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The Norris & Davis Best Of - Week Of October 10th

This week's edition of the Norris & Davis Show best of features and interview with Orioles GM about what to expect from the team this off-season, and Doug Dieken previews the Ravens hosting the Browns this Sunday.

DAN DUQUETTE

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."

DOUG DIEKEN

Doug joined Ed and Steve to talk tell us what to expect from the Browns on Sunday against the Ravens.

Steve asked Doug whether reports that there is a rift in the Browns locker room about who should start at quarterback. Doug believes those reports are false saying, "whoever reported it must have got that information from someone who doesn't play. I think there is a very good comfort level with Josh McCown."

Ed asked Doug about the struggles of the Browns run defense to start the season. Doug acknowledged poor tackling by the defense has been the culprit, "Cleveland drafted Danny Shelton to help up front against the running game, but one of the problems has been missed tackles. Last week they counted 14 missed tackles."

Doug went on to discuss the injury to Browns corner back Joe Haden's, the Oakland Raiders playoff chances after a strong start to the season, and the teams that have had surprise starts to the season.

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