All the questions I wanted to ask Dan Duquette were asked in this interview

[notyourbuddy]

Not that I disagree, but it amuses me when people use the outlier to denigrate a computation.

Okay. David Lough worth $15M in 174 at bats. Adam Jones worth $42M.

Computation denigration complete

(strange a professional stat site like Fangraphs would have a formula seemingly so out-of-touch with reality. anyone know why they do/changed it?)

[Nevermore]

In 2013 the O's spent 1.23 million dollars on international amatuers which ranked them 30 out 30 teams. By comparison the next lowest team, the Angels spent 1.83 .....that is utterly ridiculous. When your team so under utilizes a market that provides 28% of the pkayers on opening day roster that same year (2013) its going to be reflected in the talent level in your minors. Compound that with stupid stuff like trading competitive balance picks to dump salary and you get the drift of why our minor league system is in the fix it is in.

And who is responsible for trading competitive balance picks to dump salary? And who makes the decisions to not go after international amateurs? Isn't this the GM's responsibility?

Far as Manny is concerned, I see no reason why he would not be receptive to 120 plus million dollars now as opposed to waiting a 3 years. You could wait till after next season but my guess is the price tag goes up and the intrest on Manny's part would diminish if we slide back some in the standings. Now is the time to strike, we have been competitive, make a fair offer ...not a lowball offer and it should get done. If we don't get him inked 95% percent chance its because we futz around with him IMO

Sent from my SM-T217S using Tapatalk

He's not going to be receptive if he sees himself as playing on a team that consists of Manny plus a bunch of AAAA guys. Money does matter, but playing for a winning team matters more.

[SteveO]

And who is responsible for trading competitive balance picks to dump salary? And who makes the decisions to not go after international amateurs? Isn't this the GM's responsibility? He's not going to be receptive if he sees himself as playing on a team that consists of Manny plus a bunch of AAAA guys. Money does matter, but playing for a winning team matters more.

You do realize that this has been a winning team the past three years, possibly 4 if we stay above .500 and have been to the playoffs 2x.....I seriously doubt at this point Manny would see it that way (a team of AAA guys) at this point. Now if we wait a year or two who knows. That is why I would strike now while there is some good will there. Your kinda being overly dramatic. Besides as I said in an earlier post, I would get him done before I do anything else this offseason.

DD deserves a lot of credit for coming in and adding to what was here to create a winner. He has done a lot of good things but yes, I hold him accountable for the pathetic shape of the minor league system and for trading comp picks etc. Far as the international thing is concerned, that policy seems more a holdover from the McPhail era and likely a Angelos thing IMO. DD while in Montreal built that team on a lot of international guys...i.e Vlad, ect. He may tow the company line where that is concerned but I don't doubt he would spend in that area if given the chance to do so in a meaningful way...Even the farm system I can only blame DD so much, if he is limited in international spending then he is trying to build a farm system with one arm tied behind his back....thats not easy. Far as I am concerned he has more than earned the right to try to fix some of those issues moving forward.

[weams]

Money does matter, but playing for a winning team matters more.

No it doesn't. They just lie about that. Money does matter. And for the right players, if the Orioles have money, they should give it to them. Like they did J.J. Hardy.

[SteveO]

No it doesn't. They just lie about that. Money does matter. And for the right players, if the Orioles have money, they should give it to them. Like they did J.J. Hardy.

Dead on. Players want to get paid more than anything. If they can get paid and win....great. But getting paid is priority #1

99.99% of MLB player's would rather make 15 million playing for a team that goes 62-100 than make 5 million playing for a team that goes 100-62. Despite all the bold talk by some people, I would bet if those people were actually players having to make those decisions they would feel the same way. Wealth is relative

[TINSTAAPP]

And who is responsible for trading competitive balance picks to dump salary? And who makes the decisions to not go after international amateurs? Isn't this the GM's responsibility? He's not going to be receptive if he sees himself as playing on a team that consists of Manny plus a bunch of AAAA guys. Money does matter, but playing for a winning team matters more.

The Red Sox were pretty active signing international free agents while he was there. They signed Anibal Sanchez, Hanley Ramirez, and Jorge De La Rosa as international free agents among others. And the Orioles didn't spend much money on international free agents while MacPhail was here either. This is more on Peter than Dan IMO.

[SteveO]

The Red Sox were pretty active signing international free agents while he was there. They signed Anibal Sanchez, Hanley Ramirez, and Jorge De La Rosa as international free agents among others. And the Orioles didn't spend much money on international free agents while MacPhail was here either. This is more on Peter than Dan IMO.

2013 the Orioles were 30th (out of 30 obviously) spending 1.23 million ...then next closest team was the Angels at 1.86 million

http://www.baseballamerica.com/international/2013-international-spending-by-team/

2014 the Orioles moved up to 29th spending a whooping 980,000

http://www.baseballamerica.com/international/2014-international-spending-team/

Considering that 28% of the opening day players in 2014 were guys signed via this route, to me at least, this approach is not a good one. It really makes it hard for DD to stock his farm system comparatively to other teams who essentially have a whole other pool of players to utilize to add talent to their organizations that he Orioles just do not utilize properly.

To me this is a key issue that has to change if the O's want to improve their farm system over the longterm without having to have top 10 picks in the draft to do it.

[sportsfan8703]

The Red Sox were pretty active signing international free agents while he was there. They signed Anibal Sanchez, Hanley Ramirez, and Jorge De La Rosa as international free agents among others. And the Orioles didn't spend much money on international free agents while MacPhail was here either. This is more on Peter than Dan IMO.

Exactly. Right now DD is trying to GM with his hands tied. This version of DD, that PA has contractually obligated, is the perfect GM for PA. He's able to have success with his bargain shopping. Produce a competent product. All while not spending big in FA or in the carribean market. If you give us ONE top 30 talent, from the Carribean, each season since DD has been here our farm system would look much better. There are 2 huge talent grabs each year. One is the draft, and one is the Int'l signing period. We don't participate in 50% of the talent acquisition process. It's a joke.

[Nevermore]

Dead on. Players want to get paid more than anything. If they can get paid and win....great. But getting paid is priority #1

99.99% of MLB player's would rather make 15 million playing for a team that goes 62-100 than make 5 million playing for a team that goes 100-62. Despite all the bold talk by some people, I would bet if those people were actually players having to make those decisions they would feel the same way. Wealth is relative

Curious: do you have any empirical studies that support what you just said here?

[Nevermore]

I'm not trying to be a DD basher. DD has done lots of good things for the Orioles. But there is definitely room for improvement in the future. Particularly in fixing the broken farm system. And in obtaining more international FAs. If PA is actively blocking the signing of international FAs, then DD (or someone else) needs to use some persuasion to try and get PA to change his policies on this, if in deed such policies actually exist.

[TINSTAAPP]

2013 the Orioles were 30th (out of 30 obviously) spending 1.23 million ...then next closest team was the Angels at 1.86 million

http://www.baseballamerica.com/international/2013-international-spending-by-team/

2014 the Orioles moved up to 29th spending a whooping 980,000

http://www.baseballamerica.com/international/2014-international-spending-team/

Considering that 28% of the opening day players in 2014 were guys signed via this route, to me at least, this approach is not a good one. It really makes it hard for DD to stock his farm system comparatively to other teams who essentially have a whole other pool of players to utilize to add talent to their organizations that he Orioles just do not utilize properly.

To me this is a key issue that has to change if the O's want to improve their farm system over the longterm without having to have top 10 picks in the draft to do it.

I agree with you 100%. I just believe it's more of an ownership policy than a front office issue.

[SteveO]

Curious: do you have any empirical studies that support what you just said here?

Really? Come on. If you can't see that players go to the highest bidder almost every single time then your blind. The fact the highest bidder is also a winner is just a bonus. Sure a guy might take a little less to play in NY or LA or another team that has the resources to win consistently but rarely are they gonna take substantially less. Can you cite me more than a few guys who took substantially lessto play for a winner than he was offered elsewhere. Hell Pujols left a winner to go to another who offered more. Tell you what, tell me a couple guys out of all this last seasons free agents who took less this year to play for winner....????? Got anything?

[SteveO]

I'm not trying to be a DD basher. DD has done lots of good things for the Orioles. But there is definitely room for improvement in the future. Particularly in fixing the broken farm system. And in obtaining more international FAs. If PA is actively blocking the signing of international FAs, then DD (or someone else) needs to use some persuasion to try and get PA to change his policies on this, if in deed such policies actually exist.

Ok I am gonna get in trouble/criticized for this....I believe in my heart of hearts that DD is a very smart baseball man, I also think he recognizes that not utilizing the international market is definitely a handicap and I would not be shocked if this was one of the reasons beyond the raise and title that he entertained the Toronto idea. DD wants to win, he knows he can given the right tools, I gotta guess that conversation has been had and based on our spending in that market, he lost. Not saying its true but if you got to having a few beers and got him tipsy, he might admit that he is concerned that no matter how much he tries without meaningful involvement in a market that provides roughly 30% of future major leaguers, eventually its gonna catch up with him so why not bow out while the going is good?

Complete and utter speculation with no basis in fact to support but not a crazy thought if you ask me. He may have considered the job anyway as it was bump for him but I gotta believe that looking at his predicament were this is concerned might have factored into his thinking.

[Nevermore]

The fact the highest bidder is also a winner is just a bonus. Sure a guy might take a little less to play in NY or LA or another team that has the resources to win consistently but rarely are they gonna take substantially less.

Curious: where did the term "home team discount" come from? Was that a figment of someone's imagination? I've heard this term often, used by various people.

Then we get to "highest bidder" and "also a winner." Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Usually when FAs sign with teams, they expect that they are playing for a winner. I seriously doubt that Nellie Cruz believed that the Mariners would be so bad when he inked that contract with them. As I recall, the Orioles offered nothing more than the QO. Perhaps if they had offered more than the QO, Cruz would have chosen to return to the O's, maybe with a "home team discount." I don't know because (correct me if I'm wrong), O's management didn't offer him a contract.

[33rdst]

Curious: where did the term "home team discount" come from? Was that a figment of someone's imagination? I've heard this term often, used by various people.

Then we get to "highest bidder" and "also a winner." Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Usually when FAs sign with teams, they expect that they are playing for a winner. I seriously doubt that Nellie Cruz believed that the Mariners would be so bad when he inked that contract with them. As I recall, the Orioles offered nothing more than the QO. Perhaps if they had offered more than the QO, Cruz would have chosen to return to the O's, maybe with a "home team discount." I don't know because (correct me if I'm wrong), O's management didn't offer him a contract.

They offered him three years. Seattle offered him four.