masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgThe Orioles will become busier as they move through the offseason with today’s news that they also won’t bring back executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette.
The contracts of Duquette and manager Buck Showalter expired at the end of the month and they aren’t going to be part of the rebuild moving forward, according to numerous sources.
No announcement has been made by the Orioles, but it could happen later tonight. The media has been in a holding pattern.
It made sense…

The Orioles will become busier as they move through the offseason with today’s news that they also won’t bring back executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette.

The contracts of Duquette and manager Buck Showalter expired at the end of the month and they aren’t going to be part of the rebuild moving forward, according to numerous sources.

No announcement has been made by the Orioles, but it could happen later tonight. The media has been in a holding pattern.

It made sense for the Orioles to wait until informing Showalter and Duquette rather than sending out separate releases.

Ownership representatives had a conversation with Showalter earlier today and later met with Duquette, who headed most of the trade talks during the non-waiver deadline, including deals that sent Kevin Gausman and Darren O’Day to the Braves and Jonathan Schoop to the Brewers.

Thumbnail image for Duquette-Sunglasses-Sidebar.jpgDuquette followed through on instructions to slash payroll and he increased the international signing bonus money to around $6.7 million. He outlined plans for the rebuild, including how the Orioles would be more active in the international market and beef up their scouting departments.

As the Orioles moved through the summer months, it appeared that Duquette was more likely to stay and he continued to talk about the rebuild and the work that awaited him. However, he never confirmed his return to the media and kept stating that ownership would make its decision after the season.

Duquette was hired in November 2011 and the Orioles made the playoffs in three of the next five seasons, winning the division in 2014 for the first time in 17 years. The wild card berth in 2012 coincided with the first above-.500 finish in 14 years. But a September collapse last year followed by the worst season in franchise history has prompted ownership to make sweeping changes.

The Sporting News and Baseball America named Duquette Executive of the Year in 2014, as he continued to find bargains that kept the team in a competitive mode. He hadn’t been in a front office in 10 years before the Orioles hired him as the replacement for Andy MacPhail.

The Orioles could hire a president of baseball operations, as well as someone to inherit Duquette’s title. They also could choose to increase the role of vice president of baseball operations Brady Anderson, perhaps changing his title.

More information will become available later.

The Athletic first reported that the Orioles weren’t expected to bring back Duquette.