“The challenge, what needs to be upgraded, is the quality of the talent coming through the minor-league system. It starts with good recruiting, and then it also means top-quality facilities in your minor-league system and good instruction. They’re all key components of a good minor-league system. We need to make sure that we have the best facilities for our players to develop in — the best instruction — and we need to upgrade our sites,” he said.That is precisely what needs to be rectified for the Orioles to be competitive again. Dubroff also notes what Duquette is trying to do to make such an upgrade happen. Duquette is bringing in previous colleagues to rework the front office. He's arguably more devoted to international scouting than any previous O's general manager. And he's also shaken up the team's scouting department, placing an emphasis on amateur scouting. Whether it works or not, Duquette is making wholesale changes and trying to fix the problems that have plagued the O's for decades.
“Our minor-league system is in the bottom 10 percent in the industry in terms of signing players at the amateur level and developing them for the big leagues. That’s what needs to improve over the next couple of years.”
Duquette seemingly has a long-term plan and is utilizing some outside-the-box thinking to attack the organization's deficiencies. And, really, that's what many fans have wanted for years.
