Baltimore Orioles work in Nashville leaves Dan Duquette pleased - MLB News
Dan Duquette, the executive vice president of baseball operations for the Baltimore Orioles, is quite pleased with the way things went for his club during the Winter Meetings in Nashville, Tennessee this week.
Although Dan is aware that more work needs to be done during this offseason, he is still quite confident of the team as it stands right now and believes that the unit is fairly well settled at this point in time.
"We have a very competitive club as it's currently constituted. We are going to continue to look and try to add a few things to our ballclub, but if we were to break today, we got everybody returning except Reynolds and Saunders. But I think we got some
capable people that can do the job they did for us," Duquette.
The Orioles did make some moves during the event and picked T.J. McFarland through the Rule 5 Draft from the Cleveland Indians as well as re-signed outfielder Nate McLouth. McFarland was a part of their Triple-A associate Columbus Clippers and the O’s see
him as a potential opening rotation option.
As for Joe Saunders and Mark Reynolds, matters are not very clear. Both of them are free agents and by the look of things, the Orioles are most unlikely to go for re-signing Mark. However, the club has had some contact with Joe Saunders and there is a possibility
of him making a return to the team.
The Orioles were also engaged in trade talks with several teams and it is quite likely that the talks will go beyond the Winter Meetings. The team has a number of young starters that can be traded. It is rumoured that the Orioles are looking to add another
hitter to their ranks.
Dan believes that more changes will take place in due course of time but expressed his satisfaction on the current state of affairs. He said that the person in charge at the helm of affairs was doing his job well and the outfit was young and hungry for more
success in future.
"So we have something to talk about with our team as it's constituted. It's still a young, hungry, aggressive ballclub. We got good leadership, too. Our manager [in Buck Showalter] is tops," Duquette said.
He also praised the team’s pitching depth and said that the team although did not sign any high profile free agents, it intended to give a great show in the time to come.
Looking at the turnaround the Orioles showed in 2012 and the current state of the team, it appears that the club has so far played its cards well. They may not be targeting the big fish, but they are adding players to their ranks that are more about performance.
That is certainly not a bad thing for a club that is looking to rebuild and move forward.
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