Protestations from Baltimore Orioles ownership aside, it is true — according to multiple sources — and only makes sense that Dan Duquette would be interested in the presidency of the Toronto Blue Jays.
When Duquette was out of the majors — from 2002 when he was fired as general manager of the Boston Red Sox, to 2011 when he was hired by the Orioles — he inquired at least twice about the Blue Jays’ GM job, and was said by friends to be disappointed when he did not get a serious hearing after J.P. Ricciardi was fired and replaced by Alex Anthopoulos. More to the point, Duquette knows that he will eventually be squeezed if he stays with the Orioles — squeezed above by the ownership of Peter Angelos and his kids, and from below by manager Buck Showalter, who is said to be eyeing the GM’s job. He would have more room to grow as Blue Jays president, and would be allowed to have free reign of baseball operations if Anthopoulos fails to take the team to the playoffs this season.
Indeed, the most surprising news Sunday wasn’t that the Blue Jays had approached Duquette or Chicago White Sox’s executive vice president Kenny Williams or had eyes for Minnesota Twins GM Terry Ryan. It was that Williams told MLB.com’s White Sox reporter Scott Merkin that the Blue Jays had requested permission to speak to him “weeks ago.” The process is a lot farther along, I’d guess, than any of us know. Meanwhile, if nothing else the Blue Jays have properly screwed up the Orioles going into the Winter Meetings, which isn’t a bad thing.
A call for Kaillie
Awards season is upon us, with voting for the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada’s athlete of the year taking place on Wednesday. Hockey is Canada and Canada is hockey, so best to keep that in mind while handicapping this thing — and, let’s face it, tennis has replaced golf as the sport that has co-opted much of our national media and chattering classes.
But if bobsleigh pilot Kaillie Humphries doesn’t win the Lou Marsh Trophy, she certainly deserves the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award, given by the Canadian Press to Canada’s female athlete of the year. All Humphries did was win her second consecutive Olympic gold medal in women’s bobsleigh in addition to winning the overall World Cup points total, finishing on the podium in five of eight races, including three firsts.
Humphries, who has 13 career World Cup victories and 22 podiums, has also helped blaze a trail for women’s athletes, qualifying this weekend to compete all season long in four-man bobsleigh (a sport that until this year was restricted to men) as well as women’s bobsleigh (a two-person team). By any measure, Humphries has been our most remarkable female athlete for the past 12 months — and our most dominant. Now, she’s becoming one of our most influential. Genie Bouchard? Get back to me when she wins a Grand Slam event, OK?
What I learned
The things you learn in a week hosting a sports talk-show:
“The biggest part is that the A’s allow you to be yourself and, you know, we just really wanted to make people feel right and comfortable. You get into an environment where you have fun but at the end of the day, once you step between the lines, it’s game time. (We were) not scared of anybody. If it’s King Felix, we were going up to grind. We understood we probably weren’t going to be successful on some nights, but at the end of the day we tried to grind him down and get him out by the sixth or seventh inning. I definitely believe that mentality can be brought over to Toronto.”
* Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson discusses his coming of age as a member of the freewheeling Oakland Athletics, and how be can bring aspects of the majors’ most in-tune clubhouse to the Toronto Blue Jays. Listen to the interview
“I was able to welcome the move to first base. You have to let go of the ‘What if?’ You can’t do it half way. You have to forget about it, move on and be the best player you can be at your new position.”
* Former Blue Jays first baseman Carlos Delgado, who is in his first year of Hall of Fame eligibility, discusses the shift from catcher to first base early in his career in comparison to Donaldson’s move from catcher to third base. Listen to the interview
“I grew up just outside of Kitchener-Waterloo and there was always something I admired about Jean Beliveau and the Montreal Canadians. True story … I got a Montreal — Jean Beliveau — Canadiens jersey under the Christmas tree when I was five, six years or seven years old and I’d wear it everywhere.”
* Former Toronto Maple Leafs captain Darryl Sittler spills the beans on his favorite hockey player, who passed away this past week at the age of 83. Listen to the interview
Quibbles and bits
— It’s been ‘Pile On Josh Donaldson week.’ First were the reports that the recently-acquired Blue Jays third baseman and Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane got into it over Donaldson’s need for time off. This weekend, his former hitting coach Chili Davis, who is now with the Boston Red Sox, was all over Fangraphs criticizing Donaldson for stubbornness. “Donaldson was, ‘This is how I do things,’” said Davis. “I told him he was becoming too rotational. His response was, ‘Well, they’re pitching me in and (the umpire) is calling strikes.’ I said, ‘JD, they’re not all strikes. Back off the plate a little bit and think out-over-the-plate. Try to get more extension instead of being so rotational.’ He just kept going. ‘Dude, they’re pitching me in.’” Davis admitted that Donaldson eventually gave in, but seemed to be under the impression it was something he’d discovered himself.
— Mike Santorelli has become a more dynamic player since being shifted from centre to the wing, but one of the Toronto Maple Leafs teammates who is a centre sees similar skills in either spot. ”Santo kind of took the same route I did,” said the Leafs Tyler Bozak. “The thing you notice about him is he’s really hard on the puck. You watch him, and you see how good he is in the corners and on the cycle. He’s such a smart player that chances are pretty good he’s going to find you. Everybody says you need guys to step up at different times during the season. This year, it seems like he’s been the one doing it all the time.” Santorelli went into Sunday’s games tied for seventh in the NHL’s plus-minus ratings with plus-13, and has 18 points in 26 games.
— Yet another cautionary tale from the world of dumb-ass video-board presentations: Florida Panthers general manager Dale Tallon was forced to apologize to his opposite number with the Buffalo Sabres, Tim Murray, and Sabres owner Terry Pegula for a video shown before Saturday’s game that poked fun at snowstorms in Buffalo, after a recent storm claimed 13 lives. Give us the lineups and music, folks.
The end game
He isn’t Muhammad Ali, but in his own way LeBron James is carving out a niche for himself as a thoughtful social spokesman, as Magic Johnson noted on a weekend in which we found out that Jonathan Bernier thought Nelson Mandela was an athlete. James was front and centre in a leadership role during the NBA’s Donald Sterling crisis and he has been a measured presence as the professional sports world deals with the police shootings of Michael Brown and Tamir Rice and the choking death of Eric Garner. Save for that ill-conceived news conference when he left Cleveland, James has had few missteps as he’s grown up right in front of our eyes. With another labour crisis on the horizon, he is ready to wield the influence that comes with being the most powerful athlete in the world.