Hardy confused from lack of extension talk

[Rene88]

I'm going to be crystal clear about this: the way Dan Duquette is handling this is low class, and it stinks. And it's not the first time, and I'm getting sick of it.

If Duquette doesn't want to discuss an extension with Hardy right now, that's fine. If he doesn't want to extend him at all, fine. If he wants to wait until after the season to decide, fine. If he wants to postpone to the All Star Break, fine. All of that is Duquette's prerogative.

But what he CAN'T do is WHAT he IS doing -- make several public statements that he's going to try to extend Hardy this spring, and then have no communication with Hardy's agent about what is going on, leaving Hardy to guess and speculate and twist in the wind.

He more or less did the same thing with Reynolds, with Roberts, and to some extent, Jim Johnson. In each case, he made some public statements indicating some interest in retaining the player, then didn't even have the courtesy to call the player's agent to tell them his intentions or his timetable.

I understand that GMs play poker, and you can't take everything they say at face value, but they are dealing with human beings here, and if DD does this too often, with respected key members of the team, the entire clubhouse will take note. JJ Hardy signed a team friendly extension before, was forthright then and now about wanting to stay with the club, and he deserves communication and honesty, at a minimum.

What goes around comes around, Dan. Just wait and see.

Spot on. Hardy is much different from the others but the same games are being played.....go figure.

[Mayor McCheese]

Do you need to take a physical when you sign an extension? I am pretty sure you do... as I recall when AJ signed his deal he needed to take an exam. I highly doubt JJ could pass an O's physical at the moment.

I think its also really annoying that he needs to have assurance that the SS position is given to him for his entire contract.

[Can_of_corn]

I don't see the advantage of taking this out into the public, especially while he is struggling with heath and performance issues so far this year.

[33rdst]

I think DD's mistake is that he makes public statements about his preferences and then either he or the owner gets sticker shock when they find out the price. Better not to have said anything. I also think the development of Schoop has given them second thoughts about signing Hardy. In addition, it seems plausible that the O's are currently having discussions about multiple players. The decision on Hardy is being affected by multiple factors.

[CA-ORIOLE]

I'm going to be crystal clear about this: the way Dan Duquette is handling this is low class, and it stinks. And it's not the first time, and I'm getting sick of it.

If Duquette doesn't want to discuss an extension with Hardy right now, that's fine. If he doesn't want to extend him at all, fine. If he wants to wait until after the season to decide, fine. If he wants to postpone to the All Star Break, fine. All of that is Duquette's prerogative.

But what he CAN'T do is WHAT he IS doing -- make several public statements that he's going to try to extend Hardy this spring, and then have no communication with Hardy's agent about what is going on, leaving Hardy to guess and speculate and twist in the wind.

He more or less did the same thing with Reynolds, with Roberts, and to some extent, Jim Johnson. In each case, he made some public statements indicating some interest in retaining the player, then didn't even have the courtesy to call the player's agent to tell them his intentions or his timetable.

I understand that GMs play poker, and you can't take everything they say at face value, but they are dealing with human beings here, and if DD does this too often, with respected key members of the team, the entire clubhouse will take note. JJ Hardy signed a team friendly extension before, was forthright then and now about wanting to stay with the club, and he deserves communication and honesty, at a minimum.

What goes around comes around, Dan. Just wait and see.

Yeah, totally disagree with this post. Players (and sometimes their agents) tend to want to bring business and their hurt feelings to the public. Dan stays above it. Dan works with players agents and I'm sure he does it professionally.

[weams]

Yeah, totally disagree with this post. Players (and sometimes their agents) tend to want to bring business and their hurt feelings to the public. Dan stays above it. Dan works with players agents and I'm sure he does it professionally.

Very nice post. In a perfect world, the Orioles were interested in a team friendly extension with J.J. Evidently the starting point was high enough that they chose not to counter. And chose not to play it out in the press, nor close the door.

[Frobby]

Very nice post. In a perfect world, the Orioles were interested in a team friendly extension with J.J. Evidently the starting point was high enough that they chose not to counter. And chose not to play it out in the press, nor close the door.

Why are you inferring that discussions even got to the point where Hardy's agent made a demand? That's certainly not my impression. Rather, it seems like the Orioles have never even opened the dialogue, despite saying they would.

I've said my piece on this subject.

[CA-ORIOLE]

Why are you inferring that discussions even got to the point where Hardy's agent made a demand? That's certainly not my impression. Rather, it seems like the Orioles have never even opened the dialogue, despite saying they would.

I've said my piece on this subject.

Why are you inferring they haven't? They have had discussions and some mutual interest. That seems clear. I'm guessing that those discussions have probably included at least the general framework of a deal (price and years).

[wildcard]

I think Hardy is being a little naive here.

"I don't understand what happened within the month or two that there was going to be talk, and all of a sudden there's not."

So what did happen after the beginning of ST?

1) There were some talks between DD and Hardy's agent. The length of contract was not doubt discussed.

2) Hardy demanded to know if he would stay at SS.

3) Schoop comes to camp 20 pounds heavier and hitting like a major leaguer.

4) The O's trade for Lombardozzi.

In addition to that during the off season Buck stated the this is the year the O's need to find out what Flaherty can develop into.

Hardy knows all this. He knows that he has injury problems and is asking for a long term contract. He knows that all these elements can affect getting a contract done. So, I think Hardy knows more than he is including in his discussions with the press.

[TonySoprano]

Yeah, totally disagree with this post. Players (and sometimes their agents) tend to want to bring business and their hurt feelings to the public. Dan stays above it. Dan works with players agents and I'm sure he does it professionally.

Dan made a big statement about it at Fanfest in January to which Hardy's response was (paraphrasing),"That's news to me." I don't agree with Frobby's point about Roberts as I don't recall any declarative talk of extension but more along the lines of "we're looking into it."

[weams]

Why are you inferring that discussions even got to the point where Hardy's agent made a demand? That's certainly not my impression. Rather, it seems like the Orioles have never even opened the dialogue, despite saying they would.

I've said my piece on this subject.

Oh. Well. I guess my understanding that there was a meeting. I assume that parameters were discussed. No matter what has been reported.

[weams]

Dan made a big statement about it at Fanfest in January to which Hardy's response was (paraphrasing),"That's news to me." I don't agree with Frobby's point about Roberts as I don't recall any declarative talk of extension but more along the lines of "we're looking into it."

I also hear that. Anything other than that was the press attempting to will it so.

[TonySoprano]

I also hear that. Anything other than that was the press attempting to will it so.

Here's Dan at Fanfest, saying he'd talk extension with JJ before the season started.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/vcpPmic6660" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Stotle]

I don't see the advantage of taking this out into the public, especially while he is struggling with heath and performance issues so far this year.

Making the front office look bad, which he's doing pretty successfully. Other players see this, and other agents see this. Agree with Frobby's sentiments -- if what Hardy says is true then it's not a good way to do business. It would be great if GMs could be emotionless robots making the most logical decisions for the team as they possibly can. But there is a not insignificant human element to this, and our front office SEEMS really bad at that aspect of the business.

[CA-ORIOLE]

Dan made a big statement about it at Fanfest in January to which Hardy's response was (paraphrasing),"That's news to me." I don't agree with Frobby's point about Roberts as I don't recall any declarative talk of extension but more along the lines of "we're looking into it."

I don't know. What remark was that? I doubt it was something like the Hardy side isn't communicating with us and they're not interested. Dans remarks are typically generic and positive..as they should be.

i've heard similar type of things from players in other organizations, This stuff isn't that uncommon. Dan talks to the agents. Sometimes this stuff gets lost in translation with the players. It's not Dan's job to clean up every players remarks and hurt feelings to the press.