Dan Duquette to be on ESPN Radio with Jim Bowden @2pm.

[McLovin]

"We're not "marketing" Adam Jones".

justD said the comment was "we're not marketing him to trade him" - as in "we're not putting him in all of our media stuff with the thought in mind that he won't be here..."

[weams]

Let's not forget, though, that before the O's pulled Matusz out of AA, they already had promoted Bergesen, Berken, Hernandez and Tillman from AAA. [/Quote]

I got the distinct impression that Matusz would get an opportunity to fix his craft in the minors. DD obviously feels that Matusz got exposed in his patterns of success without a backup plan or the ability to adjust.

[Mr Snuffleupagus]

Well, nothing new and exciting. But Duq must realize that between the time that Matusz got yanked from AA to the time he got crushed in 2011, he pitched pretty succesfully for 1.3 seasons? He almost makes it sound like Matusz had trouble in 2011 because he didn't get enough time in AA in 2009, which to me is a misdiagnosis. On the other hand, if he is just making the point that our system was so thin that we had to rush Matusz in a way he wants to avoid, I am fine with that.

Let's not forget, though, that before the O's pulled Matusz out of AA, they already had promoted Bergesen, Berken, Hernandez and Tillman from AAA. It is not as though the O's let Matusz leapfrog a bunch of major league-ready AAA pitchers. They had a bunch of cannon fodder at Norfolk at the time, and Matusz's 4.67 ERA at the end of 2009 was respectable and certainly better than what I would have expected from anyone else we had available for a call-up.

It sounded to me that DD was suggesting (I have xm) that Matusz lack of time at AA failed to allow him to fully mature as a pitcher. So, while he had success at the ML level (he mentioned his 7 straight wins in 2010), he wasn't able to adjust once the league adjusted to him. Not saying that's a completely accurate assessment, but as someone else already mentioned, he seemed adamant that pitchers coming up from here on out will get a full season at AA before going any further.

[atomic]

His cousin was on the air this morning saying it was a mistake to only have two guys in major league scouting and every team in baseball has a lot more. Pretty bad when even your cousin is trashing you. From what I have heard from DD he doesn't seem the sharpest tool in the shed but whatever. He will be judged by the teams record.

[weams]

It sounded to me that DD was suggesting (I have xm) that Matusz lack of time at AA failed to allow him to fully mature as a pitcher. So, while he had success at the ML level (he mentioned his 7 straight wins in 2010), he wasn't able to adjust once the league adjusted to him. Not saying that's a completely accurate assessment, but as someone else already mentioned, he seemed adamant that pitchers coming up from here on out will get a full season at AA before going any further.

Adamant that the most important step in the development of a you pitcher ill not be cut short. Absolutely clear.

[Orioles0615]

From what I am reading from you guys, sounds like another interview where DD sounded like he had no idea what the hell he was doing. Hey look at the bright side, I will still be able to get cheap under 30 dollar tickets for right around home plate next year off stub hub. :2yay-thumb:

[33rdst]

From what I am reading from you guys, sounds like another interview where DD sounded like he had no idea what the hell he was doing. Hey look at the bright side, I will still be able to get cheap under 30 dollar tickets for right around home plate next year off stub hub. :2yay-thumb:

I hope yoy didn't get that from my post. I think Duquette was pretty clear about what the priorities are and he's been consistent with that since his first press conference.

[justD]

Transcript

Interview on XM with Casey Stern and Jim Bowden, 12/23/11

[Original question missed, about what had changed]

CS: Dan, has it been exciting for you? Talking about winter meetings, going through that again, to be able to have the conversations as a General Manager? Because you know, people talk about how you were out of the game, but you were involved in the game, still talking to all the baseball people and close to it, but has it been exciting for you to be back in the role, after so long?

DD: Well, you know it was good to reconnect with a lot of people that I hadn't seen in a while. I had kept in touch with a few people, but to go to the Convention and see my friends? Like, I hadn't see Felipe Alou in a while -- his son works for us down in the Dominican, so then I saw Felipe at the Winter Meetings, and that was great.

And then I hadn't seen Tommy Lasorda in a while, and I got a big hug from Tommy. It was good to see him too.

I think some of those long-time friendships I'd missed.

Getting back into this job, you've gotta be on your toes. I mean, all of these Major League front offices now, they've got three or four guys from the Ivy League that are hanging around the hoop, looking for an opportunity. So there are a lot more educated people in the front office, through the analytics, and I think that's another change.

JB: Yeah, no question about it.

Dan, you've got a lot of work ahead of you, as you know, I don't have to tell you that. I mean, you're in a tough division and inheriting a club that's certainly one of the worst in the game. Can you talk about what you've done so far since you've been there, and what you're planning to do?

And then, if you could, tell us the truth about Prince Fielder and the Orioles?

DD: [Laughter]

You know, our pitching staff needs to be upgraded. It's hard to compete if you don't have a foundation in your rotation. We only had one pitcher last year that threw 200 innings; that was Jeremy Guthrie. So, any kind of rebuilding job needs to start with our starting pitchers.

Because every time I turned the TV on early in the year, you know, to watch the Orioles, I'd see their middle relievers in the game. And that can't be good for the rest of the ballclub. So we're going to have to rebuild our pitching staff.

I did pick up a couple of lefties that threw close to 200 innings last year:

I got Dana Eveland who pitched pretty good with the Dodgers when he was up in the Big Leagues and then did real well at triple-A, so I'm hoping that he's figured it out. He's more of an offspeed pitcher.

And then we signed a lefty, Tsuyoshi Wada from Japan who is a very accomplished left-handed pitcher there. He's another finesse guy, but he really distinguished himself about a year ago when he was the MVP of the league, and this past year he had another good year. So he's won 33 games over there, combined, the last two years.

I?m hoping we can get some innings out of those guys.

A couple other things we did was we picked up Taylor Teagarden, who is a winning(?) catcher to back up Wieters. And then we just signed a fourth outfielder, Endy Chavez, a real good defender, to back up Jones in center and then support a left-fielder in Nolan Reimold, who's a right-handed hitter.

So those are a couple of things we've done.

I really gotta take a look at upgrading the bullpen, but I haven't seen any opportunities that are value-based to help us.

CS: I want to go back to Wada who you just mentioned, because obviously there's been a lot of talk about Darvish yesterday, and that will continue here for weeks. You know, we've asked the question, and I think a lot of fans ask the question: How do you judge what you see from a guy in Japan and know, or have any idea, what you're going to get here against Big League hitting? I know Wada is a different situation, certainly not as high profile as Darvish; but take us through how you view that, and then, if you would, your thoughts about what your guys had to say about Darvish coming over, and what he could do here.

DD: That's a good question. You know, some of these guys from Japan that have come over here have done pretty well, and then others not so well. I mean, the Orioles had a pitcher here, Uehara, it took him a little while to get adjusted, but he did pretty well after he got organized.

I don?t know that it really translates, but I do know that this pitcher, Wada, has exceptional command of his pitches, and he can throw his breaking pitch and his changeup over the plate when he's behind in the count. And that's really one of the keys if you don?t have the power stuff that Darvish has.

Darvish? You could argue that Darvish is the best pitcher on the planet, if you take into account his terrific size and the success that he's had -- and the age, his age, where he should continue to get better. I'm sure Darvish's stuff will play over here, because it's power stuff and he's got a good delivery and good control. That always plays well. And that's why Texas is willing to invest that kind of money in him.

But it's kinda been hit or miss, and I don't know that there is a good way to project how these Japanese players are going to do here. But we're starting to see a lot more of them, and I think that's good, because it grows our game on the world stage.

JB: It certainly does.Talking to Dan Duquette, who's been heavily involved in international baseball while he has not been a GM over here. Dan, I wanted to ask you about some of your front office changes. I saw Lee Thomas back with you, good to see that. Glad to see Eddie Haas' son Danny as your new National Crosschecker. Talk about some of the moves you've made in the front office and what work you have ahead of you.

DD: Well, you know, Lee Thomas was a real good General Manager, he was a good Farm Director with the Cardinals, and you know, and a former player. So he's a real good complement to me, and I enjoyed working with him in Boston. He helped me sign a number of players over there, including Johnny Damon. Lee's an accomplished executive, and people like him within the industry. So it's good to be working with him again.

And Eddie Haas, of course, was my right-hand man in Montreal and Boston, and we gave both of Eddie's boys a chance to play. His son Matt is a scout with the Marlins; he was a catcher with the Expos, and then we sent him to scout school. And then Danny we signed with the Red Sox, and he played a little bit in the Minor Leagues.

Jimmy, you know Eddie; Eddie's great with hitters, and Danny has a real gift, like his dad, for evaluating hitters, so I was glad to get him over here. He'd been with the Red Sox for 10 years and helped sign some good players over there, including Ryan Kalish and the catcher they brought up, the kid from Yale, Ryan Levarnway. So Danny was in on those guys, and he also signed Michael Bowden.

So we?ve got a lot of work to do here, and I've known Danny for a long time, and Gary Rajsich, our new Scouting Director who came over here from the Red Sox knows Danny, and he's got a lot of confidence in him, so that will be a good help.

And we'll have a couple other changes here, just trying to get a little wider depth in International Scouting. We've got Freddy Ferreira, who has signed some great players. He signed some great players for me with the Expos, including Guerrero and Orlando Cabrera and Javier Vazquez, and then, of course, with the Yankees he signed Bernie Williams and Posada. You know, I saw in this press release that we put out that Freddy had signed 57 players that have made the Big Leagues off the amateur level. So we're glad to have him come over and help us accumulate some talent from around the world.

CS: Talking to Dan Duquette, General Manager of the Orioles. You know, Dan, something that happens often is that fans will read a report, in this digital age of social networking, and they'll hear that there was a conversation, and immediately it goes from a conversation to a fan saying, "We want to trade this guy." And it happens often with guys that come in who are new General Managers. Kevin Towers had conversations where he got calls on Justin Upton and within a day people were saying that they wanted to give up their best player.

So I want to give you a chance to tell all of the Baltimore Orioles fans here about their center fielder, Adam Jones. I'm sure people are calling; if I had a beautiful house or a guy in centerfield that does all of the things that he does, I'd get calls too. But where is the truth? Where are we, Dan, on Adam Jones?

DD: Well, Adam Jones is one of the core players that we're trying to build around. You know, obviously when you have some good players, the other teams are interested in them. And we've got some good players in Jones, and of course Wieters, our catcher, is a terrific player. JJ Hardy's a really good ballplayer, and you know, Reynolds at first base is good -- he hit a bunch of home runs. Of course, Nick Markakis is very popular here.

But you know, I think those are the players that we're trying to build around. And we're not marketing Adam Jones. I mean, I haven't even met the guy yet. I'm looking forward to meeting him.

CS: So you're not going to trade him, Dan, right? I mean, can we say that?

DD: We're not marketing Adam Jones to trade him. I mean, I think he's good in center field, and you know, he hit 25 home runs last year, and not a lot of teams have a center fielder to hit 25 home runs. Fortunately in Baltimore, we do, and we're glad to have him on our team.

JB: Dan, let me ask you about a couple of players, though I know you haven't personally seen them, probably, but I'd love to hear what your reports are internally, because the two biggest questions to me are 1) What ever happened to Brian Matusz? Because he's way better than what he did for you guys last year. Is he hurt? Is he okay? What do the people inside Baltimore think happened? And the other question is 2) On Machado -- Is he a shortstop or a third baseman, based on your people?s opinion?

DD: Well, on the first one, Jim, I don't have the answer as to what happened to Matusz. I do know that he won seven games in a row the year before when he came up. When I look at his record -- and this always concerns me: He didn't complete the season at double-A. That really aggravates me, when teams don't let the players finish their full season at double-A. Because to me, that's a key building block to having a good career. And just about every player that I've ever seen, if they get moved out of double-A before they've spent the whole year there, they have struggles later on in their career that I think can be remedied if you let the player stay for the whole season there.

I do know that in Matusz' case, he pitched half a season in AA, and then he was up. And then when he got challenged in the Big Leagues, I don't know if he was ready to make the adjustments he needed to make. And in this age of video scouting, as soon as you have a pattern that effectively gets people out, what do they do? They catalog it, and the other hitters will take a look at it, and now, as a pitcher you need to make an adjustment. And I think that may be part of the issue with Matusz, you know, just looking at it from afar.

Is there anything wrong with him physically? No, not that I'm aware of.

And from the interest that we've gotten from other clubs, I mean clubs would like to have a 25-year-old left-hander like Matusz on their team. So that indicates to me that we should, you know, keep him on our club and work with him to give him the kind of foundation he needs to have a winning record here. There isn't any reason why he shouldn't be a winning pitcher.

And Machado, the shortstop, is still a shortstop. You know, Jim, I think he's got the first-step quickness to stay at SS. He's not a great runner, but he's got pretty good hands, and he's got a good arm. His bat's pretty good; I'm sure his bat can play at third base as he gets a little bit more experience and develops power. But right now he's playing shortstop, and I think he's going to stay and play at shortstop.

CS: Dan, let me ask you this: You used the word "rebuild" before. Fans find it refreshing when they get honesty. When you look at this team, chances are not winning a World Series this year. How far away do you see this team from being a contender in what is not only the toughest division in baseball, but clearly one of the toughest in sports?

DD: Well, you know, we've got some good young players to build with, and I think that our offense was in the middle of the pack last year, we were pretty good, and that as these hitters mature -- and I'm talking about Matt Wieters who's 25, and Jones who's 26, Chris Davis who's 26 (he's got some good power potential) -- I think as these guys mature, we should get more offensive production from them just based on their maturity. Markakis is 28, Reimold is 28. So, I mean, those guys should continue to improve and contribute to our team.

It's really a question of how quickly we can rebuild this pitching staff, and get some pitchers in here that we can depend on. And part of the issue with young pitchers, of course, is having some pitchers behind them with experience that can hold the lead. And that's really going to be the key to our ballclub contending, if we can get some decent pitching in here.

I'm confident that we can make some strides here in this coming season, you know, particularly with the age of our players and their capability on offense and defense. It's a decent team on the field. It's really about us building a pitching staff. If we can build a pitching staff where it's in the middle of the pack, then we're not too far away from contending.

[TonySoprano]

Pitching, pitching, pitching, and pitching. How many times does he have to say before some let it sink in that this offseason isn't about the "premium bat?"

It?s really a question of how quickly we can rebuild this pitching staff, and get some pitchers in here that we can depend on. And part of the issue with young pitchers, of course, is having some pitchers behind them with experience that can hold the lead. And that?s really going to be the key to our ballclub contending, if we can get some decent pitching in here.

I?m confident that we can make some strides here in this coming season, you know, particularly with the age of our players and their capability on offense and defense. It?s a decent team on the field. It?s really about us building a pitching staff. If we can build a pitching staff where it?s in the middle of the pack, then we?re not too far away from contending.

[Can_of_corn]

Adamant that the most important step in the development of a you pitcher ill not be cut short. Absolutely clear.

Ordinarily I would be pleased as punch to hear that but they have someone in the minors that I don't want to keep down if it isn't necessary. Especially since they are signed to a price controlled ML contract.

[JTrea81]

Thanks for posting the transcript.

The Fielder question wasn't answered.

The question that was answered was the first one:

Can you talk about what you've done so far since you've been there, and what you're planning to do?

And then Duquette talks about the pitching which is a big part of his plan.

He never said, they weren't in on Fielder or anything about him at all.

The less said, the more something is in the works IMO. He could have just come out and said that what Roch and Britt and Dan Connolly had all been saying but he completely sidestepped the question.

IMO Duquette is working on Fielder negotiations but he's doing everything he can to make everybody think otherwise and he's waiting for the price to go down just like the other teams.

[Orioles0615]

I hope yoy didn't get that from my post. I think Duquette was pretty clear about what the priorities are and he's been consistent with that since his first press conference.

No it just sometimes sounds like he contradicts himself, and in every interview he just keeps saying the same thing over and over.

[mcgraw238]

Thanks for posting the transcript.

The Fielder question wasn't answered.

The question that was answered was the first one:

And then Duquette talks about the pitching which is a big part of his plan.

He never said, they weren't in on Fielder or anything about him at all.

The less said, the more something is in the works IMO. He could have just come out and said that what Roch and Britt and Dan Connolly had all been saying but he completely sidestepped the question.

IMO Duquette is working on Fielder negotiations but he's doing everything he can to make everybody think otherwise and he's waiting for the price to go down just like the other teams.

Your acting just like you did during the Tex saga. I suspect you will act the same as you did after the Tex saga as well.

[weams]

Your acting just like you did during the Tex saga. I suspect you will act the same as you did after the Tex saga as well.

Na, that was fueled by some insider balderdash. He'll take this like a man. You watch.

[allstar1579]

Na, that was fueled by some insider balderdash. He'll take this like a man. You watch.

Yep. It will go over well...