Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette knew he was going to receive some tough questions from both media and fans at Thursday's meet-and-greet event sponsored by The Babe Ruth Foundation.
It was the first time Duquette spoke publicly since losing right fielder Nick Markakis to the Atlanta Braves, and Duquette was open in saying the Orioles had a concern that made them uncomfortable about the terms of the deal.
That's not necessarily what fans wanted to hear, but Duquette was actually a master of working the room at the event. During a tense time, he kept is light, deflecting any pessimism of the past week with feel-good stories about his days at Amherst College, where his college coach called him "Duker," as well as his early days in the game working with Harry Dalton and Walter Youse in his first job in Milwaukee.
Duquette said a lot had changed since then, including the speed of the media, advanced video scouting and the advent of social media.
Shortly after that, one fan asked about Duquette's reaction to a tweet sent out by Orioles center fielder Adam Jones right after news that Markakis was leaving. Jones tweeted out a cryptic message saying "U don't want my opinion!!!!!!!"
"Whether I consulted Jones or not, I got his opinion, right?" Duquette deadpanned, letting out a loud chuckle. "I think that's a natural reaction because the players play together. They spend so much time together, and in Jonesy's case, his teammate right next to him on the field for the last several years has been Nick Markakis. So those personal relationships, they mean something and it takes a while to respond to change. So that's a human reaction, which I understand. I think that's a normal reaction."
Duquette said his priorities at next week's winter meetings in San Diego will be adding outfield depth, shoring up the bullpen and adding a backup catcher. He added that both third baseman Manny Machado and catcher Matt Wieters are progressing in their rehab.
"Manny should be ready by the start of spring training," Duquette said. "We'll have to see how Matt comes along with his throwing program.
With Nelson Cruz and Markakis already gone, left-hander Andrew Miller is expected to be the next free agent to leave the nest. One fan asked why the Orioles would allow an impact pitcher like Miller walk – presumably to a big-market club and possibly even a division rival – comparing it to when Mike Mussina left for the New York Yankees before the 2001 season.
"Well, Mike Mussina was a Hall of Fame pitcher," Duquette said. "His credentials were borderline Hall of Fame. He might make the Hall of Fame. Andrew Miller is a set-up reliever. Now I don't want to diminish his value. He did a great job for us and loved him. When we were trying to trade for him, there were 14 teams trying to trade for him. We paid a premium in giving them a good pitcher [left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez]. I hated to do it, but it was required. If he didn't go to us, he would have gone to the Tigers and he would have been pitching against us in the playoffs and he was the difference in that series.
"Now he's a free agent," Duquette continued. "There are 22 clubs trying to sign him other than the Orioles. The Orioles are 23. And there's only Andrew Miller out there. He's only going to sign with one club. And I'm not sure we can support paying him that kind of money in that job and make sense for our ballclub. I'm not sure a relief pitcher has that kind of economic value for this ball club in this market. If Andrew Miller signs with another club – I understand there are three major market clubs trying to sign him – it will be because he got paid more money and he may have more value in that market than in this market."
The Orioles have not engaged in any serious dialogue with Miller, who is said to have multiple four-year offers on the table.
Here are some other nuggets from Duquette's Q&A session.
On why the Orioles extended a qualifying offer to Nelson Cruz and not Nick Markakis:
"We took a look at the production of Nelson Cruz and saw that he gave us the an opportunity for specific offensive capabilities and specific defensive capabilities and based upon the evaluation system that we use to value that contribution to the team in our market based on our fans and the size of our market and the revenues that an incremental win will bring in for the team, we decided that Nelson Cruz's production gave us a good opportunity to get a return on that $15.3 million, so we made a qualifying offer to him. If we didn't make a qualifying offer to a player, then we weren't comfortable that we would get that kind of return on that investment."
On Chris Davis rebounding from a rough 2014 season:
"Over a three-year period, he's hit more home runs than anyone in the big leagues for that time and he's got that left-handed power where he can hit the ball to the opposite field out of this ballpark. My hope is that Chris Davis will return to being what he's established in his career for his capabilities to his for average and power. He's a great athlete. He's a terrific athlete. One of my favorite games of all time was when came in relief in Boston. That was an awesome game. …. I always joke with him, I said, 'You know I gave you an extra $5,000 in your contract there for that relief appearance.' He said, 'Well, you should have paid me for the win and the save.' He's a Scott Boras client. (laughter). I like Chris. I hope he comes back and has a good year. He's dedicated himself to having a good year. He's got a lot at stake and I belief in Chris."
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