Baltimore Orioles: Allow Duquette To Blue Jays Under One Condition …

Aug 27, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; Baltimore Orioles executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette prior to a game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

I love our daily conversations here on The Baltimore Wire about Baltimore Orioles baseball. It is a privilege and a pleasure to have this platform. But I will tell you truthfully that I rather hate times when Baltimore Orioles business has to be the subject.

A blog that covers the Orioles cannot today avoid some comment on the Sunday rumors that Dan Duquette was possibly being targeted by the Blue Jays to replace their former CEO Paul Beeston.

Though we cannot know all that goes on behind the scenes and what sorts of questions and “feelers” transpire in the baseball world, this one has a lot of appearance as being a rumor that created a great deal of heat relative to the size of any fire.

In a published interview on MASN later in the day, Orioles owner Peter Angelos seemed to rather definitively squash any possibility that this was going anywhere substantial. He said,

"“The rule is if they’re interested in our GM, they have no right to speak with him or make any attempt to induce him into taking any position … They would have to contact us and ask if we’re willing to relinquish him. We’re not relinquishing him, period. He’s signed for four more years and we’re delighted by the team’s performance. We intend for him to remain for the next four years. We’re satisfied with him, obviously.”"

I don’t know that I’m the biggest Dan Duquette fan in the world. I think he has done a good job – doing something that nobody else before him was able to do for a long time. He strikes me as a very good evaluator of baseball material. And he appears to have strong knowledge as to how to organize and run a professional baseball outfit.

The man’s political double-speak and slow methodical processes can be maddening at times. But a strong majority of his moves have paid off for the Baltimore Orioles.

But here’s the deal … If the Toronto Blue Jays really, really, want Dan Duquette that bad, and if they talk to Peter Angelos about allowing the conversation and negotiation, here is an idea!  Tell the Jays that they can have Dan Duquette under the condition that they also take the full remaining three years of Ubaldo Jimenez’ contract.

So, hopefully this is the last of this silly talk. Hopefully with the Baseball Winter Meetings under way that the rest of the week will be baseball analysis … you know, the sport of baseball.