Duquette interview on WEEI

[DrungoHazewood]

I'm going to be real intrigued to see how he can have a flat payroll and still field a competitive team next year...

You can't field a 75 win team and expect to increase your resources ticket sales wise. Fans need to actually want to watch the product.

He's going to need to field an 85-90 win team to increase attendance dramatically, which it sounds like that what he wants to do to generate more revenue.

And I highly doubt he'll have players that can put up the necessarily overachievements to do that without premium FAs or a major trade involving our top prospects.

He's probably saying what he has to for PR purposes, knowing full well that you don't take a shell of an organization with serious resource limitations and a whisper-thin farm system and turn it competitive overnight. He'll do what he can to inject more talent into the organization, field the best team he can (which may well be a .500 team) while working to fix the player development and acquisition stuff.

It's interesting you haven't heard him say a thing about Machado or even Bundy...

He's making sure you don't bail on the team until late March. Keeping that door open a picometer. 99.9999999999% sure he's not trading them still means there's a .0000000001% chance he will!

[ccbird]

He didn't make any conclusion about Matusz, BUndy, or Machado.

Other than that they are NOT HITS, yet.

You can hardly argue this. Machado and Bundy have done nothing at the major league level, and Matusz had a good half season at the major league level and followed it by an awful year. Josh Towers has accomplished more as a major league player than Matusz. He is clearly not yet a "hit".

Then say we've had one hit in the last 9 years. Dont throw the last two in there because your linking two players that have 1 year of pro baseball exp combined. If your trying to make a point about how bad the drafting has been there is no way in any way Bundy or Machado should be linked to the bad drafting in the top 10 and thats exactly how he makes it seem with his comment.

[incubus]

He's absolutely wrong in regards to having one hit in the top 10 in the last 11 years. Of course, overall the drafting hasn't been good the last decade but don't exaggerate and make a false statement.

No he isn't, he is talking about top 10 overall draft picks. Listen to it again. He says the Orioles have drafted in the top ten, 11 times since their last winning season, and only one has hit.

Markakis was not a first round. It's too early to tell about anyone else.

He was absolutely right in his assessment.

The part I didn't like is when he referred to the Orioles as "they" instead of "we".

I want him to take ownership and responsibility of the team. From this point on, I want him to be submersed in this organization, and always see the Orioles as a "We."

[TonySoprano]

No he isn't, he is talking about top 10 overall draft picks. Listen to it again. He says the Orioles have drafted in the top ten, 11 times since their last winning season, and only one has hit.

Markakis was not a first round. It's too early to tell about anyone else.

He was absolutely right in his assessment.

The part I didn't like is when he referred to the Orioles as "they" instead of "we".

I want him to take ownership and responsibility of the team. From this point on, I want him to be submersed in this organization, and always see the Orioles as a "We."

7th pick in the 1st round, 2003

ETA

Orioles first round since 2000

2011 Dylan Bundy (4)

2010 Manny Machado (3)

2009 Matthew Hobgood (5)

2008 Brian Matusz (4)

2007 Matt Wieters (5)

2006 Billy Rowell (9)

2005 Brandon Snyder (13)

2004 Wade Townsend (8)

2003 Nick Markakis (7)

2002 Adam Loewen (4)

2001 Chris Smith (7)

[MrOrange82]

No he isn't, he is talking about top 10 overall draft picks. Listen to it again. He says the Orioles have drafted in the top ten, 11 times since their last winning season, and only one has hit.

Markakis was not a first round. It's too early to tell about anyone else.

He was absolutely right in his assessment.

The part I didn't like is when he referred to the Orioles as "they" instead of "we".

I want him to take ownership and responsibility of the team. From this point on, I want him to be submersed in this organization, and always see the Orioles as a "We."

Markakis was taken 7th overall in 2003.

That being said, I think the reactions to DD's "11 years" comment have been way, way overblown. The guy was doing an interview, and he probably didn't have specific draft dates in front of him. He was making a general statement about how well the team has/hasn't drafted.

And the fact is, regardless of what a person think's is being argued, Bundy and Machado cannot be said to be "hits" yet. They also can't be said to be misses. Until they play in the majors, "hit" and "miss" are labels that can't be applied to those players. Thus, it IS fair to exclude them right now when talking about who the Orioles have "hit" on over the last decade or so. You can't mark something in the win column in re: good drafting/development until it actually proves to be a win.

[ccbird]

Markakis was taken 7th overall in 2003.

That being said, I think the reactions to DD's "11 years" comment have been way, way overblown. The guy was doing an interview, and he probably didn't have specific draft dates in front of him. He was making a general statement about how well the team has/hasn't drafted.

And the fact is, regardless of what a person think's is being argued, Bundy and Machado cannot be said to be "hits" yet. They also can't be said to be misses. Until they play in the majors, "hit" and "miss" are labels that can't be applied to those players. Thus, it IS fair to exclude them right now when talking about who the Orioles have "hit" on over the last decade or so. You can't mark something in the win column in re: good drafting/development until it actually proves to be a win.

I agree that he was just kinda of going off the top of his head. His point about not drafting well is vaild and true. That said, he went to far in making his point. Bundy and Machado have one year of pro ball combined of freaking course they aren;t a "hit". I know if I was Bundy or Machado I would be taking that comment the wrong way even if no slight to them was intended. You guys want to get technical about it fine but clearly his point was we havent drafted well this decade, which is true but in making that point in no way should the last two drafts have been mentioned. It's too early. If he would have said 9 years instead of 11 that would've been fine.

[Prayin4Reign]

This is a quirk of Duquette's that I've picked up from the start . May be just me being picky but,he never refers to the organization as "WE".

I thought the same thing. He referred to the Orioles as "they" a number of times. I thought it was a little peculiar myself.

[TonySoprano]

This is a quirk of Duquette's that I've picked up from the start . May be just me being picky but,he never refers to the organization as "WE".

Except that he did three times in my post that you quoted.

"so we have our own regional sports network"

"you know to the extent that we build the team"

"I think then we will have some more resources to invest in the team."

[ccbird]

I thought the same thing. He referred to the Orioles as "they" a number of times. I thought it was a little peculiar myself.

And this is what I meant when I said he felt too disconnected from the organization. It doesnt feel like he even feels like a part of the organization or even has that much enthusiasm to be the GM of the organization. Again, I don't blame him for being less than enthused having to work for PA but you can pretend.

[Barnaby Graves]

7th pick in the 1st round, 2003

ETA

Orioles first round since 2000

2011 Dylan Bundy (4)

2010 Manny Machado (3)

2009 Matthew Hobgood (5)

2008 Brian Matusz (4)

2007 Matt Wieters (5)

2006 Billy Rowell (9)

2005 Brandon Snyder (13)

2004 Wade Townsend (8)

2003 Nick Markakis (7)

2002 Adam Loewen (4)

2001 Chris Smith (7)

Good lord this team enjoys shooting itself in the talon.

[Barnaby Graves]

And this is what I meant when I said he felt too disconnected from the organization. It doesnt feel like he even feels like a part of the organization or even has that much enthusiasm to be the GM of the organization. Again, I don't blame him for being less than enthused having to work for PA but you can pretend.

What's the point, everyone knows what's going on, I appreciate his candor.

[TonySoprano]

And this is what I meant when I said he felt too disconnected from the organization. It doesnt feel like he even feels like a part of the organization or even has that much enthusiasm to be the GM of the organization. Again, I don't blame him for being less than enthused having to work for PA but you can pretend.

I noticed this as well*, however, I'm inclined to give him some slack. He's talking to the Red Sox media, and forgot his place (a few times), and he's still getting his feet wet in the new job. I hadn't heard him interview before he came here, so I don't know how he used to come across. So far, my impression is that he is not a smooth cliched talking points man like Andy. Andy was more polished, but when you read what he had to say, he didn't give a lot of substance, always playing poker.

*

At times, he still refers to the Orioles as "they."

[MrOrange82]

I agree that he was just kinda of going off the top of his head. His point about not drafting well is vaild and true. That said, he went to far in making his point. Bundy and Machado have one year of pro ball combined of freaking course they aren;t a "hit". I know if I was Bundy or Machado I would be taking that comment the wrong way even if no slight to them was intended. You guys want to get technical about it fine but clearly his point was we havent drafted well this decade, which is true but in making that point in no way should the last two drafts have been mentioned. It's too early. If he would have said 9 years instead of 11 that would've been fine.

The guy didn't come to Baltimore with a reputation for delivering inspiring speeches. And again, I think there's something to be said for the fact that he said they haven't had a hit in eleven years, as opposed to "every draft has been a bust" or something similar. Specifically mentioning Wieters, a ML player, should signal to Machado and Bundy that "not yet" applies to their situations.

I think the major problem that some people might subconsciously have with your argument is that it could also theoretically be applied to defend draftees like Billy Rowell. All the talent in the world, arguably good pick at the time, but an obvious miss in retrospect.

[ccbird]

The guy didn't come to Baltimore with a reputation for delivering inspiring speeches. And again, I think there's something to be said for the fact that he said they haven't had a hit in eleven years, as opposed to "every draft has been a bust" or something similar. Specifically mentioning Wieters, a ML player, should signal to Machado and Bundy that "not yet" applies to their situations.

I think the major problem that some people might subconsciously have with your argument is that it could also theoretically be applied to defend draftees like Billy Rowell. All the talent in the world, arguably good pick at the time, but an obvious miss in retrospect.

We're starting to argue semantics which I don't care to do. I'll leave it at I understand his overall point and agree with it but he coul've worded it better. And no not that big a deal, but I'm nitpicky today.

[MrOrange82]

We're starting to argue semantics which I don't care to do. I'll leave it at I understand his overall point and agree with it but he coul've worded it better. And no not that big a deal, but I'm nitpicky today.

Brother, after 14 years of this, I'm surprised I don't find myself kicking puppies for daring to display unmitigated glee. It's understandable.