Kevin Slaten: A Nasty Man

Below is a verbatim transcript of Kevin Slaten's on-air conversation with St. Louis Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan on the March 27 broadcast of The Bottom Line on KFNS (590 AM "The Fan"). Duncan's assertion that Slaten put him on the air without his knowledge led to Slaten's dismissal. Follow this link to our feature story, "Kevin Slaten's Head Is About to Explode."

Announcer: Sensitivity training is not required here. You're listening to The Bottom Line with Kevin Slaten...afternoons on 590 The Fan.

Kevin Slaten: Kevin Slaten back with you live from Ozzie's at Westport. Glad you are with us on 590 The Fan's Bottom Line. We will be here today and tomorrow. We are calling Dave Duncan to see if he will talk about the Reyes situation...(phone ringing) That's a long ring.

Dave Duncan: Hello. Hello.

Dave.

Yes.

Hi, this is Kevin Slaten at 590 The Fan in St. Louis. How are you?

I'm fine thank you.

Good. Could we grab you for a couple of minutes to talk a little bit about the Reyes decision.

Kevin, I'm not going to go on your show.

Why not?

Because you're a nasty man and I don't like you.

Well wait a minute — you came on a month ago.

I did not come on your show knowing it was your show.

You didn't?

I do not believe so.

Can you tell me why you think I'm a nasty man?

You say stuff that doesn't need to be said, Kevin.

Well, give me an example of that.

Well, like the way you treat Tony is unfair.

Give me an example of that.

You keep bringing up the DWI and that whole affair.

Well see...Dave...Dave, let me tell you something, Dave. Let me tell you how misinformed you are. I have defended Tony La Russa on the DWI situation. So whoever you got that from is lying to you.

Well...

OK?

So your colleagues lie, huh?

Whoever told you that is a liar, yes.

Well...

Who told you that, Dave?

I've been told that.

By whom?

I'm not going to tell you who told it to me.

Why not?

Because it's not necessary.

Don't I have a right to face somebody who's lying about me?

Well, I don't believe they're lying. I mean I have heard you talk to people.

You don't...you don't. Well what if...

I heard it from several different people.

What if I play you a tape of me talking about Tony La Russa's DWI and it shows them to be a liar. Then what will you say? What would you say then?

Have you made...have you made fun of that whole event?

Absolutely not. In fact I'm the only guy...[Duncan interjects]...no hold on. I am the only guy in this town who has defended Tony La Russa with regard to that situation. The only guy. Now what do you say to that?

Well I say that there's somebody that doesn't believe that that's true.

I don't care what they believe. I can prove it to you. Would you like me to prove it to you?

You can prove it to me if you want.

When you get back to St. Louis, I'll prove it to you. Will you apologize to me when I prove it to you?...'cause you're slandering me.

I'm not slandering you publicly.

Sure you are.

The things you...

You're slandering me publicly.

If people talked about you publicly, Kevin, the way you talk about people on our ballclub, you wouldn't be a very happy camper.

Give me an example, Dave. You've already failed...

I don't listen to your show.

You don't?

I listen to what other people say.

You don't? So you've never heard...So you're admitting you've never heard anything, yet you're telling me what I say.

Look, look...

Is that what you're doing?

There have been enough people telling me things that you say on the air.

Give me...just give me one example.

They can't all be lying.

Dave, Dave, how about if I lie about you, would that sit right with you?

Well I am sure that you have.

Oh you are?

Yeah.

Well give me an example since you're so sure.

Well you went through that whole episode at one period of time talking about how I couldn't handle young pitchers. How I couldn't develop young pitchers.

No, in fact what I said was you...don't have a track record for handling young pitchers and your manager, by the way...[Duncan interjects]...wait a minute, your manager...hold on...Dave, your manager agreed with me. You know who he said? He gave me one example of the young pitchers that you've developed that was Britt Burns 25 years ago. Your manager agreed with me by the way...when I spoke to him about it.

I'll ask him about that.

Well, you go ahead and ask him about that.

Yeah.

He agreed with me in a phone conversation. Said 'Britt Burns, what about Britt Burns?' But really that's irrelevant. What you're doing right now is slandering me based on other people telling you lies.