Producing winners in a variety of ways led to higher profile for Duquette

SAN DIEGO - While the talk of Dan Duquette leaving the Orioles has certainly quieted and seems well on its way to becoming a non-issue or non-story, Duquette's respect around the industry may be at an all-time high. That is saying something since he produced winners in Montreal and Boston before he got to Baltimore. But for many years, Duquette was out of the game. When the Orioles hired him in November 2011, the hiring was questioned and ridiculed by some. Now, a short few years later, Duquette is being rumored to be in line for one of the few president/CEO positions in the game. It's a job held by just a few respected baseball operations pros like Andrew Friedman and Theo Epstein. ESPN's Keith Law discussed it during an interview with MASNsports.com: "It makes a ton of sense to go after Duquette, who has now had success really in two different markets, has shown he can operate with a limited payroll, and most impressive to me, is that he's completely changed his overall baseball operations philosophy. From the time in Boston to the time in Baltimore, he has evolved as the industry has evolved and that is going to make him attractive to a lot of teams." I followed up on that last point and got a take from John Manuel, editor-in-chief of Baseball America. Last night, Baseball America presented Duquette with its Executive of the Year award. "He was ahead of the curve on statistical analysis," Manuel said. "He was one of the first general managers, if not the first, to have an analytics expert. "I spoke to Mike Gimbel this year and you may remember that name. The Boston media gave Duquette and Gimbel a really hard time for being an analytics guy. They found players like Troy O'Leary that helped them win. He kept Boston a winner even after losing guys like Mo Vaughn. "I think he is right in the curve, if not ahead of the curve, on the way of roster manipulation - using the entire 40-man roster to maximize your 25-man roster. "Also internationally. The game is international and Dan is right in tune with that. Whether it's Wei-Yin Chen or (Miguel) Gonzalez, key starting pitchers on a budget. I think it's more he's being creative rather than revolutionary, but I like the creativity. I think it's his biggest strength as a general manager." Manuel said Baseball America started it's Organization of the Year award in 1981 and that Duquette was scouting director for the Milwaukee Brewers when they won three straight, from 1985-87. Duquette will leave these Winter Meetings tomorrow with perhaps a higher profile than he's even had in the game. He doesn't have a new job, but he's come a long way from the time that fans were questioning why the Orioles hired him.