Beane and Duquette are contrasting architects of success

The news media sessions for this years baseball general manager meetings take place in the ballroom of a luxury resort. The doors open, and middle-aged men, weary from hours of meetings, shuffle into an open corner and begin what many consider the most exhausting part of their day.

The most popular general managers draw gather a crowd. Oakland general manager Billy Beane is one of those. The less popular general managers, the ones from small markets or the ones who are not known for spilling secrets or spinning yarns, find themselves alone. Baltimore general manager Dan Duquette is one of those.

But popularity does not win games. Beane and Duquette are equals, the architects of surprising playoff teams aiming to repeat that success. The two teams combined record in 2011 was 143-181.

The good thing is that a lot of the moves we made last year were somewhat sustainable in terms of getting young players who were going to have back, Beane said. So we dont have a whole lot this particular offseason that we have to address.

Duquette viewed his situation similarly. We have a much stronger ballclub this year, he said. Weve been able to put together some good players. Our pitching staff is much stronger than it was a year ago. We have a good solid core of players.

There are many ways to assemble a team, and there are many different types capable of doing it. The Athletics traded two of their top starting pitchers (Trevor Cahill and Gio Gonzalez) before the season for a multitude of talented young players. The Orioles acquired affordable starting pitchers like Jason Hammel and Wei-Yin Chen.

Beane is tall, thin, gregarious and well dressed -- an L.L. Bean catalog model -- while Duquette is stocky and disheveled: the before photo in a makeover magazine spread. Beane was played by Brad Pitt in a movie, but Duquette might be played by Dan Aykroyd.

Beanes rise actually brought a temporary end to Duquettes general manager career, which began in 1991 with the Montreal Expos and stalled in 2002 with the Red Sox. Beans philosophies had inspired the new Boston owner, John Henry, to fire Duquette in November 2002 and offer the job to Beane. After much pondering, Beane turned it down, leading to Theo Espteins hiring. That courtship was the ending of the movie Moneyball, which earned Pitt an Oscar nomination.

Of course there was no scene in the movie showing the moment when the Red Sox fired Duquette less than 24 hours after the new ownership was approved. The usually aloof Duquette was nearly brought to tears at his farewell news conference. It was an ignominious end to his eight-season stint with Boston, an era that included the acquisition of key players like Pedro Martinez, Derek Lowe and Manny Ramirez, who would eventually help bring Boston its first World Series championship since 1918.

Duquette spent the next nine years of his life away from a major league front office. He ran youth camps, helped coordinate a summer league for college prospects, worked with an Israeli baseball league and worked for an independent league. But he never gave up the dream of running a major league team.

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Beane and Duquette are contrasting architects of success