Sure, I like him. He brings a fresh perspective and a definite enthusiasm for the job. The Angelos factor is highly over rated. The owner has time and again spent huge sums of money and the Orioles last sustained success was with him as owner. Does he step in and add his two cents? Of course he has, every owner has. But he and the team have gotten a bad rep that is going to be very difficult to overcome.

With Showalter already in place, this could be a very interesting management team, especially with up and comer Klentack also on board. I think Duquette will be successful, just how successful is anyone's guess.

Yes, I like the hiring of this guy, and yes, I think he's going to do an impressive job. Before he rebuilt the Red Sox he made the lowly Expos - the EXPOS - respectable. I say he's the perfect man for the job.

I bleed Black and Orange, except July-Feb when it is Purple and Black. However, this franchise makes it more and more difficult every year with their plodding ways.

Obviously, we should give Duquette some leeway here, but I am not sure he gets as much rope as we gave McPhail. He clearly needs some sort of signature move in short order ala the Bedard Trade to energize the fan base.

If he is allowed to implement his plans without interference from the Angelos family, I do think he can succeed here, but it will take longer then 3 years. Does Buck have that much patience?

The O's got the guy who was left after everyone they wanted for the job bailed on them.
I have no idea if he will work out, but that's who we got, so lets give him a chance and see what he does. He talks the talk, emphasizing scouting and player development, only time will tell if PA gives him a long enough leash to walk the walk.

Dan,
I'm hoping the guy succeeds but it's going to be very tough. Especially since the guy is showing up trying to fix an organization that has a 14 year losing streak and not a 2 or 3 year losing streak. Fans don't have any patience for starting over. If he doesn't do something to jump start this fan base the O's are going to continue to have low attendance. Not only at the games but Fan Fest and any other functions. I now live in Albuquerque and I decided to buy the MLB Extra Innings package last season because I felt like that was the season the O's would at least reach .500. But after awhile I couldn't stand to watch the games. As much as I love the O's, I can't see myself spending that kind of money to watch them rebuild again. I'm hoping that he truly rebuilds the farm system and some of the young guys finally start to reach their potential. That way he can truly add nice free agent pieces. But from what I heard Duquette say about free agency, we are in line for more guys like Garrett Atkins and Vladimir Guerrero next season.

Dan,

Duquette made more than one statement that illustrated his lack of preparation for his first press conference.

Duquette also stated that in the mid-60's he used to emulate Brooks swinging a bat while his brother emulated Mark Belanger.

Well, I know of no one who emulated Brooks swinging a bat, including Brooks himself.

And shortstop for the O's was patrolled by a kid named Aparicio during the mid-60's (Belanger didn't become a regular until '68).

I am not nit-picking...any more than usual, anyway.

But, here is Duquette trying to make a good first impression and the best he can offer is a condescending half-truth anecdote that any real Orioles' fan will see thru for what it was.

And, besides, for the last 14 years we've had our fill of lack of preparation.

Give the man a chance. I felt like he kept talking about building the farm system to keep from stepping on other peoples toes such as Buck or the Angelos, that already told him that he was hired to build the farm system. It will be interesting to see how Buck and him get along and who throws up their hands and gets out first.

I was disappointed at first because we got turned down by numerous people for this job. I will give him a chance but he will need to make the right choices to bring our farm system back to respectability. I really think persuing Fielder is smart. We won't but we should. More run support would help the young guns I think. Also, screw Tillman. I think he is past the hype and not much of a pitcher.

No, I don't like the hire. I question it because he's been out of the game for so long and alot of things have changed since then. Duquette said in his intoduction that he's kept up to date in the current game, but he's been on the outside looking in for 9 years. He said he's kept his connections, but what about the newer faces in the game? On the other hand, I fear that if Duquette wasn't hired, the O's would still be interviewing or Stockstill would the more likely canidate. I'll take Duquette as the lesser of the two evils.

Dan,

I'm not sure how the Orioles fan base are supposed to be excited about the Duquette hiring. Not only was he not a top three choice, but he wasn't even a top six choice. After being out of the game so long he's going to have to rely on lot of executives within the organization who have not been succuessful for such a long time. What else does it say about the organization when the team owner doesn't even show up to his top guy's press conference?

Dan,

First, amen and hallelujah to your final parenthetical statement. Talk about hamster wheels...

Second, the more I think about it the more I feel like the Orioles may have gotten really lucky with this. I stress MAY. My reasoning is that maybe by having to go with a last resort, gotta-hire-someone-before-all-the-free-agents-are-gone-and-we're-a-bigger-laughing-stock-than-before, they may have stepped into a guy who is willing to call ownership out on its BS. I HOPE he's the abrasive guy who clashes with ownership, because maybe that's what ownership needs; someone who will bully them back, or at least take them out of their comfort zone. I suspect ownership was unable to make the Lacava deal work because he was making demands that would take them out of their comfort zone. Once that happened they were back to square one and had to take someone relatively quickly, someone who was willing to say the right things to get the job, even if he doesn't intend to commit fully to what he says in an interview. Maybe Duquette is the catalyst for some actual change.

Or maybe the opposite happens. Maybe Duquette clashes with ownership and everyone digs in and nothing happens, leaving us tail-spinning as usual.

As an optimist I'm feeling good about it, but as a skeptic I'm not holding my breath either.

I agree that the same old talk of ownership getting in the way has been beaten to death. However, the reality is that Duquette clearly comes across as Angelos sock puppet. 10 years out of the league without a whisper and now suddenly he's back. I am not very optimistic. But my Love for the O's will not waiver.

I don't know if Dan is the best man for the job. Ultimately, this whole GM search was one of the most embarrassing things I've ever endured as a life-long Orioles fan - that includes the 0-21 start to the '88 season. I would've preferred to see the Orioles choose a fresh-faced up and comer like Proefrock from the Phillies. Frankly, this move baffles me. I sincerely hope to be pleasantly surprised in the near future. Regardless, I'm all in once spring training starts.

Not happy. First, this is the same old, same old. It's a an older dude who has been around and is a baseball guy, blah blah blah. That doesn't work anymore.

Get a younger person who knows the game, the stats, etc... and is hungry. Give me a Theo Epstein, a Jon Daniels, a Kim Ing.

I'm sick of boring, old, white dudes. It won't work. It won't work. It won't work.

I hope he does well, but the hill to climb is very high. Until management changes, it's unlikely he (or buck) can really succeed. So sad, but it's time (after 14 years) to face reality I'm afraid.

To those who note Angelos' willingness to spend money: (1) he has rarely (at least since gillick left) done so smartly; and (2) like the redskins, he only does it at the most superficial level. So he'll spend for a free agent (even overspend) and even in the draft -- where admittedly they have spent -- but not on the less visible stuff (scouting, development, analysis etc). Heck it took them 15 years to build a proper spring training stadium! Andy gets some credit for finally making that happen at least.

It won't change I'm sad to say.

I'll decide if he's the right guy based upon his actions between now and Jan 1. By then, he will have made decisions on front office, dipped into the FA pool, and possibly have made a trade.

The main thing I want to see is a change of culture in the front office. If it remains status quo, then why even have a GM. If he is rough around the edges and alienates some of the FO, I say 'good'. Who knows, maybe his demeanor works to our advantage. We don't really need more nice uys, or 'good baseball men' as we've heard over the years. We need a change.

ken -

Sustained success?

You call two years sustained success?

And after those two years of "sustained success" Angelos swooped in and ran our Manager of the Year and a Hall of Fame executive out of town.

And you call that "adding his two cents"?

Even if Angelos has stepped back in recent years, it doesn't matter. We're talking about a 14-year loser that needs a complete front office overhaul. And such an overhaul won't happen as long as Angelos is the owner, because he won't allow anyone to touch his good old boys.

It's a sad story, and as much as I hope it will change, I don't see it happening until a solid executive has absolute power in the front office.

That said, I do believe that Dan Duquette is a solid executive, and while he wasn't even close to my first choice, I think he'll do as good of a job as he can considering that he'll have to work with the Stockstills and Lee MacPhail iV.

"Duquette becomes the 14th top executive in Orioles history and the eighth under Angelos' ownership." That line from the Sun article says it all. I am the eternal fan and I truly wish Duquette success, but remain skeptical as long as the current ownership remains in place.

--

Punk, this is completely understandable. I get the skepticism, but you are reasonable about it. Drink chip on me.

I agree that it's all going to come down to the scouting and development programs. It's obvious that these are the areas that the O's must address in a meaningful way in order to be successful going forward. High priced FAs at this point are short term window dressing. They have had 14 years of opportunities for high draft picks, and in the end have a farm system berift of impact players. As an organization they have to find this unacceptable and fix it. How many touted arms have come up (many too soon, by the way), and flamed out? Too many to list. Sure, there's Matt and Nick, but we know the old saying about blind squirrels and nuts. So, am I holding my breath? No. But to paraphrase from Dumb and Dumber, I'm "telling you there's a chance"!

Cut the guy some slack. He is an experienced baseball man with a strong track record. His focus on building the farm system is correct, and hopefully he will be a better judge of talent than we've seen in the recent past.

Regarding his somewhat sappy stories about playing whiffle ball and pretending to be Brooks Robinson, so what? I think he was trying to soften the past image of being a tough guy who doesn't communicate well. Who cares as long as he and Buck can team up to bring a winner to the Yard. I'm optimistic and I think it was a good hire.

I tend to think that whoever got the O's GM job this time around has a higher chance of success the McPhail did.

McPhail had a whole luandry list of problems to solve when he landed here.
Bad contracts, a disgruntled clubhouse that was split and rocked by the steriods scandal, lack of a crediable seasoned manager to control the cancer in the clubhouse, a minor league system in disrepair, and no springtraining home for the club.

McPhail didn't create a winner at the ML level, but he resolved many major problems for the club and started and overhaul of the minor leagues. Many of the posters here have probably never seen a game of the O's minor league teams. There still remains a talent void at AAA, lots of guys there that will never have more then a cup of coffee in the big leagues. Some of them have already had that cup and are just hanging on.

But at Frederick the Keys displayed quite an array of talent this year. And Bowie saw an influx of young talent that moved up from Frederick this spring and during the season. Frederick promoted players to Bowie while pulling away to win a title.
At the end of the year many of the Keys mainstays had started the year in Salsbury.

That's what you want to see in a inor league club, players rising up the ladder and the club still winning with players promoted from a lower level club.

The O's still have a ways to go, but Buck is a seasoned manager with an eye for ML talent. Duquette has a track record of finding talent to fill a minor league system with prospects. McPhail tackled a number of tough problems and layed a strong foundation to build on.

The strongest endorsement I've heard for Duquette came from Buck Showalter.So I'm looking forward to seeing what the O's can do with the pair of them running the club.

Dan -

I missed the parenthetical paragraph when I first read your post. Thanks to Ben for pointing it out.

I would like to say that I respectfully disagree with that sentiment.

The mess in our front office is a current problem, and as long as it is, it's everyone's right to talk about it, regardless of how "tired" it is.

For most fans, talking about things on message boards and blogs is our only outlet. I apologize that you have to read and approve all of these comments, but you signed up for that when you agreed to write a blog, Dan. I'm sure anyone here would be willing to take your place, and would happily put up with discontent about the front office, for the opportunity to write about baseball for a living.

It's a sad state of affairs here in Baltimore. Our owner has driven the team into the ground, creating an air of ugliness about the franchise. Everyone knows that the "GM" in Baltimore has less power than every other GM in the game. Everyone knows that you don't have control over front office personnel. Everyone knows that Peter G. Angelos has his lawyer buddies, his sons and his good old boys, and if you question King Peter about letting any of those guys go, you're going to end up gone yourself.

And now, our sportswriters are telling us to stop talking about that. "Hey guys, it's not going to change, so just give up and accept it."

Sorry, Dan. I'm not going to do that.

And one more thing to you, Ben: The last time a front office exec clashed with the King of the Orioles, he was out of the organization real quick. And then Pat Gillick led the Mariners to a historic season and built the Phillies into an annual World Series contender.

Then Frank Wren wanted too much authority as well, and he didn't last long either.

Since then, that office in the warehouse with the weird, convoluted title on the door has been filled by a random assortment of yes-men and budget cutters.

I sure hope that Dan Duquette is different from Syd Thrift, Mike Flanagan, Jim Duquette, Jim Beattie and Andy MacPhail, but if Duquette challenges Angelos, he's not going to last very long.

--

Not Brooks: Again, I understand the point of view. And you're a guy who opines about different things on different levels. You get some slack when you get on an ownership soapbox. But we get plenty of people that all they do is complain about ownership. In any thread. No matter the subject. Got it. Voice heard. Now I ask them to answer the question posed, do you like the Duquette hiring? It can be done without the same old refrain. That's all I am saying.

I am not as put off by the years away from mlb. If he was as alienating as reports indicated, it's entirely possibly he had an epiphany where he realized he needed to stay away and gain some maturity and perspective, while still following the game from a distance. Perhaps now is the time that personally he is ready to assume such responsibility, and that a "kindler, gentler" version of Duquette, with the same abilities as a GM, will be the answer to the Orioles woes...

Nobody else wanted the job. Would you?

Being Angelos' sock puppet won't be all it's cracked up to be: no real authority, no money to spend, no plethopra of talent in the farm system, etc.

So, I'm glad Duquette took it - he's hungry, wants back into the bigs, has a pretty good track record (Montreal, Boston) - but he's just a younger McPhail. He won't have a free rein to change the team this year or next (or the year after for that matter) and, at best, anything he does do will show up, oh, in about a decade....

I feel like, again, "he's an experienced baseball man" is the wrong way to go. Who cares? Has it helped up having an "experienced baseball man" at the helm in the last 14 seasons? Anyone know the Vegas odds on the O's having a winning season next year? Because I'm betting against it.

I do wish this signing will create some changes in the roster. I do fear that we will have another DH such as Vlad killing any possible opportunity for a rally. The only pitchers that should be kept are Guthrie, Johnson, and perhaps Hunter. The remainder of the batting practice hurlers should be traded or released for anyone with a pulse and some guts to throw strikes. We need to be realistic that any free agent that could help the team will be gone before Angelos pulls the trigger on a move to sign any of them.

Thanks for clarifying, Dan.

Now that I'm off the ownership soapbox, and it's been a few days, here's my current thought on the Duquette hiring. Keep in mind, it might change tomorrow.

At this point, my feeling is combination of mild annoyance mixed with a sigh of relief.

I'm really bummed we couldn't seal the deal with Tony LaCava. I'm really bummed we didn't interview Damon Oppenheimer, Billy Eppler, David Forst, Paul DePodesta and several others. I'm really bummed we couldn't find someone who was currently employed as part of an organization with a ton of success in international scouting and/or player development.

That said, we could have done a lot worse than Dan Duquette.

Sure, he was probably my 15th choice out of the 15 or so possible candidates we heard about.

Sure, he's been out of MLB for 10 years.

Sure, he slipped up a few times in his press conference.

Sure, he was brash and arrogant in his time with the Red Sox.

Sure, his history is 10 years old.

But at least it's a history of success.

He built the Expos of the mid-90's. He laid the foundation for the Red Sox of the mid-2000's.

In short, I don't really like our new GM, but, considering how drawn out the process was and how many candidates flat out said "No", we could have done a lot worse.

I'll hope beyond hope that Duquette will be the guy to turn things around here, but I don't really expect it. He talks the talk, but when he comes up against Angelos, will he be able to revamp Player Development and International Scouting? He most likely won't be able to fire anyone, but will he be able to reassign the good old boys and bring in his own crew to really run thing? He says he wants to delve into the international FA market, but will he get the go-ahead to spend that money? And his policy on MLB FA's sounds similar to Andy MacPhail's - they're too risky.

After typing all of that out, I think my new current feeling on this whole thing is "skeptical at best".

We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Not Brooks, you keep harping on the "Will the owner spend money" refrain, and you forget, he has spent money, billions over the past several years. And on big names, too. Belle, Alomar, Palmeiro(the first time), Tejada(the first time), a host of supplemental players, Lopez, et al.

It was Angelos who told Pat Gillick to not sell off the team in the 1996 season, keeping people like Bonilla and Surhoff, and Wells and Erickson. That team went to the ALCS that year and a year later, they went wire to wire.

It was Angelos who killed the Aaron Sele deal, and he killed the Brian Roberts to Atlanta trade, both very good decisions.

The problem has been, one of them anyway, is that when he does spend the money, he doesn't spend on what he should. Why did the Orioles need Jeff Conine in 2006 when they already had two one-dimensional right handed hitters in Javy Lopez and Kevin Millar? They did turn him around for the immortal Angel Chavez, but it was decisions like signing Niner in the first place that made people wonder.

But here's the thing. Peter Angelos hates to lose. By all accounts he is stubborn, egotistical, a royal pain. But he also has the capacity to learn. His hiring of Andy MacPhail was the first step. Maybe the memories of the great non-sell off of 1996 made Angelos think that he knows something about baseball and maybe his suggestions to MacPhail crossed the line. But then he went out and hired a headstrong, control freak in Buck Showalter, knowing that they would likely butt heads somewhere along the way. And then Angelos goes out and hires another headstrong, control freak type in Dan Duquette. These are not hires an owner makes when he thinks he's going to be running the show.

The fact that MacPhail, then Showalter and Duquette have been hired maybe shows that the owner knows the team is broken and is willing to let the "baseball people", as was heard so often during the Steinbrenner years, do their job.

And who knows? Maybe he understands, being in his early 80's, that he doesn't have a ton of time left and he wants to leave his son a winner.

It's possible, ya know, and it's better constantly second guessing and complaining about the owner. Until proven otherwise, also very possible, I'm going to think positive.

The man seemed drunk; I am wondering if that is how the Orioles convinced him to take the job.

In all seriousness though, he did not address in any specifics what he intends to do with the club in the short, medium, or long term, other than to improve scouting. If that is the case, than I presume this club won't be any good for the next 3 years, at least, so we we need to explore trading Jones, Guthrie, Johnson, and Hardy now while their trade value is still there.

Duquette is a good hire, however Angelos will not let him do the job he needs to. Angelos can't help himself and his micro managing characteristics. I'd be very surprised if Orioles ever flirt with a winning record with Angelos as the owner.

bottom of the barrel hire! no, control,
expectations or progress, no free agent signings of notoriety!
as long as masn revenues, continue to outperform team revenues, nothing changes,losing continues.
when cable revenues shrink or are threatened by cancellation, the operation will change!

Dan,

Not my top choice (that was LaCava, from the moment Andy stepped down), but I think it's fine under 1 condition: he HAS to surround himself with solid assistant GM's to help his transition back into the game. He's missed a TON over the last 9 years from the player evaluation standpoint, and I'd just like to see him keep some top notch assistants around: at least to deal with statistics and at least one to deal with the international realm. Matt Klentak must be retained to ease his transition into the organization as well, considering we're inching up on the winter meetings and it's impossible to expect Duquette to even know what's he's inherited with so little time.

I'm sure Duquette is a qualified baseball exec. But even the very best baseball execs --Gillick, Wren -- become really awful in Baltimore. (Then they leave Baltimore and win pennants and World Championships again.)

I suppose there may be a reason the best baseball execs fail in Baltimore. Somebody should try and figure that out sometime.

Nice for someone from ownership show up to introduce him. Instead we get the montone voice vpice of PR.

Gordon Edes of ESPN.com covered Duquette in Boston and writes:

"For all his accomplishments, Duquette turned Yawkey Way toxic with his glaring lack of people skills. He alienated the team's biggest stars, Roger Clemens and Mo Vaughn … He failed to back his manager, Jimy Williams, in an ugly falling-out with angry star Carl Everett then promoted the unqualified Joe Kerrigan to succeed him, leading to Manny Ramirez's jumping the team in Anaheim. … His promise to create an assembly line of homegrown talent like he did in Montreal fell woefully short, underscored by the pathetic botching of negotiations with a drafted high school first baseman named Mark Teixeira.

"Team president Andy MacPhail couldn't turn things around (in Baltimore). Neither could the manager, Buck Showalter, after a promising start in 2010. And now they plan to sell Dan Duquette as the answer? Good luck with that. "

Dan,

I want to give a few scenerios and get your opinion, cool?

I think the only 'untouchables' - and I say this purely on gut - we have are Britton, Johnson, & Weiters.

If certain players were traded, what team and what return would you expect (if you can provide actual players, great - this way, a ML roster can be compared to what we have now)?

Markakis to __________ for: ???
Matusz to ___________ for: ???
Reynolds to _________ for: ???
Hardy to ____________ for: ???
Guthrie (still say he coud be an 'Eck' type closer) to ___________ for: ???

I'm curious to see your thoughts on the players' possibility/probability of being traded as well as the team and players we receive and how it shapes our ML roster.

As always,
Peace

Hey - it is our duty as 'core' fans to show up and support OUR team - atleast we have one and the PLAYERS deserve every ounce we have. I still think the '89 team was fueled by a sense of bekieving.

So, get to the yard and put an end to people like me who can still "SitAnywhereAtOsGames"!

As always, tomorrow will be Veteran's Day. All veterans have fought in foreign wars for the freedom and service to this country. I dedicate this to the Vietnam Veterans who had no victory parades.

Be proud; it wasn't your mistake. With the social consciousness concerning humanity that was prevalent in the Sixties and Seventies, any war for any reason, justifiable or not, would have been unconscionable....Our country was not proud of itself; therefore, it was unwilling, if not crippled, in showing us any pride or compassion...be proud you served and grateful you survived. You know more about life than anyone else around you.

GOD BLESS AMERICA

Lifelong Red Sox fan here - want to wish Dan the best in Baltimore. He will do a great job in rebuilding your program - he did an amazing job - for the product on the field - while he was in Boston. Not the best PR guy, but quite frankly the team will be solid, he makes very shrewd moves.

Edes says he alienated Clemens and Vaughn, but in hindsight don't those seem like great moves?

He targeted Pedro and Manny and got them - and it was his draft picks that brought in Schilling in 2004.

Opening Day in 2005 was very interesting as the Red Sox introduced the players based on how long they had been with the team. That made me realize how much of that team was built by Duquette.

Consider that Duquette was responsible for the following in the 2004 WS Team:

Starting outfield: (Manny, Damon, & Nixon (i think Nixon was drafted by Gorman - but brought through the system by Duquette);

Starting Catcher: (Varitek)

Half the Starting Rotation: (Lowe & Pedro)

The key bench player in that series run was probably Youklis - Another Duquette draftee.

I'll say Epstein did a nice job assembling that team, but Duquette gave him all his cornerstones.

Duquette DID NOT MISS on big free agent signings, he did a nice job in the draft, although he had a few too many reclamation projects for me (but he was hamstrung a little bit by $$ - Red Sox did not always spend with reckless abandonment).

He also got the best years out of Pedro and Manny, no question. Signed them to appropriate deals and we got our money's worth.

Good luck in Baltimore - you may not always like the personality of Duquette, but I think you will really appreciate the results.

ken -

I was going to fire back at you, but there's no point. You and I could argue back and forth all day every day.

Let's just take solace in the one thing we can agree on: We both hope that Duquette is the guy who turns things around for this organization.