The former general manager of the Baltimore Orioles, Dan Duquette, recently expressed his displeasure with how his tenure was described in a report by The Baltimore Sun. He responded with a detailed 355-word letter to the newspaper.
Mike Elias, now serving as the Orioles’ president of baseball operations, discussed recent trades made by the team ahead of the August 3 trade deadline. The team traded several key players, including former first-round pick Adley Rutschman.
Elias took over a mess of an organization, tore it down to its studs, built it back up and turned it into a contender quicker than expected,
wrote Jacob Calvin Meyer in the article. This statement prompted Duquette, whose contract ended in 2018, to set the record straight. He clarified, I have to set the record straight regarding Jacob Calvin Meyer’s charge that Mike Elias ‘took over a mess of an organization’ when he was hired as the Orioles’ general manager in 2018.
Duquette defended his seven-year tenure, highlighting key achievements:
- The Orioles had a losing record for 14 consecutive seasons before his tenure.
- The team reached the postseason in his second year and advanced to the American League Championship Series two years later.
- During Duquette’s first five seasons, Baltimore held the best regular-season record in the American League.
- The seven-year, $161 million contract for first baseman Chris Davis was made against Duquette’s advice.
He added, “Yes, there was a somewhat messy transition in ownership related to our principal’s health, but our intellectual infrastructure was strong, though only some of it was retained.”
Duquette also pointed to players he left for Elias: Felix Bautista, Austin Hays, Dean Kremer, Trey Mancini, John Means, Ryan Mountcastle, Cedric Mullins, Grayson Rodriguez, Anthony Santander, Tanner Scott, and Mike Yastrzemski.
The 2019-21 tear-down, during which the team only won 34% of its games, was shorter than many anticipated.
In 2018, the Orioles ended a 115-loss season. Evaluations at the time, including those from The Athletic, gave low grades to various team operations. Some issues stemmed from ownership or directives imposed on Duquette as Peter Angelos passed team control to his family.
Post-Elias’s hiring, changes happened quickly. MLB.com noted a significant expansion in analytics and international scouting, with domestic scouting and player development also undergoing major restructuring.
The ownership transition was dramatic as well. In January 2023, Louis Angelos accused his brother John and mother Georgia of improperly utilizing $65 million from an account of majority owner Peter Angelos and secretly acquiring more team shares. Billionaire David Rubenstein later acquired the Orioles in November 2024.
Amid these transitions, the team seems poised to miss the playoffs and finish below .500 for the second year in a row.
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