Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe examines Dan Duquette’s unusual journey to becoming the Orioles’ GM. A Boston-area native, Duquette realized his dream at 36 years of age when he was named GM of the Red Sox, but that came to an abrupt end in 2002 when he was dismissed by new owners, only to see the Sox — anchored by a number of players he drafted or acquired — win the World Series two years later. Duquette spent 10 years away from the game, coaching his kids’ teams, founding a league in Isarael and running a college summer team, Abraham notes. Duquette revealed to Abraham that he was offered multiple jobs that he turned down — including a position with the Braves and an adviser role with the Red Sox — because he believed he’d get another crack at a GM role. Duquette feels the time away has made him friendlier and put things into perspective; his cousin, Jim Duquette (an analyst for MLB Network), says there are distinct differences between how Dan was with the Red Sox and how he is with the O’s. He isn’t bothered as much by “little things” and is less guarded. “Baltimore isn’t Boston. It isn’t New York. That aspect has been good for him. He doesn’t take himself so seriously,” said Jim.
More from the AL East…
- Mike Napoli has dealt with injuries to his finger, back and toe, writes Rob Bradford of WEEI.com, but despite all of those issues he’ll be undergoing surgery for a different procedure on Nov. 4 . Napoli will undergo Bimaxillary Advancement surgery in an attempt to end a career-long battle with sleep apnea. “I’ve tried numerous things and none of them worked,” Napoli told Bradford via text. “Dental mouth piece, CPAP machine, medicines … It’s just gotten to the point where I have to get this done.”
- The Yankees have had serious dialogue about hiring Padres senior VP of baseball operations and former Mets GM Omar Minaya, multiple sources tell Newsday’s Erik Boland. Andy Martino of the New York Daily News tweets that the team would be interested in Minaya in a scouting or advisory role — not as a replacement for farm director Mark Newman. As Boland notes, GM Brian Cashman has brought former GMs into the fold before, hiring Kevin Towers as a special assignment scout in 2009 and hiring Jim Hendry to fill the same role since 2012.
- Recently fired Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long is generating quite a bit of interest from other clubs, reports Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News (Twitter links). To this point, Long has already spoken with the Mets, Braves and Blue Jays, including a meeting with Mets GM Sandy Alderson. The D’Backs, Brewers and Pirates are all possibilities as well, per Feinsand.
Duquette never seemed bothered by the “little things” in Boston either, like what handedness the pitching prospects he acquired were.
Not sure if there’s some specific incident you’re referring to, but it matters a lot more if they’re good than what hand they throw with.
It didn’t really matter (and the trade was an amazing one, to his credit), but Duquette thought that Derek Lowe was left-handed until after acquiring him.
Hah, I didn’t know that. I’ll let it slide though. Getting Slocumb out of town for all those years of Lowe and Varitek was worth it.
I wish Napoli well in curing his sleep apnea. I can’t believe he’s put up with it this long without finding a solution.
While Duquette has totally turned the Orioles around, Theo has managed to lead the Cubs to 3 consecutive last place finishes in their division and an abysmal won/loss record over those 3 years. I guess now we know who is REALLY the one responsible for breaking the curse. Thanks, Dan!
Truthfully, thats unfair on Theo.
He went into the Cubs with the organisation on its knees and told everyone its a long term job, which we all knew anyway.
They have improved their W/L record every year since hes been there and now sit on the verge of properly competing next year with many from one of the deepest farm systems in Baseball ready to step up to the show.
Hes doing exactly what he said he would, and im no Cubs fan.
i think i would disagree with that, and like UK, I’m not a Cubs fan. Theo has a specific plan in mind, they have gathered an admirable number of prospects, and they aren’t just thrashing around aimlessly. If his plan works out, there will be a solid base of younger, less expensive talent to build on. Things can certainly go wrong, but there’s clearly a well-thought out intent.
Hiring Theo doesn’t magically erase all the poor decisions the Cubs have made.
The jury is still out on the Cubs. Theo did a good job finishing off that championship team in Boston. Duquette did the heavy lifting. If he had gotten the chance to stay in the job with the resources John Henry provided, he likely would have done the same thing Theo ended up doing.
Theo said the Cubs would be a long-term rebuilding project. He inherited a good team in Boston, but Chicago was a toxic waste dump. Next year is the year you start to judge him on wins and losses there.
I am not sure why I am so sure, but I doubt Duquette ever would have been able to trade Nomar. I’m not sure the Sox win with Nomar. I don’t know if Duquette would have hired Francona. I know the Sox don’t win without Francona (+Schilling, who he brought with him).
so you’re detracting from Theo for the situation he inherited in Boston, and in the same breath, completely disregarding the situation he inherited in Chicago.
Am I reading that right?
So, you are saying that Theo deserves the credit in Boston despite the relatively small amount of time he was in charge there yet he deserves none of the blame in Chicago because he has only been there a short time.
Am I reading that right?
What I am saying is that Theo (and Cashman) are both incredibly overrated.
I get that maybe it’s more prestigious with the Yankees v the Padres, but considering that Minaya is already Senior VP of baseball operations, wouldn’t a ‘scouting or advisory role’ be a big step down? I’m not really knowledgeable about organizational power structures in front offices, but based on his current job title, it would seem like he already has a great job.
Depends on the pay.
Duquette traded Heathcliff Slocumb for Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek. He also dealt Carl Pavano for Pedro Martinez. He also signed Manny Ramirez. Give the man his due. It wasn’t all Theo. I knew that the O’s were going in the right direction when they brought Dan on board.
I personally find it incredibly hard to believe Duquette was ever offered a job, much less turned one down, with the Braves for the simple fact that he didn’t come off the John Schuerholz/Bobby Cox school of baseball tree. Its not a knock on Duquette, I’d love to see a mind like his in Atlanta. Its that both Schuerholz and Cox have earned a reputation of hiring close, personal friends from their inner sanctum instead of more qualified and knowledgeable guys from outside the organization.
I think the Braves just like good baseball people.
I know that Schuerholz and John Hart have been “friends” – as they made trades and competed with one another. But I think they brought John on because he’s a terrific baseball guy, and a traditionalist as opposed to a stat-oriented GM. The Braves are a heavy ‘scout / organization / stay with our guys / don’t turn over more then half half the roster every year, and 1/3 more during the season’ type of operation. Duquette is a solid baseball guy, he fits. I don’t know that Frank Wren was a buddy-buddy for any more of a reason then they bonded on seeing baseball from a traditional way of building and maintaining an organization.
Yankees want Minaya? They can have him. I’ll even pack his bags. Maybe (hopefully) they’ll take Dee too. If a trade was necessary I’d ask for a ham sandwich in return.
I like Duquette because he has made a lot of in-season acquisitions to help the Orioles remain competitive the past 3 years, as well as finding players other teams took a pass on, and being active in the international market.
Though speaking of predecessors, the Orioles and Duquette have been successful partially due to the decisions of the Orioles previous GM Andy MacPhail. The Bedard trade for Tillman, Jones and Sherill, Uehara for Davis and Hunter, Whoever for O’Day, and Whoever for JJ Hardy. Oh, and hiring Buck Showalter. Like him or not, I think MacPhail deserves a lot of credit for rebuilding this team. Duquette is really good at spotting talent in different areas that MacPhail wasn’t, which has added to the Orioles success.
I’m not taking anything away from Duquette, he’s done a great job, but I don’t think it came from mostly him.
I will be interesting to see how good of a job Duquette does adding talent to the O’s in the next few years. They have some good pieces, but their farm system isn’t exactly loaded with impact talent. And Duquette has kind of sacrificed potential opportunities to acquire more young, impact talent for the sake of the current big league squad. So far he has done a great job of finding temporary diamonds in the rough, but you’d have to think eventually, for the O’s to sustain long term success, Dan is going to have to add more young, impact players.
I think with the Orioles activity in the international market you’ll start to see more players breakout thru their system. They left that market untapped for years and are finally starting to invest in it within the past few years. I think that was part of the problem for years and its just now finally starting have effect.
Until the O’s become aggressive in the South American areas, they aren’t going to make an impact in the international market.
Duquettes big with scouting the Asian market. You’re right though, they need more of a presence down in south America. It’s still light years from where it was a decade ago.
Minaya would be a fantastic hire for the Yankees.
He’s not suited to be a GM but he knows baseball talent.
Omar is well respected around the game.
Wish Napoli the best in recovering from such a difficult condition. Perhaps that’s a contributing factor to him being a monster power hitter one month, and then being mediocre the next three months. Saw that with the Angels, Rangers, and now the Sox. Not to bash him but there had to be something going on that was keeping him from fulfilling his potential at the plate. Hope he gets better.