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Orioles Rumors: Dan Duquette Talks Possible Signings, Trumbo Deal, RP Trades

Dan Duquette is the Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations for the Baltimore Orioles.

Dan joined Ed and Rob to talk about the off-season and the upcoming winter meetings.

Rob: We've heard so much going on right now, let's go straight to Mark Trumbo. Reports that you all offered him a four-year deal, reports that he wants one thing, you want something else. What's the truth and what's rumor concerning the club and Mark Trumbo?

DD: Well Mark Trumbo had a terrific year, he did a great job for us and we made him an offer several weeks ago in an attempt to resign him and that didn't meet what he was looking for so he's out looking in the marketplace hoping to find what he's looking for. He didn't find it in Baltimore when he rejected our offer.

Ed: What about the catchers up for discussion? Obviously Wieters, a lot of talk about Matt and then Cisco on the horizon, but rumors have it you're interested in Wellington Castillo. Are you and if so what do you see in this guy?

DD: We've been looking for a catcher to give us some stability. Matt did a good job, he's a good veteran leader and had some good presence. And we have Chance Cisco, who a lot of clubs like by the way. He's a guy who hit .320 leading the league in Eastern league and had over .400 on base percentage and he's continuing to work at his catching. I really like his work ethic and his athletic ability. So he's on the horizon, going to be in our future, but we probably could use some veteran leadership in the meantime. Caleb didn't have a very good year last year and he needs to reestablish himself as an offensive player. He handled the staff well, but he's gonna need to step it up as far as his offensive production. He had an injury this year which we understand, but if he's gonna be a major league catcher, he's gonna have to seize his opportunity here and contribute. Then we got Francisco Pena who did a good job when he filled in when Caleb was out and did a good job. But beyond that we would like to have a little more depth at our catching, we're looking around. There are some catchers we might be able to add and there are some catchers that could be available in trade that we're looking at also.

Rob: We know all the guys who are eligible for arbitration, there's only one who wasn't tendered a contract and that's Vance Worley. How much, ballpark figure, are you guys expected to add with arbitration salaries to the payroll?

DD: When you have a good team, Rob, those players usually get pretty good raises. We had several that had great years. Of course, Manny at second year in a row came in top-5 in the MVP, he's gonna get a good raise. Zach Britton, probably the best pitcher in the league, he's also gonna get a good raise. Then we have some other players who have qualified. Kevin Gausman's in that category, he developed very nicely as a solid starting pitcher and very dependable kid so he's gonna get a big raise. Jonathan Schoop hit a bunch of home runs. So the good news is the fans are coming out and supporting our team and we're gonna put up as much of those resources as we can back into the payroll. But when you've got a bunch of young players and they have a good year, that means they play well and they're due a raise under the system.

Ed: What do you think of the new CBA? My take on it, it seems they've made it better for small-market teams with some of the restructuring and the luxury tax changes.

DD: Well we'll have to wait and see how that plays out. We have a challenge in the Baltimore market to compete against these major market clubs north of us in New York and Boston and Toronto. They got serious resources and very passionate fan bases and they've spent a lot of money putting their teams together. Fortunately for the Orioles, we've been competitive the last couple of years. We still have our work cut out for us. I like the fact that we got the CBA done. I think Rob Manfred and the commissioner's office there negotiated a deal that the owners and the players can live with and prosper hopefully. I think there are some good opportunities to expand the game internationally and continue to grow the interest. They got the World Baseball Classic coming up this year. We've got a lot of our players interested in playing for that. I think Manny's gonna play, and Schoop's interested in playing and Adam Jones. I don't know if Kim's gonna play with Korea or not, but that's a real big benefit for MLB and the game on a worldwide basis and getting some more ballplayers to come over here and play ball.

Rob: Dan, we read all the trade rumors and the latest rumor out there is the Orioles involved in a possible trade with the New York Mets. Curtis Granderson, Jay Bruce's name has been thrown out there along with Brad Brach on the Orioles side. Is this something that has some legs to it or is it just another typical offseason Winter Meetings rumor?

DD: Well you see the money that the relievers are getting in the marketplace. Melancon signed for $60M. There's a lot of interest in the job of the major league relief pitcher, particularly after Chapman pitched for the Cubs and Miller did a great job for the Indians taking their teams to the World Series and doing a good job when their managers call on them. So you see the value of those relievers being reflected in the marketplace and that Melancon contract, it's a lot of money for a reliever, but the clubs who were trying to, they were bidding on Melancon they're looking at other options and they're looking at our bullpen because we've got some real strong pitchers out there. Brach, Britton, O'Day, Givens, Hart, that's been the strength of our team for a couple years.

Ed: What about overall, not the just the Orioles, giving relievers four-year deals. Historically they didn't do that. How do you feel about that? It seems like they're changing the way you look at that in terms of length of contract.

DD: It's hard to find a reliever that's consistent year in and year out and if you do I think clubs are more comfortable in offering a longer-term contract to them. But all these contracts they're not gonna work out, all these long-term contracts for a lot of money, they never do.

Rob: Dan when you started in this business 30 years ago, did you think number one that a player would have the gall to ask for a $400M contract, and how much does Bryce Harper's demand affect you and Manny Machado or how do you think Manny Machado's deal will affect Bryce Harper's?

DD: The players need to go where they can get the most money and maximize their careers, that's the way the system is set up. As long as there's a lot of interest around the world and around the league, I think you'll continue to see robust player salaries. The problem I have with that kind of money is it takes more than one player to have a good team and the fans want a good team year in and year out which is what we've been giving them in Baltimore here making the playoffs three out of the last five years and having competitive, winning teams every year. But the challenge to doing that is you can't put too much money in any one player because it takes a lot of good players to have a good team and that's really the challenge of running a team year in and year out. We keep trying to find that sweet spot. I don't begrudge the players for getting a lot of money, but what I don't like, I'd like to see it more evenly distributed from player to player. You're not an individual performer when you're out there on the field. Yeah those players have great talent, but you can come out to see the team and they like to see the team win.

Rob: Dan thanks a lot and good luck in the Winter Meetings. Hopefully Santa will fill our stockings as far as the roster is concerned!

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