We’re the worst team in the business (Ownership driving decisions) - Dan Duquette

[O's are Legends]

Some serious gems in this article. If DD isn't retained, I'm sure he could write a tell all book during his time with the O's.

This is probably barely scratching the surface.

Quote

 

“We’re the worst team in the business, but we’re not unlike Kansas City, who had a good run,” Duquette said. “You go through a winning cycle. You don’t draft up high. Your players get older. There is a lot of stress on your resources to replace your players.

“Our situation in Baltimore was we put an inordinate amount of resources into the major league to try and sustain the competitive window. That was a decision by the ownership. Along the way, we didn’t invest in the infrastructure required to sustain it, and by that I mean the international [free agent] recruiting, the analytics, the technology, the front office personnel. The ownership group made a conscious choice to invest money into the major league team to extend the competitiveness of the team a bit longer.”

 

I don't mean to throw Roy Firestone into this but I believe he said the O's don't have many head scouts or something along the line. I believe it. The fact DD is stating the O's haven't invested as they should in other important aspects that are necessary to run a MLB franchise speaks volume. Ownership looks worse if that's even possible.

I'm throwing in these tweets by Britt as well even though they weren't part of the article.

FiveThirtyEight

 

[Can_of_corn]

Pretty sure Dan has signed a NDA.

[Tx Oriole]

14 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Pretty sure Dan has signed a NDA.

NDA? 

[24fps]

Dan could write a tell-all book that a lot of people would buy but he won't, even if he doesn't have an NDA and it's likely he does.  Professional contract workers don't do stuff like that unless they're comfortable with the notion of retirement or itching for a radical career change.

I'm surprised he was as candid as he was.

[Can_of_corn]

10 minutes ago, Tx Oriole said:

NDA? 

Non disclosure agreement.

[TonySoprano]

 Dan's made similar comments to these around the trade deadline, IIRC.  Ownership wanted to go for it.    The fact that they are giving lip service to doing some of these things now, e.g. international market, tells me the sons are taking over.  Which one is Michael Corleone?  Hopefully, we don't have two Fredos.

"My father's way of doing things is over, it's finished. Even he knows that. I mean, in five years, the Orioles are going to be competitive. Trust me.   That's all I can tell you about my business."

[theocean]

12 minutes ago, 24fps said:

Dan could write a tell-all book that a lot of people would buy but he won't, even if he doesn't have an NDA and it's likely he does.  Professional contract workers don't do stuff like that unless they're comfortable with the notion of retirement or itching for a radical career change.

I'm surprised he was as candid as he was.

I think what he said has been pretty obvious. With everyone's contracts up after 2018 - it always seemed like the club was aimed at competing for that window. Meanwhile, since 2012, the game has changed a lot and the Orioles didn't invest in other areas besides MLB payroll to keep up.

It seems like a good sign that we are hearing reports the O's want to cut MLB payroll as much as possible to invest in building their infrastructure. That's going to result in some god awful teams for the next few years, but it needs to happen.

[OFFNY]

47 minutes ago, O's are Legends said:

 

We’re the Worst Team in the Business

 

o

 

One quarter of a Century ago ........ the 1993 Mets were the worst team that money could buy.

 

 

 

 

13 Millionaires, 90 Losers

(By Alan Barra)

https://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/04/books/baseball-13-millionaires-90-losers.html

 

o

[24fps]

10 minutes ago, theocean said:

I think what he said has been pretty obvious. With everyone's contracts up after 2018 - it always seemed like the club was aimed at competing for that window. Meanwhile, since 2012, the game has changed a lot and the Orioles didn't invest in other areas besides MLB payroll to keep up.

It seems like a good sign that we are hearing reports the O's want to cut MLB payroll as much as possible to invest in building their infrastructure. That's going to result in some god awful teams for the next few years, but it needs to happen.

In my mind there's no question that the design for the end of the competitive window took place long before 2018.

To me, the most interesting observation in the article is DD's point about the increasing value of young players in light of the decreased longevity of even elite player's careers.  I'm an Orioles fan going back many years and it hurts me to say that I hope the utterly predictible Chris Davis experience hurts long enough for Orioles ownership to never forget the pain.  But I do.

[Tx Oriole]

8 minutes ago, theocean said:

I think what he said has been pretty obvious. With everyone's contracts up after 2018 - it always seemed like the club was aimed at competing for that window. Meanwhile, since 2012, the game has changed a lot and the Orioles didn't invest in other areas besides MLB payroll to keep up.

It seems like a good sign that we are hearing reports the O's want to cut MLB payroll as much as possible to invest in building their infrastructure. That's going to result in some god awful teams for the next few years, but it needs to happen.

I agree. It does.

[waroriole]

50 minutes ago, 24fps said:

Dan could write a tell-all book that a lot of people would buy but he won't, even if he doesn't have an NDA and it's likely he does.  Professional contract workers don't do stuff like that unless they're comfortable with the notion of retirement or itching for a radical career change.

I'm surprised he was as candid as he was.

Yeah I thought the same thing. It’s his way of telling potential future employers that ain’t my idea. It’s makes this situation even more depressing because he’s the only guy I would bring back. 

[Finisher]

Looks like DD isn't coming back.

[Cumberbundy]

This is Dan going all in? He gets to spend and make aggressive moves and he’s got us set to lose 118 games. Brady must not be training Dan’s guys well enough and Buck is probably underutilizing the studs Dan has acquired. Very disappointed in Buck and Brady. 

[spiritof66]

What Duquette is reported to have said is what I've been saying for a couple of years.  

He left out what I believe is the reason why the Orioles skewed their allocation of resources to stress winning now and skimped on investments that would strengthen the franchise for the future: the desperate and selfish desire of Peter Angelos, in his mid-80s, to get to the World Series, no matter how remote the chances for that became, and without regard for the effects on the long-term health of the franchise after he wouldn't be around. 

The Orioles, and their fans, have been paying the price for Angelos's foolhardy strategy and will continue to do so. It remains to be seen whether his sons can and will reject fully their father's stupid way of running the team, whether they can and will spend what needs to be spent on the things that he neglected, and whether they're capable of successfully running a ML team. 

[theocean]

1 minute ago, spiritof66 said:

Duquette said what I've been saying for a couple of years.  

It leaves out what I believe is the reason why the Orioles skewed their allocation of resources to stress winning now and skimped on investments that would strengthen the franchise for the future: the desperate and selfish desire of Peter Angelos, in his mid-80s, to get to the World Series, no matter how remote the chances for that became, and without regard for the effects on the long-term health of the franchise after he wouldn't be around. 

The Orioles, and their fans, have been paying the price for Angelos's foolhardy strategy and will continue to do so. It remains to be seen whether his sons can and will reject fully their father's stupid way of running the team, whether they can and will spend what needs to be spent on the things that he neglected, and whether they're capable of successfully running a ML team. 

I mean - I dunno. The entire point of the game is to win the World Series. I can't be mad at a guy for trying to doing that. It would have been nice if they were smarter about how they spent all their money.

Mike Ilitch and the Tigers did the same thing. Now, they are in a similar place as the Orioles too.