How Dan Duquette built a contender

[wildcard]

Here are Dan Duquette's moves from his hiring through the 2012 season:

November 8th after Dan Duquette was hired:  

“I’m here to build a contending team that everyone can be proud of,” he said.    Duquette spoke more than once about the need to be aggressive in scouting, especially in the international market, and how the only way to compete with the big spenders at the top of the AL East is to “work smarter and work harder.”   “It can be done,” he said.

December 8th: Ryan Flaherty claimed in the Rule 5 draft. “Ryan is a high draft pick from an excellent college program and we really like his bat,” said executive vice president Dan Duquette. “He has a reasonable chance to contribute at the major league level this season.” 

January 10th: The signing for Wei-Yin Chen.    “Chen works off of a 92-94 mile per hour fastball and he uses a hard, slurve-like breaking ball as an out-pitch,” Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette said in the same statement. “He has exceptional command and we like the quality of his pitches to help our team.”

January 24th:  Signed Wilson Betemit as a free agent. “We like his bat, and if you take a look at what he’s done the last two years against right-handed pitching, he’s got an above-average average and above-average in getting on base and above-average power,” Duquette said.   “His value to us is as a hitter on the left side. His best position is batting. From the left side, he presents capabilities to hit for average and power. And we’re putting emphasis on improving our on-base percentage. If you look at some of the players we’ve acquired and signed, like Matt Antonelli and Ryan Flaherty, they all have good on-base capabilities. That’s something we’ve made a conscious effort to address and continue to address.”

February 6th: Trade Jason Hammel and Matt Linstrom for Jeremy Guthrie.  “Jason Hammel is a solid major league starting pitcher and Matt Lindsrom, I believe, really strengths our bullpen,” Duquette said. “Jason Hammel’s got a strong arm. If you take a look at his velocity last year, he averaged almost 93 mph and has been a dependable major league starter. And Matt Lindstrom has a 96 mph fastball, slider and split-finger, and he’s been a reliable reliever. I like to have power arms at the end of the game, and we have a couple in Jim Johnson and now Matt Lindstrom.”

February 10th: Signed Free Agent Luis Ayala.  

March 4th: Miguel Gonzalez sign to a minor league contract.   

Fred Ferreira didn't need to see much to be convinced he liked this right-hander pitching for los Venados de Mazatlan. One inning and he was sold, as watched Miguel Gonzalez strike out the side on nine pitches. When Ferreira was hired by new executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette in December, Duquette made it clear that his top priority was adding organizational pitching depth. Ferreira made signing Gonzalez, who was released by Red Sox that month, his top international priority. Duquette said he liked that Gonzalez, now 28, advanced through three different levels of Boston's system

June 5th:  Free Agent Nate McLouth signed.  Duquette signed McLouth, a former NL All-Star and Gold Glove outfielder with the Pirates, off the waiver wire scrap heap in June, one of countless veteran reclamation projects.

June 30th: Jim Thome traded by the Philadelphia Phillies to the Baltimore Orioles for Gabriel Lino (minors) and Kyle Simon (minors). “Jim Thome’s a real pro and he specializes in hitting home runs and getting on base. He’s done that consistently his whole career,” Duquette said. “Beyond that, he’s a terrific teammate and a steady presence, and he’s a veteran. He’s been around the league. He’s been in the pennant race and he’s been in the playoffs. We like all those things that he brings to our team. And I think he gives us a little bit more depth to our lineup with the injuries that we’ve had. I think his presence in the lineup will make the opposing pitchers work harder because he gets on base and hits home runs and can hit the ball out of any ballpark. We think he’ll be an asset to the team.

August 8th: Manny Machado promoted from Bowie.  “Manny can be a plus-defender and help the team,” said executive vice president Dan Duquette. “The kid has a lot of talent. It sounds like Buck will play him at third base.”

August 26th:  Trade;  Joe Saunders for Matt Linstrom.  "He's a professional left-handed pitcher. We like his experience, which complements our starting rotation, which has three rookies, and I also like the fact that he's left-handed. It gives us better balance," Duquette said.

 

[Aristotelian]

May 27, 2012. Signs Adam Jones to 6 year extension.

[Frobby]

May 17:  Lew Ford signed out of the Atlantic League.   

[backwardsk]

Was Miguel Gonzalez pre-Duquette?  Getting big innings from him and Chen at their cost was a huge success.  EDIT: Duh, you mentioned him and I missed it.

You mentioned McLouth, but it seemed like he had so many minor moves that year that worked out.  For example, he picked up Bill (?) Hall (used to play in Milwaukee) and he hit a key homerun in his first game.

[VaBird1]

One other thing he did on an ongoing basis was replace people with negative WAR for someone slightly better.  The back of the roster was constantly being improved.

[wildcard]

1 hour ago, Aristotelian said:

May 27, 2012. Signs Adam Jones to 6 year extension.

That's a big one that I missed.  Thanks.

[scOtt]

How Dan Duquette built a contender

 

 

 

By mortgaging the farm system. In his defense.... it was at the behest of mgmt.... i.e. Big Peter. But still...

[SteveA]

5 hours ago, Frobby said:

May 17:  Lew Ford signed out of the Atlantic League.   

 

[sportsfan8703]

Chen, Gonzo, Brach, Hammel(year one), Cruz.
 

Those were just home run acquisitions. Then at the end though....

[Bahama O's Fan]

Could you imagine how insufferable it would be to be an O's fan without the Duquette/Showalter era? How many years of losing would it have been? I am extremely grateful for them. 

[Can_of_corn]

20 minutes ago, Bahama O's Fan said:

Could you imagine how insufferable it would be to be an O's fan without the Duquette/Showalter era? How many years of losing would it have been? I am extremely grateful for them. 

That assumes whomever was hired in their stead wouldn't have been able to succeed.

[Aristotelian]

25 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

That assumes whomever was hired in their stead wouldn't have been able to succeed.

 At least we know they didn't lose. I question a lot of their decisions but making the postseason 3 of 5 years in the AL East is not easy no matter what assets you have inherited. DD made plenty of great moves along the way.

[sportsfan8703]

The bad extensions were bound to happen. Especially after losing for 14 seasons. We wanted to keep “our” guys. The demise of our last run was trading away three Comp picks, losing comp picks by signing FA, and doing nothing in the Dominican. 
 

Instead of eating Ryan Webb and Brian Matusz’s contracts, which only saved like $6 million, instead we trade comp picks and overpaid players like Colby Rasmus. 
 

We could’ve continued a run of success if ownership would’ve give DD about $20 million more over the 5 years to eat bad contracts, and invest in the Dominican. 

Edited February 10, 2020 by sportsfan8703

[Pickles]

Riding on Andy MacPhail's coattails...............

Is that an option?

[interloper]

Cool little reminder of how it all went down. He struck gold on pretty much all of those moves, which is a little lucky, sure, but it was impressive nonetheless. 

These were good, fun years. And the fact that no one could have done this within the prior 15-years only makes those chumps in charge look even worse. 

Unfortunately, they weren't able to see far enough down the road for it to continue and here we are.