by the Rockies.

Posted by Joe Pawlikowski, who writes for River Ave. Blues, a Yankees blog, and can be reached here.

• Big League Stew talks to Bless You Boys about the idea of Barry Bonds signing with the Tigers. BYB argues against signing Bonds noting that the Tigers already have a bunch of slow players (base cloggers?) and what they really need is some more speed in the lineup…Although we keep hearing about collusion and have not heard any numbers bandied about, Bonds has always made it very clear how much he values the almighty dollar. Does anybody else think that Bonds would already be in uniform if he had come out said he would play 2008 for $3-5MM plus incentives? The baggage is what it is, but teams might find it easier to deal with it at a price Bonds is not likely to accept.
• Rockin’ The Red takes a look at the five Cardinals that are most likely to be traded during the season…Chris Duncan is an interesting name on the list. With all the outfielders that the Cards have, Duncan is a solid bat that is likely to be a Super-2 at the end of the year.
• The Yankees: Minors to Majors looks at the pending free agents for the Yankees and concludes that there is plenty of compensation picks to be had giving the Yankees plenty of flexibility to sign a high-end free agent like C.C. Sabathia…Of course, that is assuming the Yankees would let something like draft pick compensation stand in the way of signing a free agent. Not likely.
• Wrigleyville23 has had enough of the Brian Roberts-to-the-Cubs media reports…Who?
• The Bronx Zoo would love to see Nick Johnson back in a Yankees’ uniform but notes that Dmitri Young may not be a dependable replacement for the Nats.
• Mets Fever notes that eight players have moved among the Brewers, Mets and Nats since this offseason…Let’s just say that the Brewers did not get the best of that "three-way trade".
• One writer at DRays Bay is hoping the Rays and M’s can re-engage talks for Edwin Jackson…The M’s may be interested once again after being two-hit by Jackson yesterday, but maybe the price just went up.
• One name that kept popping up recently as a possible trade piece in the near future was Rich Harden. Well, Harden has once again found himself on the DL and Athletics Nation is not taking it well.

Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.

• RotoWorld reports that the Pirates have released infielder Jose Castillo.  Castillo has had flashes of brilliance, for example his 7 HR month in ’06.  But he’s been a disappointment overall and doesn’t figure to be anyone’s starting second baseman.
• The Yankees and Bucs are discussing a Damaso Marte deal.  At the same link a failed Jack Wilson for Chris Duncan rumor is mentioned.