Jim Duquette's NL Central comment

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mikechamp
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Jim Duquette's NL Central comment

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These comments came from a chat with former Mets GM Jim Duquette that occurred on March 14. He's involved on the media side of baseball now.

Sorry for the lateness. I've been very busy lately. There was only 1 NL Central-relevant question, but many bonus Q&As. You can read the whole chat at the link below.

The link to the entire chat can be found here: https://live.jotcast.com/chat/live-chat ... 15296.html

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I am a St Louis Cardinals fan and think MO is a top 4 or 5 GM in baseball. He and the owner speak often about not wanting to pay megabucks for players in their late 30s/40s. Will see a trend for massive deals for shorter time frame? If you value WAR @ 9-10M, it makes sense to pay an expected 5 WAR player $40M. Tell me that could be a way for my Cards to get in on Shotani. Thank you for the chat.

Jim Duquette
I love the job MO does every year , they are so consistently good and he does not get enough credit IMO. On the longer term deals, I think teams would love to have shorter term even if the yearly salary goes up, but I don't see that happening any time soon... which is tough for the Cards in the Ohtani pursuit.
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Congratulations on the career! If you could go back and alter 1 decision as GM, what would you change & why?

Jim Duquette
Always the Kazmir trade!!! is the one deal I'd do over but I think if I could "manage" the ownership part of the GM job, I would have had more success in the long run.
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Who would you rank as the best three farm systems in developing players?

Jim Duquette
Good question, Dodgers for sure... the Rays are doing things well, Guardians rank up there for sure. It's a more detailed and nuanced answer than I have time for... I could probably write a long paper on it.. but its also related to the scouting departments as well.
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How do trades come to be? And why are some more difficult than others?

Jim Duquette
There are so many convos that take place over the months and years, and one of those can spark an idea or trade. When they don't get done, it tends to be because one team valued their player higher than the one they were speaking to.
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Do you feel like it’s important to develop relationships with the players as a GM or is it easier to do the job by viewing them through an assets lens?

Jim Duquette
I always felt that the front office should be developing a relationship with their own players and helping with the culture of the clubhouse instead of leaving that solely to the coaches and managers. And as long as you are truthful about your intentions, the players generally understand its a business and things happen or change.
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What are the most important qualities of a field manager? How important is in-game decision making?

Jim Duquette
Managing the pitching is the most important for me, and then communication with your players. I'd rather have a good X's and O's manager on the field and let my coaches handle the communication if I could have only one.
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Is the postseason a crapshoot?

Jim Duquette
I don't know about a crapshoot, but there is some luck involved with certain moments of a game or series hinging on a bad call or play. But if you're there in the post season often enough, you should win a World Series. Houston has been an incredible story, but the Giants were maybe the best team not named the Yankees in my front office/broadcasting career.
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Hey Jim, so great to see you doing this! What was your biggest “near-miss” as a GM?

Jim Duquette
I almost got Bartolo Colon or Ervin Santana and Erik Aybar for Miguel Tejada. It would have been an organization game changer in Baltimore. The other was missing out on drafting Justin Verlander for the '04 draft. We picked third, right behind Detroit.
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What Is it like negotiating with Scott Boras?

Jim Duquette
It's like standing in a completely dark room and trying to hit the center of a dartboard. You have very little knowledge of the teams he's negotiating with and if your offer is ever good enough.
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