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

[24fps]

We were long overdue for a revised definition of "tempest in a teacup"

Everybody having a slow day at work or what?

[ArtVanDelay]

25 minutes ago, Number5 said:

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.

DD could've chosen not to answer the question. He fell for the bait. 

[BohKnowsBmore]

26 minutes ago, Number5 said:

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.

Yep.  This is where I am on this.

And Deadspin is just trying to drum up racial controversy.  The fact that they couldn't be bothered to realize that Adam Jones wouldn't make any sense to bring up as he wasn't a FA this winter tells you everything you need to know about their position in this.

[BohKnowsBmore]

2 minutes ago, ArtVanDelay said:

DD could've chosen not to answer the question. He fell for the bait. 

But then we're getting into criticism of media relations and not what he believes or thinks.  Ultimately it doesn't seem to be that big of a deal.

[24fps]

Tom Ley's Deadspin article was pulled from a much longer MLB.com Q&A heavily focused on DD's years in Montreal and Boston.  After the exchange Ley used as the basis for his pointed (and IMO loaded) question, the MLB.com article immediately followed with this question and Duquette's answer:

Quote

 

MLB.com: Adam Jones has been the face of the Orioles for several years. How important is he to the team both on and off the field?

Duquette: Adam has been great. He lives in the community, he's an excellent role model, he's involved in the middle of our lineup, he's involved in the center of our defense and he's a central man in our community. It's been fun working with Adam over the last couple of years. He established a home there, he married a girl from Baltimore and he's had a really good run.

 

My only explanation for the oversight on Tom Ley's part including the above, is that he must have just been in the lobby for a half-hour looking for racists behind every potted plant and he was frustrated at coming up empty.

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, Phantom said:

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.

By my definition of working class, there's not a single major league player who meets it.    I really don't know what Duquette was trying to say with his remark, but I don't see it as racist, just inapt.    His bigger point was that Orioles fans don't like Bautista, which is indisputable.    

[CaptainRedbeard]

Not that I want to give credibility to this being a racial thing, as I don't think DD was trying to do that, but Adam Jones is not a good counter-example.  The cultural divide in baseball is basically the traditional, no celebration, do-your-job, "working class" type, vs. the new-age celebration / bat flip type.  The first category is predominantly white, and the second category is predominantly latino (prominent exception: Bryce Harper).  

The Orioles are very, very first category - Buck, Jones, and O'Day being the most vocal, but also Davis and previously Markakis and Wieters.  Because Jones isn't latino, it's not really a counter-argument to the idea that "working class" is just code for "not latino" in this context.  If you wanted a good argument, you'd have to say somebody like Manny or Schoop.  Manny isn't a great example because he's got a fair bit of his own flair and arrogance, but Schoop is actually a very good one.

[Phantom]

1 minute ago, Frobby said:

By my definition of working class, there's not a single major league player who meets it.    I really don't know what Duquette was trying to say with his remark, but I don't see it as racist, just inapt.    His bigger point was that Orioles fans don't like Bautista, which is indisputable.    

Working class players must be a baroque age ballplayer who looks like he hates his job over a guy who hits dongs and flips bats.

[El Gordo]

2 hours ago, Phantom said:

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.

I thought this was pretty clear. I can imagine Trumbo with his lunch pail doing construction work. I can't see miss thing Jose doing that without his entourage and a catered lunch.

[ArtVanDelay]

7 minutes ago, El Gordo said:

I thought this was pretty clear. I can imagine Trumbo with his lunch pail doing construction work. I can't see miss thing Jose doing that without his entourage and a catered lunch.

This is one of the strangest things I've ever read on here.

[Phantom]

10 minutes ago, El Gordo said:

I thought this was pretty clear. I can imagine Trumbo with his lunch pail doing construction work. I can't see miss thing Jose doing that without his entourage and a catered lunch.

I just...I don't even know what to say to this.

 

Also, have you been to a construction site in the last decade?

[ChinMusic]

Just now, dan-O said:

Yikes. I think the point is, you know, I can also picture Jones doing that. And he just happens to be the face of the franchise precisely because he's the type of player that Baltimore fans like. Trumbo? He's a vanilla white dude who shows up to work every day. Great. He's been here for a single year. Even Chris Davis is a better example. Even Schoop is a better example. 

I believe he used Trumbo because, like Bautista, he was a free agent this year. It has nothing to do with anything beyond that.

[Phantom]

Just now, ChinMusic said:

I believe he used Trumbo because, like Bautista, he was a free agent this year. It has nothing to do with anything beyond that.

I agree. I have no problem with him comparing those two. I have no problem with comparing their attitudes. I have a problem with applying the term working class to either.

[PaulFolk]

47 minutes ago, Frobby said:

By my definition of working class, there's not a single major league player who meets it.    I really don't know what Duquette was trying to say with his remark, but I don't see it as racist, just inapt.    His bigger point was that Orioles fans don't like Bautista, which is indisputable.    

I agree. It's just a bad analogy, even if it has no race-based undertones.

A better analogy would be that Trumbo is boring, while Bautista is demonstrative. Trumbo seems to have no discernible personality either on or off the field, while Bautista is constantly trying to pick fights, show up other teams, etc.

I prefer Trumbo's boringness to Bautista's tiresome antics, and I'm sure the Orioles do, too. So why didn't Duquette just say it that way? Why bring up nonsense about "grit" and "working class"?

[ChinMusic]

I think it was a dumb comment, but I'm having a difficult time applying any racial undertones to it. I don't know exactly what he meant by "working class", but to automatically go straight to "Racisim!!" seems like a bit of a stretch to me.