Here's a roundup of a few takes on the Orioles' hiring of Dan Duquette by other writers.
* At SB Nation, Marc Normandin takes a look at Duquette's personnel moves while with the Expos and Red Sox and wonders which Duquette the Orioles are getting — the one who drafted well and succeeded in the international market while with small-budget Montreal, or the one who didn't draft as well with big-budget Boston but made some smart acquisitions and trades:
"It's tough to say how good Duquette will be in today's game. The kinds of things that led to success for him in the '90s are more prevalent now — on-base percentage is valued much more, and the rich teams are even richer than they were 10 years ago. What we do know, though, is that the Orioles need Montreal's Dan Duquette more than Boston's, given the sorry state of their player development has led them to where they are, and strong drafting and trades are the only way to climb back out of that hole."* Also at SB Nation, Rob Neyer notes that while Duquette talked a lot at his introductory news conference about building a quality farm system, he didn't leave the Red Sox's minor league system in very good shape.
"In 2002, with Duquette on the verge of being fired, Baseball America's Prospect Handbook ranked the Red Sox farm system 28th in the majors. ...
"One year later the system ranked 27th, with this comment: "End of the Duquette regime means this ranking could finally turn around."
* Boston Globe columnist Tony Massarotti writes that Duquette deserves another shot running a team and reminds us that Duquette did a better job with the Red Sox than he is given credit for:
"Duquette needs the Orioles as much (or more) as the Orioles need Duquette, both parties in need of rehabilitating their credibility and image in the wake of what has been a forgettable decade. And so maybe this is a match made for redemption, a team and its chief baseball executive both believing they have been given another chance."
* Boston Herald columnist John Tomase also praises the job Duquette did with the Red Sox and expresses surprise he didn't get another GM job directly after his firing:
"Add [his success in Boston] to his legacy in Montreal — the Expos looked like the best team in baseball before the 1994 strike — and it's a wonder Duquette wasn't immediately hired after departing in 2002."
* ESPNBoston.com's Gordon Edes has a less rosy outlook on Duquette's ability to turn the Orioles around. He looks at Duquette's time away from the major leagues and wonders why the Orioles would want him:
"It's hard to divine what in that lineup [of Duquette's pursuits while away from the major leagues] qualifies him in the eyes of Orioles owner Peter Angelos to have another go-round as GM in the AL East, where he will compete against the likes of a multiple-World Series winner in Brian Cashman (Yankees), highly regarded young GMs Andrew Friedman (Tampa) and Alex Anthopoulos (Toronto), and a Theo Epstein protégé (Ben Cherington) who comes out of Duquette's alma mater, Amherst College, and was given his first opportunity by Duquette."