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According to the Associated Press, the Baltimore Orioles have signed Dan Duquette to a three-year deal to become the GM.
Duquette, 53, has been out of baseball since being fired by the Red Sox in 2002. The Massachusetts native, whose Red Sox tenure was marked with both success and rancor, is expected to be introduced today.
Duquette faces a major challenge. Baltimore has not had a winning season since 1997 and has not won more than 70 games since 2006. Owner Peter Angelos is viewed as a meddler while most believe that manager Buck Showalter holds all the power in terms of baseball operations.
The Orioles are clearly behind the Yankees, Rays, Red Sox and Blue Jays in terms of major league talent and prospects. But Duquette finally gets another chance to make his mark on a major league franchise.
It's amazing that Duquette gets a GM job just a few weeks after one of his protégés, Ben Cherington, is named GM of he Red Sox. It was Duquette who hired Cherington in 1999 as an amateur scout.
Globe:Duquette agrees to be O's GM
This is a tough one to see. Duquette made some great moves during his tenure in Boston. He drafted Nomar, traded for Pedro, and signed Manny. He turned Heathcliff Slocumb into Jason Varitek and Derek Lowe. He left Theo and the new ownership with a good amount of prospects to acquire Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, and Coco Crisp. He was a local kid who got his dream job and may have been here a bit too long as fans and the media turned on him. (Sounds familiar.)
I don't know how he can turn around the Orioles. Unless he can find another Pedro Martinez, it's going to be impossible to get ahead of the Yankees, Rays, Sox, and Blue Jays. But he's been more than qualified for this job and he can put together a solid core of players. It's crazy to see that it's taking nine years for a team to give Duquette another crack at being a general manager considering he has a knack for finding talent...like our new GM.
(Photo:firebrandal.com)
Rest of the links: Globe:Streets use a sweet for Red Sox|Crawford next batting champ?|Herald:Duquette finally gets another shot|CSNNE:Page Sox weren't prepared|Duquette named O's GM|WEEI:Wondering what these managerial interview are like|Sox accountability unbelievably lacking|Duquette be named GM of Orioles
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