Dan Duquette is close to becoming the general manager of the Baltimore Orioles. I’ve sat in on Q&As with Duquette a couple of times. The things that struck me about him both times was his intelligence and his smugness. When you listen to Duquette speak, you would think he never made a mistake as a general manager. In truth, he made many good moves in both Montreal and Boston, twice trading for Pedro Martinez and signing Manny Ramirez to what turned out to be a pretty good deal. It still bothers me, however, that Dan did not back up Jimy Williams when the manager tried to discipline Carl Everett. In the relationship between the manager and the GM, the GM needs to publicly back the manager on discipline, and keep any differences private.