Diary of a Phillies GM (1993-????)

[Sagitta]

Started a new historic league, beginning in 1993 as the Phillies GM. Importing real rookies to the amateur draft. I want to see how well I do, and figured I'd share my experience with everyone here. The settings are the default 'Modern Day', and I intend to do very little tweaking with them.

I'm having fun with this, and hopefully I'll entertain everyone a bit on the way.

____
1/1/1993

Just received the good news. The buyout was a success, and I am now the new owner of the Philadelphia Phillies! I fired the current GM and took over the job myself. The press is having a field day with the story, and so far the hard-core fans do not seem too overly happy, due to my background, or lack thereof. So I bought the club with my Powerball winnings, is that so bad? Besides, I quit my job. My future is going to depend on how well I run this club.

2/3/93

Just moved into my new offices at the Vet. Talk about a dump. First thing on my agenda is to win a few championships so I can get this city to build me a new ballpark.

4/1/93

The big trade was a success.

Sent Seattle 1B John Kruk, RF Jim Eisenreich, SS Kevin Stocker, P Tyler Green and P Tommy Green for RF Ken Griffey, Jr., P Norm Charlton, and 3B Mike Blowers.

Detroit’s part of the bargain was kept as well. Sent them P Mitch Williams for LF Danny Bautista and RF Milt Cuyler. Cuyler was sent to AAA Clearwater.

4/2/93
The press had mixed reactions. The consensus seems to be I am sacrificing our established players for youth. The [I]Daily News[I] is saying I am killing the future of baseball in Philadelphia. I sure hope not. I cannot wait to see the reaction after today’s business is completed.

The trade with Atlanta was completed. Sent them our hot pitching prospect P Kevin Foster and LF Wes Chamberlain for two AAA players I was told were very hot: C Javy Lopez and SS Chipper Jones. Both were sent straight to Clearwater.

4/3/93
I think the press hates me. I know our manager does. The fans are calling for my head. The fact that we are forced to a 4-man rotation with no A-ball backup from Scranton probably has a lot to do with that. I had better think of something – and fast.

Have the opening line-up though.

Our rotation will be Terry Mulholland, Curt Schilling, Danny Jackson, and Ben Rivera. Norm Charlton will be our closer. Our bullpen comprises of Larry Andersen (who already notified me of his retirement at the end of the season), David West, Tim Mauser, Jose Deleon, Bob Aylrault, Mark Davis and Mike Williams.

Our starting lineups will be Mike Blowers platooning with Darren Daulton, Ricky Jordon, Ken Griffey, Lenny Dykstra, Pete Incaviglia, Dave Hollins, Kim Batiste, and Mariano Duncan. Our bench will be Micky Morandini and Milt Thompson.

4/5/93
Opening day at the Vet is tomorrow!

4/6/93
We lost, 10-4 to San Diego… Mulholland was lit up like a Christmas tree.

4/12/93
Lost the series with San Diego, won the series with the Mets at home. The fans liked that at least.

Got a call from Seattle – they want their closer back, so I worked out a little deal with them.

They get P Norm Charlton, P Bobby Thigpen, P Mike Williams, P Jose Deleon, and 1B Ricky Jordon.
We got 1B John Kruk back again, 2B Bret Boone, a prospect I have a hunch on, P Mike Hampton, P Tyler Green once more, and the coup de grace, P Randy Johnson.

Take that and digest it, Daily News.

Also got a call from Baltimore, to my surprise.

We worked out a trade.

They got 2B Mickey Morandini, and CF Lenny Dykstra.
We got P Brad Pennington, P Anthony Telford, 3B Leo Gomez, C Mark Parent, and CF Mike Devereaux.

Our new lineup is as follows:

Our starting five are, Johnson, Mulholland, Schilling, Jackson, Rivera. That is three lefties. Not bad.
The bullpen is scant, but I hope to fix that by the All-star break. It has Tim Mauser and Bob Aylrault in middle relief, and Davis West and Mark Davis in set-up, with Larry Andersen relieving. I just hope Larry can stay healthy.

Our line-up looks pretty solid, on paper at least.
Daulton is going full-time at catcher, Blowers will be platooning with Hollins at 3B, Duncan and Boone will be platooning second. The order should be Daulton, Duncan, Griffey, Kruk, Incaviglia, Hollins, Batiste and Devereaux against righties, Daulton, Batiste, Incaviglia, Griffey, Boone, Blowers, Devereaux, and Kruk on lefties.

Hopefully we can stick to this lineup for a while, I think if I do many more trades the fans are going to lynch me from the three-hundred level.

God, I do not wanna die in the Vet…

4/30/93
Well, we are playing under .500.

Ended the month 9-13, 5 games in back of St. Louis.

Our pitching staff has been stenching up the Vet worse then its natural odor. I think its due to lack of depth in the bullpen, much as I hate to do it, I think I better look around for another trade to pull off. On the bright side, our batting has been mostly satisfactory. A few players have rather poor numbers, but then, the season is young yet. I doubt we will take a title this year, but I am confident about the future.

Signed a free agent American League DH named Sam Horn to the minors. He is not the best, but I see potential to maybe be an outfielder/bench player.

It is almost midnight, but I managed a decent trade with the White Sox.

We are sending them 2B Boone, CF Devereaux, and P West in return for 3 pitchers, P Jeff Schwartz, P Scott Radinsky, and P Chris Howard.

I hope that this will take some pressure off the starters. Duncan will be going full time at 2B, as he should have since the season started.

[Sagitta]

5/10/93

Scwartz is taking over as closer. Andersen is pitching horribly; I may be forced to send him up to Scranton. As for the team, were toppling ever lower in the standings. I am becoming a hated man in the city, I think.

I hope that things will improve. I do not intend to tweak the lineup that much unless my hand is forced.

5/14/93

I just resigned P Danny Jackson to a 6-year contract for 4 million a year. My philosophy is long length and fewer per year then those short, high cost contracts. It just seems to make sense to me to do it that way.

5/23/93

Its back to the four-man rotation. Schilling was hit by a line drive and broke his hand. I hope like hell that he recovers back to form. I really need to find myself another pitcher who can spot start.

5/30/93

Well, what can I say? The season is going horribly wrong. I just released Milt Thompson and his sub-Mendoza average. Promoted Leo Gomez back to the bigs as a bench hitter. Promoted Milt Cuyler to take over at CF, though I have my reservations. Since he is a switch hitter, and fast, I am going to try him at leadoff. Its not like I can really damage the season much more.

The press really is having a field day with me.

[Dxgarnett]

Any updates? I enjoyed this fully.

Chris

[ziimalan]

me 2

[Sagitta]

Unfortunately, in this alternate world, the Phillies ceased to exist (read: I mucked up my files somehow beyond repair) I intend to start over again...

Hopefully next time I'll do a bit better.

I screwed the works up by deleting the league by mistake when I was trimming out 'bad' leagues. The name of the league I was using here was too similar to one I wanted to get rid of and... well... I kept the bad one, deleted the good.

I'll be back with a second try however. I'm determined to try to see if I can improve the Phil's record over reality.

- J
____

Just found my log I was keeping as I was playing, so here it is:

As you can see... 1993 was a nightmare for me... Sorry there won't be a 1994. On the bright side... 94 *couldn't* get worse than 93 was.
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6/25/93

ARGH! Ben Rivera just threw his back out! He’s on the DL for 15 days, and Schilling is still recovering with his hand.

The fans hate me. The pitchers are already bitching about being on a 4-man rotation, now they’re going to be on a 3 man cycle until Schilling gets back.

6/28/93

Why me? Terry Mulholland just threw his shoulder out, and is expected to be gone for 5 or 6 weeks. I had no choice but to call up Mike Hampton and Tyler Green from Clearwater to cover this emergency. I didn’t want to do it, neither one is ready for the big game, but there is no way on earth Johnson and Jackson could hold the fort alone. I really, really need to make a trade of some sort.

6/29/93

Am I cursed? Dave Hollins hurt his shoulder. He’s on the DL with 3/5 of my rotation. Cuyler has been benched, Blowers is taking over his position. Leo Gomez is taking over Hollins place in the rotation.

I think this is the first time I ever saw profanity in the newspaper.

6/30/93

End of month time. June… sucked. That’s the only term for it. Over half my starting pitchers are nursing wounds along with my third baseman. I’m not sitting in the basement, but I’m definitely close: only Florida and Minnesota have a worse record then I do in the entire big leagues, and both teams are only a game behind my 28-49 record. That means I’m sitting 15 ½ games in back of the Cards in the division.

Can anyone say, “Rebuilding Year”?

7/9/93

Schilling is back. Thank God. Sent Mike Hampton back to Clearwater. In just over 9 innings of work, he racked up a 14.46 ERA. Rivera should be back tomorrow, so my staff will look half decent again. On the plus side, Tyler Green has been doing fairly well, considering. In his 7 innings, he has a 3.86 ERA. It’s a shame he’s not ready for the majors quite yet, because that’s a better ERA then Schilling or Jackson have for the year so far.

7/10/93

Ben Rivera is back. Keeping Tyler Green in the rotation, although I’m staying with a 4--man rotation. I’ll keep him as a spot starter, just in case my lousy luck holds out any longer.

7/12/93

Despite my lousy record this year, we’re sending 3 players to the All-star game!

P Randy Johnson, with his majors-leading 131 K’s, Ken Griffey (who’s leading the majors in OPS <.923>, Homers <23>, and ties with Inky with RBI <56>), and surprisingly, LF Pete Incaviglia who’s only a few runs behind Griffey in the HR chase with 20. Incaviglia is having a break-out year here, I only wish that the pitching staff had stayed healthy.

7/14/93

The NL lost the All-star game, 2-3. For some strange reason they never played Randy Johnson in the game. He’s not too happy, but at least he’ll be coming home well rested.

On another good note, Dave Hollins is back from the DL. I’ve missed his .299 average.

7/25/93

Resigned Milt Cuyler for 3 years at 150,000 a year. I just like the guy’s speed. Send him down to AA Reading however. Blowers isn’t doing that great at center, but I think Milt still needs some developing to do.

7/31/93

Another losing month. I was seriously tempted to make some trades at the deadline, but I held pat to what I have. I have a good feeling about this crew, they just need some time to develop.

Still barely keeping ahead of Florida in the scramble to avoid the celler in the NL East. We’re now 18 in back of St. Louis. Pitching definitely is causing me pain. My starters aren’t competing at there potential, and my bullpen isn’t doing much better. If I can avoid the injuries for the rest of the season, though, I definitely see the second half of the season going better than the first.

8/4/93

Terry Mulholland is back! Put him back in the lineup, and sent Tyler Green down to Reading to continue his development. I’m thinking his little visit to the Majors might be a good thing, in the long run. I just wish I had not been forced to call him up, all the same.

The fans still hate me.

8/11/93

Ben Rivera pitched a no-hitter against Florida! It Was the first no-hitter by any team this year, so it drew some media attention our way. He did a pretty good job, to, only walking 2 batters in 9 innings, and striking out 6.

8/20/93

Pat Rapp just threw a no-hitter in Florida against the Mets.

8/24/93

Fernando Valenzuela just no-hit Boston in Baltimore. They do say things happen in threes…

8/31/93

Another losing month. The only pitcher with a winning record is Johnson, at 13-10. Danny Jackson is 7-7. My bats have definitely cooled down this month, though I’m pretty happy with the offense for the most part. I will be looking for a new catcher and new shortstop though if Daulton and Batiste keep playing as poorly as they have been.

I’m not calling anyone up. I simply don’t have anyone who really could be called up. Besides, I’m in the basement already, its not like I’m going to win any titles this year.

9/16/93

SS Kim Batiste hurt his back. Sent him to the DL. Leo Gomez will play SS for the rest of the year.

10/3/1993

Lost the last game of the season in a shutout by the Reds. Final record for the year was 62-100, meaning we stunk worse than anyone else in the majors. I was hit by a cup of soda by a fan while leaving the stadium today.

Looking back, it was pretty much a horrid season. I was counting on my pitching staff to be a lot stronger, especially after dealing for Johnson, and it never happened. My bats also faded as the season went on. None of my batters hit better than .300 for the year.

On the bright side, my payroll should allow me to add some decent free agents, if I can. I want to bolster my bullpen, as well as try to snag a better shortstop and possibly a better catcher. Daulton is a fan favorite, but his numbers this year were just plain bad, and he’s only getting older.

See you next year at the (ugh) Vet!

[twins15]

Any more updates?

[twins15]

Soory, didn't see your NJ Thread.

[Sagitta]

Not for this one



I killed my league by mistake by trashing it instead of the one I intended to. I guess in the reality of this league, the world exploded some time in 1994.

I started a new thread, where I undertook an even more challenging task then trying to make the Phil's a decent team.

Should be showing up.. well.. right about now.



- J