Dan Duquette's Series of Unfortunate Events

[DJHJR86]

Many might say the Markakis contract was a poor value as well.

I've always believed it was.

[Il BuonO]

On July 24th, 2014 Dan acquired Jimmy Paredes - what now seems like another great DD move. Sometime between July 24 and July 31 - Dan was obviously cursed. There is no other rational explanation for what has happened to every major transaction he's made since. Don't believe in curses? I defy you to use rational thought to explain this crazy run of results the significant DD decisions have yielded since July 31.

1) Trades Ed Rod for Andrew Miller. EdRod has a 4.79 in AA at the time. Immediately goes crazy - 0.96 ERA the rest of the year. Cruises through AAA, dominates in MLB debut.

2) Makes the somewhat unusual move of announcing a player extension during the playoffs the day before the ALCS. Hardy posts .517 OPS in the series and the team gets swept. This season Hardy down to .508 OPS and having back problems.

3) Elects not to aggressively attempt to resign Andrew Miller. Miller signs with our most hated division rival, posts 0.84 ERA, is definitely in the conversation for best reliver in all of baseball.

4) Elects not to aggressively attempt to resign Nelson Cruz. Cruz leads majors in HR, 1.070 OPS, best hitter in the AL so far.

5) Elects not to aggressively attempt to resign lead off hitter and Gold Glove RF Nick Markakis. Markakis posts .397 OBP - almost 60 points higher than last year - Orioles have some defensive issues in RF.

6) Signs Delmon Young. Young career low .658 OPS. Due to his veteranosity frequently clogs up our clean up spot.

7) Trades for Travis Snider. Snider's OPS drops almost 60 points from last year down to .719. The traded - Brault 3-0 3.59, Tarpley 1-0 1.80 in the minors.

8) Signs Wesley Wright. Wight 5.40 ERA in 1.2 IP, out with shoulder injury.

9) Signs Everth Cabrera. Cabrera career low .476 OPS.

10) Tenders Alejandro De Aza a contract. OPS drops 65 points from last year down to .636. O's have to DFA him.

11) Trades Ryan Webb. Webb ultimately surfaces in Cleveland - career low 1.29 ERA.

This is a really unbelievable run of results. Just sustained spectacular bad luck. Obviously the sample on all these is very low - they could all turn around - but forget sample sizes and math - we're clearly dealing with a curse here. Supernatural forces are at play. Get your De Aza for MVP futures bets in now because wherever he lands he's clearly going to go bananas.

So, this post can all be explained by Dan being a poor GM and has absolutely, positively nothing to do with him being cursed?

[CA-ORIOLE]

So, this post can all be explained by Dan being a poor GM and has absolutely, positively nothing to do with him being cursed?

He clarified this later. It's a solid post imo.

[OFFNY]

The trade of Miggy to Houston for Luke Scott and Troy Patton, might be a wash.

Andy did sign Roberts for $40 million, which some believe was a huge mistake.

Were those people saying that it was a huge mistake at the time of the signing, or were they saying so after Roberts' numerous concussions, the first of which was self-inflicted ???

Markakis and Roberts both signed their long-term extensions in the same off-season (2008-2009.) I was not posting here on the OH at the time, but I do remember all of the headlines and articles from the sports section of the Baltimore Sun newspaper were applauding the two contract extensions as "a commitment to the future" by Peter and Andy. Markakis was very young at the time that the extensions were signed (25), and Roberts was still relatively young for the 4-year extension that was given him (31.)

Roberts first season after signing the extension was easily one the two best of his career (along with 2005.) He set the all-time major league record for doubles in a single season by a switch-hitter (56), set career-highs in both RBI's (79) and runs scored (110), hit 16 HR's, and stole 30 bases.

After Roberts completed that 2009 season (one year AFTER having signed the 4 year extension), I don't remember hearing anything about how his 4 year-extension was a bad deal.

[OFFNY]

o

The trade of Miggy to Houston for Luke Scott and Troy Patton, might be a wash.

Andy did sign Roberts for $40 million, which some believe was a huge mistake.

Were those people saying that it was a huge mistake at the time of the signing, or were they saying so after Roberts' numerous concussions, the first of which was self-inflicted ???

Markakis and Roberts both signed their long-term extensions in the same off-season (2008-2009.) I was not posting here on the OH at the time, but I do remember all of the headlines and articles from the sports section of the Baltimore Sun newspaper were applauding the two contract extensions as "a commitment to the future" by Peter and Andy. Markakis was very young at the time that the extensions were signed (25), and Roberts was still relatively young for the 4-year extension that was given him (31.)

Roberts first season after signing the extension was easily one the two best of his career (along with 2005.) He set the all-time major league record for doubles in a single season by a switch-hitter (56), set career-highs in both RBI's (79) and runs scored (110), hit 16 HR's, and stole 30 bases.

After Roberts completed that 2009 season (one year AFTER having signed the 4 year extension), I don't remember hearing anything about how his 4 year-extension was a bad deal.

P.S. I am not asserting that criticizing a contract after the fact is not fair game.

It is (fair game.)

But I do believe that there is a significant difference between making your assertion at the time of the signing, and coming to the conclusion that it was a bad signing after the fact and/or after said player(s) suffers a serious injury ...... and I don't think that those lines should be blurred.

[Il BuonO]

He clarified this later. It's a solid post imo.

Twice after his OP. I was joking. Some people seem to have used the thread as an excuse to rant.

[CA-ORIOLE]

Twice after his OP. I was joking. Some people seem to have used the thread as an excuse to rant.

Well, yeah. Not really surprising there.

I thought it was a good discussion point. Years ago we wouldn't have had any talent going on to another organization and do well. Seeing these guy come up from Norfolk leads me to believe we have more talent that some would lead you to believe.

[Stotle]

o

P.S. I am not asserting that criticizing a contract after the fact is not fair game.

It is (fair game.)

But I do believe that there is a significant difference between making your assertion at the time of the signing, and coming to the conclusion that it was a bad signing after the fact and/or after said player(s) suffers a serious injury ...... and I don't think that those lines should be blurred.

There were a large number of people that didn't like it at the time.

[Il BuonO]

Well, yeah. Not really surprising there.

I thought it was a good discussion point. Years ago we wouldn't have had any talent going on to another organization and do well. Seeing these guy come up from Norfolk leads me to believe we have more talent that some would lead you to believe.

Right. Hard to believe we were even in a position to have anything of worth to trade for Miller.

[bobmc]

He clarified this later. It's a solid post imo.

Here here! :beerchug1:

[OFFNY]

o

Were those people saying that it was a huge mistake at the time of the signing, or were they saying so after Roberts' numerous concussions, the first of which was self-inflicted ???

Markakis and Roberts both signed their long-term extensions in the same off-season (2008-2009.) I was not posting here on the OH at the time, but I do remember all of the headlines and articles from the sports section of the Baltimore Sun newspaper were applauding the two contract extensions as "a commitment to the future" by Peter and Andy. Markakis was very young at the time that the extensions were signed (25), and Roberts was still relatively young for the 4-year extension that was given him (31.)

Roberts first season after signing the extension was easily one the two best of his career (along with 2005.) He set the all-time major league record for doubles in a single season by a switch-hitter (56), set career-highs in both RBI's (79) and runs scored (110), hit 16 HR's, and stole 30 bases.

After Roberts completed that 2009 season (one year AFTER having signed the 4 year extension), I don't remember hearing anything about how his 4 year-extension was a bad deal.

There were a large number of people that didn't like it at the time.

I guess I'll take your word for it.

I don't remember the lots of grumbling until after his self-inflicted concussion in 2010, long after he signed the extension in the 2008-2009 off-season.

[Il BuonO]

I guess I'll take your word for it.

I don't remember the lots of grumbling until after his self-inflicted concussion in 2010, long after he signed the extension in the 2008-2009 off-season.

I'm glad you made the distinction. The injury he "suffered" through was brought about by his own stupidity.

[blid]

OP taking some undeserved heat IMO. All he's done is state facts. Even acknowledges that a lot of it is probably bad luck. And despite all of these frustrations from the first 2 months the team is still very much in the race.

Yeah, I was shocked by the first few replies. He wasn't even blaming DD for half that stuff, just saying "can you believe it?" Like, it's obviously not DD's fault that EdRod went insane as soon as he got traded, and the OP seemed to understand that... but a lot of the replies haven't understood that he understood.

[MurphDogg]

I'm glad you made the distinction. The injury he "suffered" through was brought about by his own stupidity.

One man's stupidity is another man's intensity for the game. Why "suffered"?

[blid]

But I would even dispute your claim that the results are negative. For at least 1 through 7 there were positive results that you conveniently left out. Miller's performance in the playoffs, Hardy's defense, lack of bad contracts, all of Nick's poor stats aside from OBP. It was a very one-sided post.

Yeah you made a good rebuttal, best in the thread!