Worst to First - The Sequel

[NYY #23]

I began this month thinking about how bad a deal signing Jim Palmer was, and did two things. The first was to shop him around. There was plenty of interest in Palmer, whether doing either a salary dump, or getting back a useful player. After looking further, his salary isn't too bad either. I didn't deal him though, but felt better knowing he could be dealt.

The second thing that I did was talk to my manager and instruct him to talk to Palmer and let him know the hook would be coming quicker if he gets in trouble. This month Palmer went 4-0 with a 1.50 ERA. Coincidence? Probably. But I still felt much better about our investment, and our chances.

It helped that the Padres went 21-6 this month to open up an 11 game lead.

Dwight Evans hit .381 with 5 home runs, 22 RBI, and 20 runs scored to win the Batter of the Month Award.

Evans joined Dick Allen, Joe Gilbert, Eric Rasmussen, and John Candelaria at the All-Star game.

[NYY #23]

The Padres went 17-11 for the month and appear on the verge of clinching the division. We're past our poor start, and have been playing well since April.

As we hopefully wrap up the division I'll open up discussions with some of our potential free agents, and attempt to lock them up just in case.

[NYY #23]

The Padres clinched today after a dreadful month, but clinched in style. Jim Palmer pitched a no-hitter today against the Giants, sending us to the playoffs in style:



We spent the month locking up potential free agents, agreeing to terms with CF Jose Cruz on a 2 year $600,000 contract. Starting pitcher Lynn McGlothen signed a 4 year $1,400,000 contract, and Johnny Grubb signed a 3 year $1,140,000 contract. Hopefully that'll keep them happy through the postseason.

[NYY #23]

The Padres have gone 10-17 over the last month, but will be taking on the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS. We scored more runs and gave up fewer runs than Chicago this year, and won the head to head series 8-4.

But none of that matters right now, we need to win when it counts.

[NYY #23]

Dennis Martinez had 25 saves this year in 63 1/3 innings with a 2.98 ERA, and came into tonight's game in the tenth inning needing to shut down the Cubs. He couldn't do the job tonight though, allowing a pair of runs as the Cubs defeated us 6-4 in 10 innings.

Dwight Evans and Johnny Grubb each drove in 2 runs tonight.

[NYY #23]

The Candy Man got the start for the Padres tonight and picked up the win with a complete game 3 hitter.

Garry Templeton was 3-5 for the game from the leadoff spot, driving in 4 runs. Johnny Grubb added 2 RBI and was 2-3 for the night.

The best of 5 series is now tied up at 1 game apiece.

[NYY #23]

The Cubs jumped out to an early 2-0 lead against Lynn McGlothen, but he quickly settled down.

Gene Tenace drove in a pair of runs, including one on a solo home run. Mickey Rivers picked up two hits and drove in the final run of the game. The Padres are now one win away from going to the World Series.

[NYY #23]

Tonight's game was closer than the final score, as the Padres scored 3 runs in the ninth inning to break open the game.

Dick Allen was 4-5 tonight with 2 RBI and a runs scored. Both Gene Tenace and Ted Cox added an RBI. Eric Rasmussen was solid through 7 1/3 innings on the mound, with Dennis Martinez coming in for his second save of the series.

We'll be waiting for the ALCS winner, where the Indians won their second straight game to tie up the series against the Angels.

[NYY #23]

Eric Rasmussen got the start in Game 1 and picked up the complete game win, allowing just 3 hits.

Mickey Rivers drove in the games first run, while Garry Templeton hit a bases clearing triple in the fifth inning to drive in 3 runs and break open the game as the Padres took Game 1.

[NYY #23]

One of our biggest strengths this year has been our pitching, and our strong pitching continued today with John Candelaria on the mound, allowing a pair of runs in 8 2/3 innings while striking out 4. Dennis Martinez came on to pick up his third save of the postseason with 1/3 of an inning. At this point Martinez blowing Game 1 of the NLCS is a distant memory.

A first inning triple by Dwight Evans drove in our first two runs, while Jose Cruz hit a sacrifice fly to drive in the final run.

The Padres now lead 2 games to 0.

[NYY #23]

It's easy to feel good about yourself when you are up 2 games to 0 in the World Series. Tonight's starter Lynn McGlothen was 14-11 this year with a 3.21 ERA. Last year he was 14-11 with a 3.22 ERA. In 1975 his ERA was 3.19. At 27 years old I felt it was important to lock him up to an extension before he hits free agency after this season, so we were able to sign him to a 4 year $1,400,000 contract. Since signing his extension he's won 5 straight games, including both of his playoff starts, including tonight's World Series start.

His complete game shutout has me feeling great about our chances after going up 3-0 in the Series, but also a little bit nostalgic. My three year in San Diego have been pretty satisfying, and we were in perfect position to take advantage of the first free agent market. But before I get too overconfident I did come back from 3-0 the last World Series I was in, so…

Mickey Rivers, Dick Allen, Gene Tenace, and Johnny Grubb each drove in a run tonight.

[NYY #23]

With a 3-2 lead heading into the seventh inning we needed 9 more outs to win the World Series. With Eric Rasmussen on the mound things unraveled, and the Indians scored 3 runs en route to a 5-3 win.

We're still up 3-1 in the World Series though, but I hope we can close it out in Game 5.

[NYY #23]

The Padres closed out the series with John Candelaria on the mound tonight, who pitched 8 strong innings, allowing just 1 run and lowering his postseason ERA to 1.40. Dennis Martinez came in for his 4th postseason save.

We got our production from the bottom of the order tonight, with Dale Berra and Jose Cruz each driving in a run.

With our 2-1 win the San Diego Padres are now World Series champions.

[NYY #23]

It's hard to believe it's only been three years in San Diego, but it's been a mostly fun three years. We had some early success getting above .500 in year 1, with a drop off in year 2, and winning the World Series in year 3.

Free agency definitely helped, and we did have a pretty strong team to start. I think San Diego should be able to compete in the next couple of years, and hopefully I didn't leave them in a bad place.

San Diego Padres - 67-95 (.414) 23 GB
1975 - San Diego Padres 86-76 (.531) 2 GB (Season Score - 78)
1976 - San Diego Padres 78-84 (.481) 8 GB (Season Score - 36)
1977 - San Diego Padres 95-67 (.586) - GB (Defeated Chicago Cubs 3-1 in LCS and Cleveland Indians 4-1 in World Series,Season Score - 109)

[NYY #23]

Before we move on I wanted to take a quick look back at how my recent teams have turned out.

Cincinnati Reds:
Won World Series in 1960 (88-66)
Next 3 years: 86-68, 98-64, 82-80
Playoff appearances: 1

New York Mets:
Won World Series 1965 (96-66)
Next 3 years: 89-73, 89-73, 85-77
Playoff appearances: 0

New York Yankees:
Won World Series 1970 (97-65)
Next 3 years: 91-72, 89-73, 91-71
Playoff appearances: 0

Milwaukee Brewers:
Won World Series 1974 (91-71)
Next 3 years: 71-91, 78-84, 79-83
Playoff appearances: 0

Other than the Brewers everyone did pretty good in the three years following, although there was only 1 playoff appearance to show for it.

Looking back on Milwaukee it was three losing years before making the playoffs, and in retrospect it seems like we got quite a few career years in 1974.

[NYY #23]

After going from 1901-1977 in about 18 months 16 of the 30 teams have been completed. I've passed the halfway point, and while I definitely plan on finishing this off I feel like it's time to take a little break. I don't know if it'll be a couple week, or a month or two, but I'm not ready to go to the next last place team just yet. I'll definitely be back to finish though.

[Painmantle]

Congrats on making short work of San Diego, who will be next whe you get back to business here?

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by Painmantle

Congrats on making short work of San Diego, who will be next whe you get back to business here?

Thanks. Next up will be a rough one I think. The Montreal Expos. They lost 105 games last year, and they've lost over 100 games in 7 of the 9 years. I don't think it'll be a quick one.

[NYY #23]

At this point it's become somewhat of a mission to finish this challenge of taking each team from worst to first. With 14 teams left it's coming up on 2 years since I started the restart, or 4 years overall, so it's time to resume so I don't end up spending another 4 years on this.

-------------------------
Last year there were two expansion teams, including the Toronto Blue Jays. I thought there was a pretty good chance I'd be running one of those two expansion teams, but that's not the case. We will be heading to Canada to take over the Montreal Expos, who have lost more than 100 games in 7 of their 9 years of existence. Their best season came in 1974 when they went 72-90, so it hasn't been too good in Montreal:



As for the current roster, I don't even know where to start:



Out of 26 teams last year, just 2 lost money. One, the Minnesota Twins came pretty close to break even, losing less than $100,000. The Expos on the other hand lost over $2 million.

We've got the smallest budget in the league, the smallest payroll, and our attendance of 8,571 per game was less than half of the next lowest team. Runs scored - 12th, Runs allowed - 12th. Our coaching staff is terrible, as is our scout.

Our best player is 23 year old first baseman Jason Thompson who hit .279 with 32 home runs. Our best pitcher Don Carrithers is set to be a free agent after going 11-15 with a 3.35 ERA, and while I'd love to sign him to an extension we can't afford it.

This appears to be my toughest challenge yet.

[NYY #23]

The Expos picked third in the amateur draft, and we have quite a few holes. We can't go over slot with any of our picks or else we won't be able to sign them. We'll try our best though to find some decent players who can help us.

With our first pick in the draft we selected starting pitcher Bob Welch. We selected left fielder Billy Sample in the supplemental round, with shortstop Harry Chappas our second round pick.

Reliever Ron Davis was our third round pick, followed by reliever Dave Geisel and second baseman Chuck Baker.

We should be able to sign all of our draft picks.