What are the chances that Major League Baseball honors Hall of Famer Ernie Banks by instructing every team to play one single-admission doubleheader? Slim and none, I'm sure, but what a gesture. Let's all vow to set aside a day and play two. It doesn't have to be baseball, either. Get as creative as you want. Who am I to judge? Former Orioles executive Jim Duquette, now a baseball analyst on MLB Network Radio, tackled more questions yesterday about his cousin Dan Duquette on "Wall to Wall Baseball" on MASN HD. As long as he's there, may as well let him have the floor. Jim stated again that the Orioles and Blue Jays are "not even close" to agreeing on compensation that would send Dan to Toronto as president and CEO.

The issue for me is that "close" and "closer" are viewed as the same by some segments of the population. They are not. I agree with Jim that they weren't close last week. They were closer due to specific names being tossed around as compensation. I was told by a prominent member of the organization that a deal "still may not happen" despite the compensation talks. The Blue Jays must agree to surrender the prospects that the Orioles are eying. That's plural. More than one. It's such a steep price, it should come with a safety net. I've heard that players discussed as compensation can't come from the Blue Jays' 40-man roster, which is news to me. Jim Duquette said reliever Chris Carpenter was on the Cubs' 40-man when they sent him to Boston as compensation for general manager Theo Epstein. In an odd twist, Epstein already had received permission to join the Cubs' front office and he actually negotiated the compensation. The Orioles aren't giving Dan Duquette, with four years left on his contract and courted by a division rival, the same freedom. I'm old enough to remember when the Athletics dealt manager Chuck Tanner to the Pirates for catcher Manny Sanguillén before the 1977 season. This was the second instance in which a manager had been part of a baseball trade. Joe Gordon and Jimmie Dykes were traded for each other in the 1960s. Jim Duquette spoke to someone with Major League Baseball and reported that the teams weren't given a firm deadline to resolve this issue, though the commissioner's office clearly wants it done soon and continues to monitor the situation. He also was told that the likelihood of tampering charges holding up were "very, very slim to almost none." The Orioles seem willing to take that chance.