Terry Ford: Will Duquette Fly the Coop Also?
So far this off-season, the Baltimore Orioles have lost Nelson Cruz, Andrew Miller and long-time Oriole Nick Markakis in free agency. And now, maybe Orioles VP Dan Duquette? Rumors are flying that Duquette is a candidate for the Toronto Blue Jays CEO gig. According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, Duquette is interested in the job.
Duquette said the following when he arrived at the Winter Meetings to the MLB Network:
"Well, I'm with the Orioles, OK? And I'm here to represent the Orioles at the meeting. And I really don't have anything to add other than that. These rumors, they come up in the industry all the time, and I don't spend a lot of time speculating on the rumors, and I'm not in the position to do that either."
Help me out here, did Dan ever say in that statement that he WASN'T interested in the Blue Jays opening? Did Dan say how much he wants to be in the charge of the Orioles for a long time?
First question: Is Duquette really interested in this position or is he just letting the Orioles know that he is wanted in the industry so the O's better value him? If Duquette does want to leave is it simply because being the CEO of the Blue Jays is another rung up on the career ladder? Or if Duquette really wants to bolt is it because he is tired of dealing with Peter Angelos? There have been whispers that it was ownership who squashed re-signing Cruz and that Duquette wanted to bring back the guy who slammed 40 homers for him last year. And if Duquette is being wined and dined by the Jays, who is grinding it out at the Winter Meetings trying to make the Orioles better?
The other question is should the Birds even let Danny go if wants to take the Toronto gig? Duquette is signed through 2018 and last time I checked it's only 2014. Baltimore owner Peter Angelos said this about Duquette and the Blue Jays scuttlebutt:
"He has a certain performance that is required in terms of the contract and, under those terms, he has four more years of service to be performed. I'm sure he is prepared to do that, and I am sure he understands that."
That doesn't seem like old Pete is willing to just let Duquette walk and I don't blame him. There is a point that forcing an employee to stay with you even though he wants to go work for someone else does not foster a fantastic workplace environment but my opinion is that Dan signed a contract so if he wants to go and the Toronto wants him then let the Blue Jays pay for that in compensation. If they don't want Duquette bad enough to pony up something for him, then I would tell the Blue Jays to kick rocks. And then I would tell Duquette to get his butt to work and go make my team better.
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