Dan Duquette: Orioles Fans Hate Jose Bautista, Prefer "Working Class" Players

[Phantom]

http://deadspin.com/dan-duquette-orioles-fans-hate-jose-bautista-prefer-1793519917?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_facebook&utm_source=deadspin_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

 

MLB.com: You expressed no interest in Jose Bautista this offseason, saying, “Jose is a villain in Baltimore and I’m not going to go tell our fans that we’re courting Jose Bautista for the Orioles because they’re not going to be happy.” How often do you consider something like fan reaction when considering potential acquisitions?

Duquette: (Laughs) Well that was an easy one; our fans just don’t like Jose. We play those guys 25 times a year and he’s the face of the Blue Jays. He’s the villain in the play whenever we play the Blue Jays. I like our guys. Our guys are good. [Mark] Trumbo is like a working-class-type baseball player. If he was going to work every day on a construction site, you would understand that he brings that kind of work ethic every day. That’s the kind of player that our fans identify with. We try to get gritty players that work hard every day and give their best effort every day. Our fans seem to like that and respond to it.

 

 

How is Bautista not "working class" while Trumbo is? I can't see a lens where this is not code for white.

[Aristotelian]

That is a very ugly remark. Just foolish of DD to make a comment like that to the national media. I have never heard of a GM calling out another team's player like that, and the implicit racial dimension does not look good at all. Now DD will have to issue a statement to clarify, and it will go on and on. 

[clapdiddy]

10 minutes ago, Phantom said:

http://deadspin.com/dan-duquette-orioles-fans-hate-jose-bautista-prefer-1793519917?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_facebook&utm_source=deadspin_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

 

MLB.com: You expressed no interest in Jose Bautista this offseason, saying, “Jose is a villain in Baltimore and I’m not going to go tell our fans that we’re courting Jose Bautista for the Orioles because they’re not going to be happy.” How often do you consider something like fan reaction when considering potential acquisitions?

Duquette: (Laughs) Well that was an easy one; our fans just don’t like Jose. We play those guys 25 times a year and he’s the face of the Blue Jays. He’s the villain in the play whenever we play the Blue Jays. I like our guys. Our guys are good. [Mark] Trumbo is like a working-class-type baseball player. If he was going to work every day on a construction site, you would understand that he brings that kind of work ethic every day. That’s the kind of player that our fans identify with. We try to get gritty players that work hard every day and give their best effort every day. Our fans seem to like that and respond to it.

 

 

How is Bautista not "working class" while Trumbo is? I can't see a lens where this is not code for white.

I'm sure that Adam Jones is considered "working class" by DD as well.    I think he's just looking at it through the lens of free agency this offseason, as both were free agents.

I think the comment from Duquette is pretty dumb.   Despite the fact that Bautista is a moron, he's definitely "worked" to become a better player, so I don't know what point he's trying to make.

[El Gordo]

2 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

That is a very ugly remark. Just foolish of DD to make a comment like that to the national media. I have never heard of a GM calling out another team's player like that, and the implicit racial dimension does not look good at all. Now DD will have to issue a statement to clarify, and it will go on and on. 

Racial dimension? What did I miss? Working class guys aren't divas like Jose.

[jabba72]

Agree. Duquette needs to drop it already. Why cant he just say Bautista was out of the O's price range, instead of trying to smear him.  At Trumbo dollars im sure Duquette would have been interested. 

[25 Nuggets]

Yeesh, stoke the fires of this re-emerging rivalry some more, why don't you Duquette?

I have to think this has something to do with the Duquette-to-Toronto soap opera, but maybe I'm reading too much into it and Dan just doesn't think about what he says sometimes.

[ArtVanDelay]

Lol this again?

DD just needs to shut up.  Jeez.

[Phantom]

31 minutes ago, El Gordo said:

Racial dimension? What did I miss? Working class guys aren't divas like Jose.

If you want to call him out for being a diva, then call him out for being a diva. Working class has a very specific definition.

[oriole]

Yikes..."working class" is a terrible way to describe a player. Trumbo probably read that and thought "I'm a millionaire, in what universe is that working class?"

 

Bautista is a diva with bat flips and outrageous contract demands and whiney remarks to umpires if things don't go that way...I guess if you say working class means you do your work and don't complain then that makes Bautista the opposite because despite hard work he sure seems like he is owed something...but to actually phrase it that way is dumb. Duquette is talking himself out of the business again.

[Number5]

DD didn't bring this up again out of the blue.  He was giving an interview and the interviewer asked the question.  Just a media guy trying to generate hits on his page.  Frankly, I don't think DD is wrong about the way the majority of Orioles' fans feel about Bautista, although he would probably have been better served to not mention it in the first place.  And the comments about race are way beyond the scope.  Does anyone for one second believe that DD never signs Hispanic players?  The facts certainly say otherwise.  Referring to someone as being a working class guy has zero to do with his ethnicity.  Not everything in life is racially motivated.

[harp6]

48 minutes ago, clapdiddy said:

I'm sure that Adam Jones is considered "working class" by DD as well.    I think he's just looking at it through the lens of free agency this offseason, as both were free agents.

I think the comment from Duquette is pretty dumb.   Despite the fact that Bautista is a moron, he's definitely "worked" to become a better player, so I don't know what point he's trying to make.

Good point.  I find it amazing how people try to turn things racist that are not.  Do you really think that Dan was intentionally making a racist remark.  He mentioned one name (Trumbo) and the person happens to be white and people want to turn it into racism.  If he used Adam Jones, people would have probably figured out a way to turn that into a racist statement also.  I think the comment had to do more with people of Balt. identifying with a "hard-working, get the job done as a team" type of guy.  Bautista is not that.  He may have worked hard to get where he is, but he is pompous and arrogant.  That is why Oriole fans don't care for him.  His contract demands were not that of a humble working class guy.  It was more of the attitude of a spoiled rich guy.  

[OFFNY]

21 minutes ago, oriole said:

 

Yikes ......"Working class" is a terrible way to describe a player. Trumbo probably read that and thought, "I'm a millionaire, in what universe is that working class?"

 

Bautista is a diva with bat flips and outrageous contract demands and whiney remarks to umpires if things don't go that way ...... I guess if you say working class means you do your work and don't complain then that makes Bautista the opposite because despite hard work he sure seems like he is owed something...but to actually phrase it that way is dumb. Duquette is talking himself out of the business again.

 

o

 

Chris Davis signed a working-class contract extension prior to the start of the 2016 season ........  $161 Million worth of blue-collar labor.

I think that "Home-town discount" just got trumped for the strangest term used to describe a player in relation to their salary.

 

 

[Can_of_corn]

46 minutes ago, ArtVanDelay said:

Lol this again?

DD just needs to shut up.  Jeez.

He's a real people person isn't he?

[Orioles0615]

Another year another time where Duquette has said or done something that comes off in bad manner. Ugh!

[Babypowder]

Duquette's dog whistle works pretty well.