Duquette Announced as Orioles GM Yesterday

Tuesday, Dan Duquette was introduced, formally, as the Orioles new Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations. Of course, we already knew he had the job, it just had to be officially announced, you know, so the media can feel all special.

That’s great and all as well as his press conference about a vague plan that doesn’t tell us much except that scouting, player development, pitching, and the farm system are important. Really? We’ve been saying that for a decade. It’s about time someone working for the franchise realizes it!

What I did find interesting about the whole thing, however, was that owner Peter Angelos was not in attendance. He’s sort of known for never being available to the media or the public or whatever but what sort of message does that send to fans? I mean you have 14 straight losing seasons, you barely sell 15,000 tickets a night, 95% of the fan base hates you and thinks you are not doing things in the best interest of the team, and then you hire a new manager last season and a new GM this season. You’d think Angelos would jump on this opportunity to come out, show he truly cares and that he’s working really hard to turn this franchise around into something respected like it used to be.

Instead, he hides at home eating Twinkies on the couch so he doesn’t get bombarded with questions he hasn’t answered for 5 years. Actually, it’s more like 8 years. Ugh, it really annoys me. I’m not an Angelos-hater like most Baltimore fans (not that I’m a supporter either), but this sort of thing realllllllly pisses me off. Show a little damn support to your own GM.