Duquette Previews 2016 Orioles: Pitching & Pleasing The Fans
Norris and Davis had a chat with General Manager of the Baltimore Orioles Dan Duquette to ask the tough questions about what to expect next season. The No. 1 question on everyone's lips is about whether or not to keep Chris Davis and dealing with the fairly vocal influence from players like Adam Jones and Manny Machado to keep Davis around.
Duquette says, "It's a natural reaction for the guys who have played with Chris to want to have him on the team and he had some good years and we'd like him to continue with the team." He continues, "Having said that, the players don't understand the business ramifications of a decision like this."
On the topic of keeping or not keeping players, Steve mentions the unbelievable year Nelson Cruz had after he left the organization and asks if that could that have made a playoff difference for the Orioles. Duquette responded, "Well, that really wasn't the issue, the issue this year was the quality and the depth of our starting pitching."
Next, Ed and Dan discussed the planning for next season and what having more roster flexibility could do for the team. "It's nice to have roster flexibility...but if your starting pitchers aren't doing the job, that's the core issue we need to address with this team," says Duquette.
They also talk about continuing with Wei Yin-Chen or other approaches to add to the pitching staff. Duquette says there are a number of things they could do from making a trade to signing a free agent, or even allow some of the closers like Britton to try something new, but pitching is the primary focus of the team in the 2016 season.
The No 1. "beef" with Orioles fans is they don't think the organization is willing to spend the money to bulk up the team, to which Duquette responds,"Our job is to find the sweet spot between a competitive team and affordable family entertainment for our fans."
Listen to the full interview below:
