This time last year, the Orioles continued their tradition of voluntarily sitting out the annual July 2 opening of the international amateur talent market, with the baseball operations department under then-executive vice president Dan Duquette continuing what he often called a strategic decision from ownership to use resources on the major league team instead of high-risk international talent.
Of course, the major league team was at that time in the belly of a miserable season, with most of those win-now resources making the future as bleak as the present.
When Duquette traded star shortstop Manny Machado two weeks later, he deemed the international market a major part of what the Orioles would have to focus on as they began rebuilding for the future.