Orioles executive VP of baseball operations Dan Duquette joined Jim Bowden and Jim Duquette of MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM to discuss his team’s offseason plans. Here’s a partial audio link to the interview, as well as other details from Jim Duquette’s Twitter account (links here). Highlights included…
- Duquette hinted that the Orioles could be moving on from Mark Trumbo, saying “we like some of the other options, some of the shorter-term options on the market that look to be a little bit more cost-effective for the club.” Since Trumbo rejected a qualifying offer, the O’s will receive a first round draft pick if Trumbo signs elsewhere, which is no small consideration for the Orioles given how the qualifying offer system has been altered for future seasons. “The value of that draft pick has been enhanced with the negotiations of the new basic agreement,” Duquette said. “In other words, that’s about the last time you can acquire that level of pick for a compensation free agent.”
- The Orioles still are looking for outfield help as well as pitching depth in the form of “another veteran pitcher.” Duquette didn’t rule out a reunion with Jason Hammel, noting that the O’s liked Hammel and how he performed for Baltimore in the 2012-13 seasons. The Rangers, Yankees, Mariners and Marlins have all been linked to Hammel at different points this offseason.
- Earlier this winter, Duquette commented that Jose Bautista wasn’t an Orioles target due to the long-time Blue Jays slugger’s unpopularity amongst Baltimore fans. Duquette clarified those comments today and while he feels his words “kind of got blown out of proportion,” he didn’t walk them back. “I was trying to make it clear to [Bautista’s] agent that I didn’t want the Orioles in that conversation because I didn’t want the fans being upset that we were out there trying to bring Jose Bautista here after we’d competed against him…for the last 6-7 years,” Duquette said. In my view, this is an unusual public stance for an executive to take, especially since Bautista (as a veteran slugger who could be available at something of a discount price) fits the model of past late-winter Duquette signings.
Anybody else getting the feeling that Bautista is extremely toxic?
As an Orioles fan I feel we should bring in Jason hammel and Jose Bautista even though we have competed against and have had disagreements with him it all comes down to a business and what’s best for the team and the team could use Jose
No to Joe
Right, just like the Red Sox didn’t want David Price because of his feud with David Ortiz. You get the players that make you a better team period. If they perform the fans will love them. Now if you have some concern about whether they will perform, that’s an entirely different story.
Seems weird but maybe he’s covering for some of his players. I’d have to assume someone important in the organization doesn’t like him, only reason why you would rule it out.
I think he’s covering for the fact that he doesn’t think Bautista will perform. Although he could just as easily have said they weren’t interested without revealing why.
He could just come out and say Bautista’s in the twilight of his career? That worked so well the last time Duke said it
Yeah exactly. Who in Baltimore is pressuring Duquette to come clean with fans about why they aren’t pursuing Bautista? Nobody.
Maybe, he’s had enough feuds with Adam Jones and Daren O’day
I feel Darren O’Day probably doesn’t get a phone call from Duquette to make sure he’s cool with a free agent signing. And as for Adam Jones, if he doesn’t want a healthy Bautista in the same lineup with him, then he’s probably more about Adam Jones than he is about winning.
If Adam Jones doesn’t want Bautista, he has every right as team and community leader to win this particular disagreement.
Besides, Bautista’s not going to be very good next year and will cost a draft pick. Would be better to just sign Alvarez again.
Dan Duquette at it again. Sounds like he’s saying he doesn’t want to sign any player who’s played against them for any length of time. Going to be a barren cupboard when trying to make a trade. Rule out any player that’s played for an AL East team, maybe the whole AL.
That’s not really what he’s saying. He should not have made the earlier comment about Bautista, but I think it’s a common opinion in FO’s. The guy’s just a disaster for clubhouses (apparently). When he’s rocking a 950 OPS you can live with that. When he’s down at 800 and can’t play defense, not so much.
I think Joey’s gonna be unemployed until June. Maybe that will take him down a couple notches. It’s great to be proud, but you can take it too far and it goeth before the fall.
It’s Bautista we’re talking about, here. He wasn’t Mr. Popular with opponents even before bat flips and Odor and smack talking umpires and Cleveland pitchers.
What a strange statement for any GM to make publicly. To do it twice is really weird, especially since the second version is just as suspect, logically, as the first one.
Why is Duquette being so defensive about this? Better for him if he’d just said nothing at all.
Restraint of pen and tongue, Dan…..
Dan is a fool. He’s condescending, arrogant, and has no consistent philosophy about how to run the team. Trading away draft picks just to dump salary that should never have been taken on in the first place is really dumb, and that’s not all…
There is only room for one true leader on this Orioles team and that’s Ubaldo, I think him and Trumbo clashed and that’s why the team couldn’t get past the the Jays. I say pass
Ubaldo sucks, no one follows the lead of the worst pitcher on the team. The team leader is Adam Jones.
Ubaldo has world series experience while Adam Jones has never even sniffed a ring
Did you watch the 2007 World Series?
Ubaldo sucks, Adam Jones is the leader.
Adam Jones is the leader.
So who sucks and who is the leader again?
Peter O’Brien.
Whether or not he gets rave reviews on his leadership is yet to be determined…defense at C and OF, not rave
There’s been a bunch of Grumpy Guses around here that want to kill that joke. We can’t let them win.
Don’t want to kill the joke, but I’ll moderate it. I think it needs to be a triple post to call the joke up. That was only a double post, my friends.
fair enough. I likw that ruling
What? I thought it was a triple dip…anyways I can agree that it needs to be used more sparingly now, but leaving it to only triple posts might be a little harsh…I’m going to save it for the right times and probably for the guys who have been such jerks about it’s use so far
OOPS, you’re right, it is a triple post. For that, you can also use it for catchers with corner outfield experience, too!
Basically Bautista’s price is apparently dropping to the point where they could consider signing him, and it’s like oops, the media twisted my words.
Yeah. When Dan didn’t want him, it’s because the fans hate him, but now that the pricenis coming down, weeeeellll, “you misunderstood me.”
The funny thing-not really funny-is that the clarification is even more confusing than the original comment.
What a class Act is Dan.
His Bautista/Orioles comments thing, is a bit like when Jim Edmonds went to the Cubs from the hated Cardinals. (except he was released by SD for sucking.) Cubs fans hated Edmonds with a passion for years before. When he was first signed, fans were in a bit of an uproar. But as he said started performing very well again, and on the Cubs, and he turned into a player the Cubs fans liked. Baltimore will like Bautista if he plays well… They won’t if he doesn’t…
If the Astros can sign Beltran, who the fans booed for 11 years, I think the Orioles can sign Bautista. Just a strange move for a GM to say no to a guy because the fans would be upset. Last time I checked fans like winning.
If Bautista signs with Baltimore, the primary matter for the fans is going to be his performance. If he goes out there and puts up 2014/2015 numbers (especially if they get him on a bargain due to his icy market) few O’s fans are going to be complaining about his past. Damon going to New York and Murphy going to the Nats are recent examples I can think of with a similar mold.
Bautista’s lousy attitude fit right in with the Jays. I’m not sure if the fans whining over every call against them came first or if Bautista created it, but when they added Upton who is as bad or worse at arguing calls it became downright childish!
When two of the worse players at judging the strike zone cry over every pitch they miss it has to PO the umps and cause other team mates to not get the close ones!
Actually, Bautista’s knowledge of the strike zone is well regarded by baseball professionals.
But it’s so easy to assassinate a guy’s character on a Web site, isn’t it. And slam the entire fan base of a team while you’re doing it….
Bautista is one of the best in thole league at judging the strike zone. When he gets mad, it’s because he’s right.
*the whole
Lol
Some time in the 2000s, Boston and the Yankees invented complaining about umps. Ortiz and Jeter were the worst, as they never believed a pitcher ever threw them a called strike.
Bautista learned from the best!
As far as I can see the only whiners are the Bautista bashes. It’s a sure sign you’re good, real good when when the simpletons here whine about you. Don’t believe for a minute what Duquette is saying. He’s the idiot for saying he won’t sign Bautista because he was the opposition . The bigger idiots are those who bought that line of crap…but as we know, there’s one born every day.
But what does that make you? Your whining about other people’s bashing
Pat, you walked right into that one.
Pot….kettle…..
Everytime I see Duquette I keep thinking the Orioles hired Dan Aykroyd.
I agree. To me, DD sounds like the Bass-O-Matic salesman.
He’s probably on the phone right now selling Bautista on the rich Corinthian leather of the Baltimore clubhouse sofas. Maybe pulling a Fred Garvin sales pitch on him.
He would have fit in with Bmore a few years back when they would sign past their prime sluggers. Please steer clear of Joey bats please he is steadily declining . Hammel still looks good on a short deal though.
Duquette had the cojones to out an agent that might try and illegitimately use the Orioles as negotiating leverage. Of course if teams are talking to eachother it becomes collusion. Ask a question in an interview get an answer.
Bautista to the As one a one year deal. They don’t have to give up a draft pick for him and can trade him for a lil something mid season to a contender if he is hot. They could use the bat and a DH.
Where are the Rockies on this? Play him at 1B and free Desmond
As an O’s fan, there’s no player as hated in recent memory as Jose Bautista. It might not seem as big a deal to other baseball fans, but he’s gone out of his way to express a lot of disrespectful things towards the Orioles and their players. It’s a lot of bad blood to ignore. And to be honest, there’s probably still some scores to be settled from some players’ minds.
What Duquette can’t say publicly is that if he signed Bautista, Showalter and several of his players would lose their collective minds. O’Day and Jones have been very candid with their dislike for Bautista while it is likely that several others privately don’t like him, and Showalter is a huge clubhouse atmosphere guy. Duquette can’t say “we won’t sign him because he’s a jerk and would disrupt our clubhouse”, because there are probably rules against saying things like that. However, it’s the reason.