More from Duquette

If you haven't gotten your fill of Dan Duquette today, here are more quotes from today's press conference. On competing in the American League East: "That's the challenge of the job. The way we're going to be competitive is we're going bring in some players and build from the ground up." "It can be done. I learned in a small market, I applied my skills in a small market to put together a top quality team and also worked from a major market perspective. In some respects, if you just focus on a strong player development program, which you have to do in a small market, you can put together a pretty darn good program to give to a good team year in and year out." "I've been charged with building a contending team and I'm going to do everything I can to do that. I'm going to apply my player evaluation skills, my player development skills to bring the best people in here." "The team that has the best farm system is the team that competes year in, year out, irrespective of your market size. It all starts with signing and developing and bringing them up to your team." "When you don't have the resources that the top two clubs have, you have to work harder and you have to work smarter. You have to do a better job in scouting and player development." "Yes, it's going to take some time, but I did a lot of work on the organization prior to my meetings last week, so I had a good idea of the strengths of the club and I'm learning more." "I'm glad that I'm here. I can tell you that my strengths in building an organization and the work I did with the organizations I was with to make them into perennial contending teams and my experience in a small market and large market club is what distinguished me from other candidates." "This challenge is the kind of challenge that I looked for and that I successfully met in the two places I've been, in Montreal and Boston. I took over teams that were below .500 and I wouldn't be here standing if I didn't believe I could turn this franchise around and get it to a championship level." "You've got a core group of players here to build around along with the strength of your management team, and I believe we'll be able to find some players in terms of gaining depth for the pitching staff and the overall lineup. I believe the foundation is there." "All of your great tradition, all of your great Oriole teams, all the leadership that you had on those great teams of the '70s, we're going to put together those same fundamentals of good player development, of sound scouting, of aggressive scouting to build a team that Orioles fans can be proud of. I know that Orioles fans are hungry for a competitive team and so are we and we're going to make a competitive team in the American League East a reality." "I'm a builder, and when I evaluated this job and I looked at all the strengths of the organization, one of the things I was really impressed with was the caliber of your manager, of Buck Showalter, who's a tried-and-true tactician. And he's a roll-up-your-sleeves, get-it-done baseball guy. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to work alongside Buck because he's one of the great men in the industry and I think we're going to make a dynamic team together." "The value of pitching to a major league team, I couldn't overstate that to you today. If we're going to talk about where we're going to start in terms of building a contending team, it's going to be right there on the mound." On why he stayed out of baseball for so long: "I had an opportunity to attend to a couple of things that were near and dear to my heart, and that was my two boys. I got a chance to coach them. I coached Daniel in Babe Ruth and I got a chance to coach Dana in both baseball and Pop Warner football, which I absolutely love. Having traveled for over 20 years, close to 200 days a year, frankly, I needed a rest or respite from the day-to-day grind. Then when I got involved in building something that I've dreamed about close to my hometown, a sports academy, I pursued that, and I didn't really aggressively pursue that many options. I was happy to be building the sports academy and a development and consulting business. This past year, when this opportunity became available, I looked at some others, this is really the challenge. This is right up my alley, frankly - turning around a ballclub and building a farm and scouting system. This is what I love to do. This is a great opportunity. I'm thankful for it. I'm ready to go to work." Here' a statement from owner Peter Angelos: "I am pleased to welcome Dan Duquette to the Orioles organization. With an emphasis on developing players from within as well as acquiring players through the international and trade markets, Dan built the Red Sox and Expos into formidable franchises during his tenures. His record of success, extensive baseball operations leadership and strong scouting background give Dan the experience and skills essential for this position."