The whole sad saga is over, for the moment, maybe.
This morning, the lovely Mr. Shi Davidi told us that MLB has suggested to the Blue Jays and the Orioles that they resolve this whole Dan Duquette drama swiftly. This afternoon the equally lovely Bob McCown tells us that Paul Beeston will see out the season as team president and be replaced after the season.
This whole thing seems to have been handled as poorly as humanly possible. If this is an example of how things are going to go under the leadership of Edward Rogers III, it might be time to sell your Rogers stock. I can't imagine how Edward thought that he could go around trying to recruit the someone to take Beeston's place without news of it getting back to Paul. It seems like Edward hasn't inherited any of his father's business savvy. I guess we knew that before this mess, but it underlines it nicely.
Beeston does deserve better. The celebrated first Blue Jays employee, quickly moving up to executive vice president and then president and COO in 1989, in time to help build our World Series winning teams. Then after leaving for a few years to work in the MLB's front office, he came back to the Jays and has increased attendance and interest in the team (unfortunately not getting us back in the playoffs, maybe this year). You would think that a guy on the Jays' Level of Excellence would be treated with a bit more honestly by his team.
What's in Edward's mind, I have no idea really. I'm guessing that it would be tough for him to make a big splash in any other area of the Rogers Corp world, so instead he decided to make his name with the Blue Jays. Hire a new president, then, likely, raise the team's budget and look like a genius when we make the playoffs. I don't know why he's fixated on Dan Duquette, maybe it's just that the other candidates turned him down flat and Duquette was the only one that seemed to be interested in the job.
Now, if I was going to give some advice to the Orioles, since we've been through much the same thing with Farrell, I'd tell them that if Duquette wants to leave and work with the Blue Jays, let him go. The last thing you want is to keep a guy around that wants to work for someone else. If we could do it all over again, we'd happily send Farrell out on a rail the first time he suggested he'd rather be with the Red Sox. Don't get worked up about compensation, take what you can get and be happy. The best compensation is to be rid of the guy that doesn't want to be there. Shi Davidi puts it best here:
But bigger picture, retaining Farrell - who wanted to return to Boston - was a mistake, and his desire to leave eroded the organization's faith in him and led to mistrust of him among players in the clubhouse during a difficult campaign.
You don't think that others in the Orioles front office are second guessing Duquette? It isn't like the Orioles have made a bunch of moves this winter.You would have to imagine there is some whispering behind his back. As much as I don't know why Edward is focused on Duquette, as if there isn't anyone in each in the world that could do the job, I don't know why the Orioles can't quickly come to the understanding that someone that is totally invested in their team wouldn't be a better choice for GM than someone who is looking to work somewhere else. If I was the Orioles, I'd stop thinking that I was going to get a top prospect out of the Jays, and just try to get this over with as fast as possible. The longer it goes on, the worse it will be for the Orioles.
Anyway, I hope that Rogers makes a definitive statement on Beeston's status, not that that would really slow down the rumors. The first thing I thought when I saw that McCown said Beeston will be here for the season was that Paul is likely cleaning out his office now.