Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette took questions from the fans last night at Dempsey's Brew Pub during a benefit for the Babe Ruth Museum. Here are some of the highlights from the nearly hour-long session. On the departures of Nick Markakis and Nelson Cruz: "We tried to sign Nick and there were several times I thought we were going to close the deal, but we just couldn't quite get to closure on that. Nick had a nice career with the Orioles and was our longest-tenured player. Have...

Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette just finished his Q&A session with fans at the Babe Ruth Museum benefit at Dempsey's Brew Pub at Camden Yards. Duquette won over the crowd despite a week that saw the Orioles lose Nelson Cruz to the Mariners and Nick Markakis to the Braves. I'll pass along a few of the highlights, starting with Duquette's summary of negotiations with Markakis. Keep in mind that he's not going to offer specifics. "We had several discussions with Nick,"...

Adam Jones has shared the Orioles outfield with Nick Markakis for the last seven seasons. He looks to his left and sees more than just a teammate. He sees a friend. It's going to be different next year. Jones spoke to Markakis before news broke yesterday that the longest-tenured Oriole had agreed to a four-year, $44 million contract with the Braves. "It's business," Jones said. "That's the first thing. It's the reality of that, what it boils down to. It's a business, but hey, Nick is my...

The Orioles sent out a release today confirming that Buck Showalter has been named Baseball America's Manager of the Year. I wrote a few days ago that the publication doesn't usually promote the award with an online article, but one has been posted this year. You can read it here. Showalter becomes the third manager to be recognized with the award twice, having also won it in 2012, since Baseball America began giving the honor in 1998. He joins Bobby Cox (2004 and 2010) and Mike Scioscia...

Baseball America today announced that Buck Showalter has been named winner of the 2014 Manager of the Year award. Showalter becomes the third manager to be recognized with the award twice (also 2012) since Baseball America began giving the honor in 1998, joining BOBBY COX (2004 and 2010) and Mike Scioscia (2002 and 2009). He was also the recipient of the publication's inaugural Minor League Manager of the Year award in 1989. The Orioles were the 2014 American League East champions and...

Consider me a bit confused by the Braves' offseason strategy to this point. Atlanta has already traded away Jason Heyward, and has reportedly been in fairly serious trade discussions with teams involving both Justin Upton and Evan Gattis. It had looked like the Braves were intending to drop some salary, dish off some assets who have contracts set to expire in the near future and accumulate younger talent that could lead the team to make a push back toward the top of the division in a couple...

The colder it gets outside, the more fans miss warm summer nights at Nationals Park. The delicious food, great views, exciting home runs and ,of course, those moments that bring you to the edge of your seat. Well, this week I'm throwin' it back to one of those edge-of-your-seat moments. In fact, this was more of a slowly-stand-up-with-your-mouth-gaping-open moment. It's the bottom of the ninth in the nation's capital. The Nationals have a 5-2 lead, but the Mets have two on and the tying run...

Last night, Nick Markakis agreed to a four-year, $44 million deal with the Braves, ending his 11-year tenure with the Orioles organization. There's a lot to remember when you look back at Markakis' time in Baltimore. The right fielder was a consistent force defensively and offensively, but arguably the most memorable moment of his career isn't an amazing catch or clutch home run. After 1,352 games of wearing orange and black, Markakis had a priceless reaction when he heard "Your 2014...

Did you really think the Nelson Cruz news was going to be the low point of your week? Nick Markakis will sign his four-year, $44 million contract with the Braves once he passes a physical. You've got more time to process how the longest-tenured Oriole will be wearing a different uniform and playing in a different league. Hopefully, left-hander Andrew Miller's pending agreement with a new team won't become a distraction. That news could come as early as today. (Is it really between the...

So should the Orioles have considered the feelings of the fans when negotiating with Nick Markakis? And just because some fans are very upset over his departure to Atlanta, others said he was not worth such money with his declining stats. So even if the O's did take the fans into account, who will win out? If you sit in Dan Duquette's chair, you have a lot to consider and that probably does include fan sentiment, but it has to rank well behind plenty of other aspects to be considered. Things...