Jim Rome show among several interviews just after the draft. I'm sure you and others can also recall the contentious relationship between Patterson and the O's douchebag tagteam. Not surprising the paper of record heaped praise/fawned all over the fresh new quotable guy rather then the incumbent with the funny eyebrows who mocked them, though both were saying largely the same things.
As Min pointed out, it is standard fare for management types throughout sports to spread the credit around. I've heard many Blazer GMs and Presidents including Larry Miller say that there are a lot of voices that weigh in on their biggest decisions. As such we're a bit removed from knowing who really deserves the credit/blame for a lot of moves. My best guess at reading the tea leaves of that draft is that KP and the scouting department decided on their main targets and trumpeted their belief in their substantial worth internally. We heard that many in management worked the phones tirelessly to gather intel on how the draft might go and what specific teams wanted be it a player, picks, cap relief, or straight ca$h homie. But I recall KP saying that on draft day it was Patterson who executed their plan playing one team against another in a series of phone calls... he called observing SP's wheeling and dealing "masterful" & "awesome"
Management generally keeps us fans at outside of the know as to their inner workings, but in this case it seems their was plenty of credit to be spread around. Pritchard and Co. for developing the plan and Patterson for executing it.
STOMP
