Will reason prevail in Blue Jays-Orioles Dan Duquette saga? Not if Jeff Hoffman is involved.

It seems like with every passing day, the continuing drama that is the Blue Jays pursuit of Dan Duquette takes another twist or turn. Like “Deflategate“, the negotiations or lack thereof between the Blue Jays and the Baltimore Orioles seems to have a life of its own.

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While we heard earlier this week that current Blue Jays president Paul Beeston will serve through the entirety of the 2015 season (h/t Bob McCown via Ben Nicholson-Smith), it seems like the two teams are finally moving toward a resolution to the situation. Perhaps it is due to Major League Baseball pushing for the Orioles to either let Duquette go to Toronto or to officially declare him untouchable, as Shi Davidi reported earlier this week.

Per Jim Bowden of ESPN, a source close to the situation has indicated that the move from Baltimore to Toronto is close and is going to happen.

That would seem to indicate that the two teams have come to terms on what would be a just compensation for such a move. Typically speaking, the compensation is relatively small when moving an executive for a player. The Red Sox acquired reliever Chris Carpenter from the Chicago Cubs when they allowed then general manager Theo Epstein to leave for the Chicago Cubs. A few years later, the Blue Jays acquired Mike Aviles from the Red Sox when they allowed Boston to pluck manager John Farrell from their ranks. However, the indications in these negotiations are that there could be a more significant piece in play here. In fact, according to Buster Olney of ESPN, the deal could possibly hit the Blue Jays hard.

Now, I have a hard time believing that the Toronto Blue Jays would sacrifice a prospect like Jeff Hoffman in a deal for an executive. Hoffman was the team’s first selection of the 2014 MLB Draft (9th overall), only falling that far to Toronto due to having Tommy John surgery prior to the draft. Without the injury, he was a projected top-3 pick, a status that shows in his #4 ranking on the Blue Jays top prospects list via MLB.com.

That would be a significant overreach by the Orioles to demand such a compensation, and an even bigger one if the Blue Jays were truly willing to pay it. That isn’t to say that the price-tag won’t be substantial, but I can’t imagine a situation where this deal would make sense for Toronto, as Hoffman is viewed as an impact arm that will rise quickly through the system.

A more appropriate piece would be a bottom-20 prospect, but even that could be a reach for an executive. How about Maicer Izturis or Ryan Goins? Anything more would be almost absurdity.

But who would expect less than utter madness from Peter Angelos?