Bird is the Word

The Gulf Coast could be a perfect place for Dan Duquette to spend six weeks because he seems to suffer from a local affliction, the one where executives can't stay retired.

Duquette's case is unique. Indeed, his first go at retirement was forced upon him in 2002, when the Boston Red Sox fired him. He had been the team's general manger for eight years, and before that, he ran the Montreal Expos for three seasons.

Duquette began to build the Red Sox into a team that would win the World Series in 2004, but the firing forced him out of the big leagues. He stayed close to the game, though. He founded a youth sports academy, brought professional baseball to Israel and bought a summer league baseball team.

Now, like so many other Gulf Coast executives, Duquette, 53, is back in the game. Duquette was named executive vice president of the Baltimore Orioles in November. The Orioles hold spring training in Sarasota, at Ed Smith Stadium.

Like many other executives called back into action, Duquette is at the helm of a major turnaround project. The Orioles haven't made the playoffs in 14 seasons. “We can't be last in pitching and have a competitive team,” says Duquette. “If we can upgrade the pitching staff, we can win more games than we lose.”

Duquette lives in Sarasota while the Orioles hold spring training. In early March, he addressed a group of fans at an event sponsored by the Sarasota Area Sports Alliance.

He sat down with the Business Review after the event to talk about the business of baseball. Here are excerpts of the conversation:

Q Playing in a division with the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox is like competing against Apple and Microsoft — two entrenched opponents with deep pockets. What strategy will you use against that kind of competition?

A No question it's tough. But we know what the job is. We have to get some good talent. We had a pitching staff that was not up to par with the rest of the league. We have to get a better pitching staff, especially with our starting pitchers. We already started that. We brought in (Japanese pitcher) Wei-Yin Chen. And we are working on some other development of pitchers.

Q How do you find that talent, and develop it, when the demand, especially for top pitchers, exceeds the supply?

A It's a global marketplace. We are going to be strong in international development, places like Venezuela, the Pacific Rim, Europe and the Dominican Republic. We have looked all over the world for pitchers. We have got to get some of the international players before our competitors do. We will be strong there. We brought on Fred Ferreira. He has signed some great players in his career, like (retired Yankees outfielder) Bernie Williams and (retired Montreal Expos second baseman) Jose Vidro.

Q The Orioles haven't had a winning season since 1997, which is 14 seasons in a row of missing the playoffs. How do you turnaround a corporate culture of losing?

A That's part of the overall turnaround strategy. We changed the structure of our farm system. We will change how we do meetings. We will change our year-round training program. That's all part of changing the culture. And we will bring in new players. That's a proven formula to win baseball games.

Q What executive decisions have you made that you would like a mulligan on?

A There's always a few of those. The quote about Roger Clemens, that I could have done without. (In 1996, Duquette said Clemens, an All-Star pitcher for the Red Sox, was “in the twilight of his career.” A free agent at the time, Clemens went on to play 11 more seasons and win 162 more games — though steroid allegations have since marred that period.) Roger left as a free agent. But that quote has followed me around. So if I had to do that over again, I would have thanked Roger for his contributions to the Red Sox and moved on.

Q Fans often judge baseball executives — for better or for worse — on trades, both ones made and ones not made. Any mulligans there?

A There are always trades you wish you could have made. But at the time I made trades, I tried to do due diligence with all my decisions. Some worked out, some were not so good.

Q What decisions have you made that were criticized at first, but worked out well in the long run?

A There are a number of those. But that's in the past. That's all history. I just tried to do the right thing for the team at the time.

Q Why did you get back into major league baseball after nearly a decade away?

A I wanted to wait until my boys were done with high school. My youngest boy went to college last year. I had an opportunity to coach their teams in youth sports.

Q What was the experience like to try to bring baseball to Israel?

A That was an international scouting experience. (Duquette co-founded the Israel Baseball league in 2007.) We recruited players from all over the world. We ended up posting 25 players in professional leagues across the globe, including a couple in the major league and a few in Japan. I met some very interesting people and that was an interesting experience. We just ran out of funds. We didn't have the money for the facilities.

Q Who are the baseball leaders and decision makes you admire or try to emulate?

A The commissioner, Bud Selig. I worked for him for many years in Milwaukee. I have always admired the work of (former Blue Jays and Phillies general manager) Pat Gillick, who just went into the Hall of Fame. John Schuerholz with the Braves, he always surrounds himself with top quality guys. Dave Dombrowski with Tigers and Brain Cashman with the Yankees, I always respected them.

Q Have you followed the saga over a potential new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays, and whether the team will stay in St. Petersburg or even the region?

A We have enough issues of our own. But we are so happy with this stadium here in Sarasota. We want to leverage the nice facilities here for our training programs. We are thankful for this beautiful asset.