A Summary

[weams]

I don't really understand why Reinsdorf won't assert tampering due to his friendship with Beeston. He's not accusing Beeston of tampering -- Beeston is a victim here. Anything that hurts Toronto hurts Beeston? Beeston's a eunuch at this point anyway.

As an aside, had anyone here ever heard of Paul Beeston before this story emerged? I certainly hadn't.

From 1997 until 2002, he was president and chief operating officer of Major League Baseball.

[AdamK]

...

As an aside, had anyone here ever heard of Paul Beeston before this story emerged? I certainly hadn't.

Nope, but after reading quotes from the Canadians' Kerr I sure feel for the guy. He was going to retire in 2015, that apparently was his plan prior to this mess.

[DrungoHazewood]

As an aside, had anyone here ever heard of Paul Beeston before this story emerged? I certainly hadn't.

Yes, he had a semi-prominent position with MLB a while back (wiki (and weams!): he was president and COO of MLB from 1997-2002).

[weams]

I guess the last 3 years has empowered you to make fun of the Blue Jays as "losers". I believe they won a couple of championships in the 90's.

I believe they have the longest streak of not making the playoffs of any team.

[foxfield]

There's still more than one piece to this. Yes, Toronto was terribly clumsy about this, and maybe the word tampering is appropriate. We can all agree Ed Rogers is an oaf and Paul Beeston has been treated miserably.

Still, this remains a story because Dan Duquette apparently wants the job enough where he didn't help Angelos to kill the story dead. Just look at how Chicago was able to shut this down pretty quickly compared to how things have dragged on in Baltimore. That's on Dan. Angelos was crystal clear regarding how he feels about wanting Dan to stay. It's Dan who has allowed this to fester.

This! Toronto is clearly tampering and has done so with multiple executives of other teams. However, two obvious questions after reading this are why in the hell would DD want this job? And why the hell did the Orioles not squelch this as easy as the White Sox.

At the end of the day there are three teams to judge here. Toronto, Chicago and Baltimore. Toronto appears crooked, Chicago well run, the Orioles??? It's puzzling, but not good. We may not be the bad guys here, but I'm not seeing the good either.

[DrungoHazewood]

So I am not surprised that you haven't heard of him. He's a big deal in Canada. The Paul Richards of the franchise.

I get the parallels in franchise building. But he's been with the Jays since 1976. Paul Richards was with the Orioles for, like, six years. The O's don't really have a guy who's been a front-office fixture for 40 years. It would be kind of like if Angelos had started a weird public search to replace Ernie Tyler while Ernie was sitting on his stool with a bag of baseballs.

[weams]

I guess the last 3 years has empowered you to make fun of the Blue Jays as "losers". I believe they won a couple of championships in the 90's.

And sure. I think I am ok with feeling my team is superior.

[weams]

I get the parallels in franchise building. But he's been with the Jays since 1976. Paul Richards was with the Orioles for, like, six years. The O's don't really have a guy who's been a front-office fixture for 40 years. It would be kind of like if Angelos had started a weird public search to replace Ernie Tyler while Ernie was sitting on his stool with a bag of baseballs.

Yeah, I overstated that. Or Elrod. Yeah. Like that.

[DrungoHazewood]

I believe they have the longest streak of not making the playoffs of any team.

How quickly things change. The O's, Royals, and Pirates were worse off not that many years ago. And they surely would have made the playoffs in the last 20 years if they weren't in the Yanks/Sox division.

[Roll Tide]

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/01/23/the-inside-story-on-how-rogers-tried-to-replace-blue-jays-president-paul-beeston

So they were also tampering with Kenny Williams.

Funny the the White Sox have a successful offseason why Duquette has put up a zero. See below.

They had a successful off-season adding:

* Right-hander Jeff Samardzija from the Oakland A?s for infielder Marcus Semien, right-hander Chris Bassitt, catcher Josh Phegley and first baseman Rangel Ravelo.

* Signing left fielder Melky Cabrera to a three-year $42 million US contract.

* Adding Yankees free-agent closer David Robertston on a four-year, $46-million deal.

* Landing free-agent first baseman Adam LaRoche to a two-year, $25-million contract.

* Signing Zach Duke to a three-year, $15-million deal.

* And ? wait for it ? signing failed Jays second baseman Emilio Bonifacio to a one-year $4 million deal.

[weams]

So they were also tampering with Kenny Williams.

Funny the the White Sox have a successful offseason why Duquette has put up a zero. See below.

They had a successful off-season adding:

* Right-hander Jeff Samardzija from the Oakland A?s for infielder Marcus Semien, right-hander Chris Bassitt, catcher Josh Phegley and first baseman Rangel Ravelo.

* Signing left fielder Melky Cabrera to a three-year $42 million US contract.

* Adding Yankees free-agent closer David Robertston on a four-year, $46-million deal.

* Landing free-agent first baseman Adam LaRoche to a two-year, $25-million contract.

* Signing Zach Duke to a three-year, $15-million deal.

* And ? wait for it ? signing failed Jays second baseman Emilio Bonifacio to a one-year $4 million deal.

They had a VERY good offseason.

[Birds08]

So is the latest now that he's more likely to stay or leave? I'm lost.

[wildcard]

I am wondering is Peter Angelos winning the battle decisively but losing the war.

Peter appears to have Ed Rogers right where he wants him. Somewhere between getting a significant return for Dan (two significant players) and Rogers losing his job because of tampering. Both Ed Rogers and we should know that the Peter will file tampering charges against Rogers if this transaction does not happen. And Peter will make it as messy as he can for Ed Rogers (with the backing Reinsdorf) which will probably cost him his job.

So the transaction has to go through from Ed Roger's stand point. At whatever cost. And Peter wins. Or does he?

What is lost in the hand to hand combat of the battle is that the O's lose Dan Duquette. Many will say that a couple of very good prospects is much greater compensation than Dan's value. Dan can be replaced they will contend. The flaw in that is there are few if any GM candidates out there that have Dan's GM experience combined with the ability to successfully work with Peter Angelos. That second part is the hardest part of all. It was nearly impossible for almost 20 years prior to Dan.

Here is a list of the players Dan has on the 40 man roster Plus:

Dan Duquette guys

Pitchers

Kevin Gausman

Wei-Yin Chen

Miguel Gonzalez

Bud Norris

Ubaldo Jimenez

Brady Brach

TJ McFarland

Ryan Webb

Wesley Wright

Jason Garcia

Logan Verrett

Catcher

JP Arencibia

Steve Clevenger

Ryan Lavarnway

Infielders

Ryan Flaherty

Christian Walker

Rey Navarro

Jimmy Paredes

Outfielders

Steve Pearce

Alejandro De Aza

David Lough

Alex Hassan

Henry Urrutia

Dariel Alvarez

DH

Delmon Young

Add to that Nelson Cruz and Andrew Miller who played big roles in making the O's Division Champs.

The list shows that Dan built the starting pitching staff that was the difference maker between the O's being a sub .500 team and a playoff winner. The position players outside of Cruz and maybe a surprising Steve Pearce are mostly depth players. Now add to it that Dan knew and probably identified Dave Wallace. Dan has improved the scouting staff especially internationally and the player development staff. Its unclear how many of them leave if their sponsor leaves.

So Peter looks positioned to win the battle. Will he lose the war?

[AdamK]

So they were also tampering with Kenny Williams.

Funny the the White Sox have a successful offseason why Duquette has put up a zero. See below.

They had a successful off-season adding:

* Right-hander Jeff Samardzija from the Oakland A?s for infielder Marcus Semien, right-hander Chris Bassitt, catcher Josh Phegley and first baseman Rangel Ravelo.

* Signing left fielder Melky Cabrera to a three-year $42 million US contract.

* Adding Yankees free-agent closer David Robertston on a four-year, $46-million deal.

* Landing free-agent first baseman Adam LaRoche to a two-year, $25-million contract.

* Signing Zach Duke to a three-year, $15-million deal.

* And ? wait for it ? signing failed Jays second baseman Emilio Bonifacio to a one-year $4 million deal.

Kenny Williams is not their GM.

[weams]

Kenny Williams is not their GM.

Rick Hahn is. But again, that is just part of the the "can't stand in the way of a promotion" drag. These titles are fluid and the salaries vary wildly. It would have been a substantial raise for Kenny. And he was flat out offered the job, not just the opportunity to talk about it.