BALTIMORE - Dan Duquettes job description includes making trades that will help improve the Baltimore Orioles. Vans Shoes Clearance Sale .This off-season, Duquette was in the middle of a potential blockbuster deal.Duquette, the Orioles president of baseball operations, acknowledged Saturday there was substance to reports that the Toronto Blue Jays were in pursuit of him to be club president.A lot of times, players will be a trade rumour and sometimes managers get traded, Duquette said. Its even more rare that executives get traded, but occasionally it happens. Its a unique experience. I think when you have a good team and you do well, people take notice.Under Duquettes guidance, the Orioles won 96 games last season, captured the AL East for the first time since 1997 and advanced to the AL Championship Series.That piqued Torontos interest.As you get better as an organization, things that youre doing are trying to be either emulated or acquired, Orioles manager Buck Showalter noted. Its inevitable as an organization that, as you get better, people are going to be coveted more.Because Duquette is under contract with Baltimore through 2018, the Blue Jays had to offer Baltimore ample compensation to secure his services.No deal was made, so Duquette was talking about Orioles baseball on Saturday at FanFest, the teams annual winter convention.He insisted that Torontos advances did not distract him from seeking to put a better club on the field in 2015.Its important for the Orioles fans to know that my focus — and my singular focus — is on improving the team, he said. We do that day by day, trade by trade, addition by addition. We did that this year in the off-season like weve done it in the past.With the exception of Duquettes potential departure, its been a quiet off-season for Baltimore. The losses include free agent outfielders Nelson Cruz and Nick Markakis, along with reliever Andrew Miller.The most notable addition is outfielder Travis Snider, obtained in a trade with Pittsburgh.But thats typical of Duquette, who followed a quiet winter in 2014 by adding Cruz and Ubaldo Jimenez during spring training.While its important to improve your ballclub in off-season, were not really trying to win the off-season, Duquette said. Were trying to put together a team that can compete and get to the off-season and prevail. Thats different from making headlines in the winter time.Showalter had absolutely no complaint about the teams off-season activity.As we get into spring and there comes a need, well be able to do it, he said.The Orioles played much of the 2014 season without injured stars Manny Machado and Matt Wieters. Having them in the lineup will make more of a difference than any trade or free agent addition.The biggest and most powerful improvement we have to our ballclub this year is Machado coming back and Wieters coming back, Duquette said.In other news, suspended slugger Chris Davis said Saturday his use of Adderall last season was not as a performance enhancer but rather a way to cope with an oblique injury that landed him on the disabled list and played havoc with his swing.It was never a baseball issue, he said. Just an everyday life thing.Davis was suspended for 25 games. The punishment will expire after opening day.I was just kind of overwhelmed with everything that was going on last year with the injury, he said. There were a lot of things that were taking my focus away from baseball.Davis said he had previously been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, which got him a green light from the independent administrator of Major League Baseballs drug program to use the drug in 2008.I had an exemption in the past. It was denied in 2013 and obviously, I shouldnt have been taking it last year, Davis said. It was a moment of weakness.After batting .286 with 53 homers and 138 RBIs in 2013, Davis numbers slipped dramatically in 2014 to .196 with 26 homers and 72 RBIs.This year, he expects things to be different.Being away from it a month longer than the rest of these guys was tough at first, but I used it to my advantage to get into my workouts a little bit earlier, Davis said. I definitely think last year got off to a slow start, so this year I wanted to get off on the right foot. Im doing some different workouts this year.He jokingly said that included bunting down the third-base line, a way to cope with the shift that limited his effectiveness. Vans Old Skool Clearance Sale . The Cottagers last victory came in a 2-1 home win over West Ham when Rene Meulensteen was still in charge. Since then, a miserable run of seven defeats and two draws has seen the club part with the Dutch coach and replace him with German Felix Magath. Vans Old Skool Sale .J. -- John Elway says Peyton Manning cannot stamp himself as the greatest quarterback in NFL history even if he wins the Super Bowl on Sunday. http://www.vanssalestore.com/ . - Suspended Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Justin Blackmon has voluntarily checked into a treatment facility and seems to be doing well.ANAHEIM - J.A. Happ takes the mound opposite Jered Weaver on Monday night when the Toronto Blue Jays pay a visit to Angel Stadium to begin a three-game series. Happ has been solid since getting roughed up for seven runs in four innings at Cincinnati on June 21. He tossed 7 2/3 shutout frames against the Chicago White Sox while striking out eight in his next start. Most recently, Happ gave up four runs on six hits over seven innings while striking out four and walking nobody against Milwaukee on Wednesday. Weaver, after giving up just one earned run in each of his previous two starts, was tagged for five runs on nine hits over 5 2/3 innings against the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday. Once again, the long ball hurt Weaver as he gave up two home runs to run his seasons total to 16 allowed. Prior to his last start, Weaver had gone 17 straight innings without giving up a homer. "I just left a couple pitches up, and those guys put it where they should," Weaver said. L.A. has won 10 straight at home and 15 of its last 16 overall at Angel Stadium. The Halos concluded a four-game home sweep of the Houston Astros following Sundays 6-1 victory. Starter Garrett Richards struck out a career-high 11 while pitching 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball to improve to 10-2 on the season. Koole Calhoun homered and went 3-for-3, while Albert Pujols was 2-for-3 including a two-run single. Vans Toy Story Sale. The Blue Jays are trying to avoid a season-worst fifth straight loss, although they will have to do so without All-Star slugger Edwin Encarnacion, who is expected to miss at least two weeks with a strained right quadriceps that he injured during Saturdays 5-1 loss at Oakland. Encarnacion is second in the majors in both home runs (26) and RBI (70). "It hurts us not having him on the team," said outfielder and fellow All-Star Jose Bautista. "The No. 1 priority is to get him better." Toronto, which leads the majors with 114 homers on the season, lost each game of a four-game set at Oakland as the offense went 0-for-20 with runners in scoring position. It was more of the same for the teams suddenly lackluster offense during Sundays 4-2 loss, which dropped the team two games behind Baltimore in the AL East standings. The Blue Jays held a one-game lead atop the division entering the series against the Athletics. "We got shut down big time," manager John Gibbons said. "Were just not very good right now. Were just not producing." The Angels won three of four when these teams met up at Rogers Centre from May 9-12. ' ' '