Worst to First - The Sequel

[NYY #23]

After three seasons in Kansas City World Series number 18 was won. After struggling so much in Montreal this was an easy one, and it was an enjoyable time in Kansas City.

It was a combination of the right place, right time, with a decent core, the ability to quickly get under budget, and making a run at several established free agents who happened to all be available at the right time.

Kansas City should be in good shape next year as well too, with budget room and only catcher Mark Salas as a free agent to be. With Tony Pena locked up it they could let him walk as well.

But that is someone else's problem now. I will remember Kansas City fondly though.

Kansas City Royals - 54-108 (.333) 38 GB
1988 - Kansas City Royals 80-82 (.494) 13 GB (Season Score - 57)
1989 - Kansas City Royals 88-74 (.543) 7 GB (Season Score - 61)
1990 - Kansas City Royals 95-67 (.586) - GB (Defeated Detroit Tigers 4-3 in LCS, Defeated Cincinnati Reds 4-2 in World Series, Season Score - 120)

[ShagVT]

Season score 120! Wow - I don't know if I've ever seen that before!

Off to Seattle?

[illeracula]

Congrats! That was nice and easy. I look forward to your next challenge.

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by ShagVT

Season score 120! Wow - I don't know if I've ever seen that before!

Off to Seattle?

Believe it or not there was one team that was quite worse and lost 109 games. Up next...

[NYY #23]

With just 12 teams left we are finally approaching the home stretch, although we've still got a long way to go. Let's take a check in and see how the remaining 12 teams did last year to see our next destination -

12 - Tampa Bay Rays - begin play 1998
11 - Arizona Diamondbacks - begin play 1998
10 - Colorado Rockies - begin play 1993
9 - Florida Marlins - begin play 1993

8 - Los Angeles Angels 90-72
7 - Los Angeles Dodgers 86-76
6 - Minnesota Twins 86-76
5 - San Francisco Giants 86-76
4 - Texas Rangers 86-76
3 - Houston Astros 83-79
2 - Seattle Mariners 65-97
1 - Toronto Blue Jays 53-109

And back to Canada we go….

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by illeracula

Congrats! That was nice and easy. I look forward to your next challenge.

Thanks! I needed that after Montreal I think. I don't know if I should be nervous going back to Canada or not. Hopefully it won't be as bad as Montreal!

[jaysdailydose]

Originally Posted by ShagVT

Season score 120! Wow - I don't know if I've ever seen that before!

Off to Seattle?

Yeah, a 120 season score is definitely the highest I've seen. He did do a pretty amazing job this season, though, gotta give props where they are due.

That decision to pitch Abbott in Game 6 was just one of those decisions that paid off in spades... so I can kind of see why he got the score he got, still, far and away the best I've seen.

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by jaysdailydose

Yeah, a 120 season score is definitely the highest I've seen. He did do a pretty amazing job this season, though, gotta give props where they are due.

That decision to pitch Abbott in Game 6 was just one of those decisions that paid off in spades... so I can kind of see why he got the score he got, still, far and away the best I've seen.

Thanks! I think with 14 they changed it so scores over 100 are possible. This was one of those years where most everything seemed to go right. I can't take credit for Abbott though, that was all the AI. I do try and let my manager do his thing with minimal interference.

[jaysdailydose]

Originally Posted by NYY #23

Thanks! I think with 14 they changed it so scores over 100 are possible. This was one of those years where most everything seemed to go right. I can't take credit for Abbott though, that was all the AI. I do try and let my manager do his thing with minimal interference.

Oh, I was under the impression that you made the call to start Abbott over Hershiser.

Well, for letting the manager do the right things, you must have gotten points!

[NYY #23]

It's definitely become a trend to take over a team that is in bad financial shape. The Blue Jays are no better, losing $3 million last year and have a $6 million deficit this year.

Their budget of $16 million is 25th in the league, with their payroll of $9,400,000 21st in the league. Our owner is unmerciful, and an economizer, with a small market, low fan interest, and the worst attendance in baseball.

The Blue Jays are also going the wrong way, dropping from 87 to 103 to 109 losses the past three years.

Two of our three highest paid players are middle relievers - Dave LaPoint (4.47 ERA, 48 1/3 IP) and Ed Lynch (5.37 ERA, 60 1/3 IP).

25 year old Erik Hanson is our ace, and we'll likely build the rotation around him, if we can afford to keep him. Catcher Chris Hoiles and LF Bernard Gilkey are looking like our offense keepers based on their age and value.

[NYY #23]

Goal number one in Toronto is to get our finances in check, and one way of helping us to reach our goal is to non tender players who either will not help us, or are too costly given their value as we head into salary arbitration.

We made some tough decisions this year and non-tendered nine players -

SP John Farrell (209 2/3 IP, 9-22, 5.49 ERA)
SP Pascual Perez (202 IP, 5-19, 5.88 ERA)
MR Tony Ghelfi (5.40 ERA)
MR Dave Gumpert (6.75 ERA)
3B Keith Miller (.233, 2 HR, 12 SB)
SS Paul Zuvella (.000, 5 AB)
LF Vince Coleman (.240, 84 SB)
CF Kevin Romine (.204, 4 SB)
RF Pat Sheridan (.000)

It won't be easy to make up those innings, but I'd prefer to pay a minimum salary for production like that.

[NYY #23]

Drafting 1st overall there was plenty of offensive firepower available (Jeff Bagwell, Frank Thomas, and Jim Thome), but we went with pitching and selected SP Mike Mussina as our top pick.

That left us looking for players who were willing to sign for slot, and in the supplemental round we took our chances with SP Frank Castillo with SP Cal Eldred our second round pick.

Our second pick of the second round was C Eric Wedge, with LF Javier Ortiz our third round pick. Relievers Hector Fajardo, Mo Sanford, and Mike Dalton rounded out the draft.

[ShagVT]

Wow, Mussina must grade pretty well to pass up all of that power. How do you not get Frank Thomas to anchor a lineup?

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by ShagVT

Wow, Mussina must grade pretty well to pass up all of that power. How do you not get Frank Thomas to anchor a lineup?

Well, Mussina was definitely the best starting pitcher, but I hope I didn't make a mistake on this one. It was really hard to pass up on any of the three, but especially Thomas. While money wasn't the only factor, it didn't hurt that Mussina was asking for less of a bonus than all three. I also like building a team around a good rotation too, so hopefully he'll help in that regard. Then finally, I know I shouldn't get too attached to a name, but Mussina was one of my favorite pitchers to watch. So even though I justified it in my head before the pick, I do worry if I made the right choice.

[illeracula]

Originally Posted by NYY #23

SP Pascual Perez (202 IP, 5-19, 5.88 ERA)

I'd have a problem doing a league like this. Perez was one of my favorites growing up, him and his brothers Carlos and Melido. I'd end up trying to trade for them no matter how bad they were, lol.

Is he that bad (5-19) or was the team just that bad?

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by illeracula

I'd have a problem doing a league like this. Perez was one of my favorites growing up, him and his brothers Carlos and Melido. I'd end up trying to trade for them no matter how bad they were, lol.

Is he that bad (5-19) or was the team just that bad?

Perez was actually pretty bad, although the team didn't do him any favors. His FIP was pretty in line with his ERA (5.82) so nothing jumps out as a fluke. He walked 137 batters with 113 strikeouts, with a WHIP of 1.88 and opponents hit .299 against him. He actually had a pretty decent rookie season (4-9, 4.80 ERA), but went to the bullpen except for one other year where he was a full time starter. You probably could make a case for that being his worst year (6-14, 7.73 ERA, 2.13 WHIP, and opponents hit .317).

He definitely didn't have anywhere near the success he had in real life. Melido on the other hand is off to a pretty good start to his career. 16-15, 4.78 ERA in 1988, 15-12 with a 3.92 ERA in 1989, and 13-15 with a 5.00 ERA this year. His FIP was lower all three years as well, so of the two have had debuted, Melido would be the one to get.

[NYY #23]

With no budget room available the Blue Jays shipped off 2B Juan Samuel, our second highest paid player to Detroit in exchange for RF Dante Bichette. The deal will save us $600,000.

Our second move was to trade MR Dave LaPoint and SP Joe Johnson to the New York Yankees in exchange for 1B Larry See. I didn't want to trade Johnson, but it was the only way to get LaPoint's salary off our books. Total savings of this deal - $1.3 million.

The Blue Jays brought aboard rookie manager Rick Dempsey to fill our vacant position.

Despite indicating that they would accept slot, SP Frank Castillo, LF Javier Ortiz, and MR Mo Sanford are holding out for more money. I've got news for them, there is no more money, so they will go unsigned.

[NYY #23]

Not a bad start in Toronto, as the Blue Jays somehow managed to go 10-11 for the month.

Eric Hanson showed why he's our ace against the Brewers striking out 15 batters in a 6-3 win on April 13th.

[NYY #23]

The Blue Jays continue to exceed expectations, going 13-14 for the month and are 23-25 for the year.

Eric Hanson is leading the league with 81 strikeouts, and combined with Mussina at the top of our rotation they should provide a good one-two punch.

Kevin Maas is showing unexpected signs of life in the lineup, hitting .279 with 8 home runs.

[NYY #23]

The Blue Jays are starting to show our true colors after going 11-17 for the month during our fall to last place in the AL East.

We lost Mike Mussina for the year after he ruptured a disc in his back. Mussina was 7-6 with a 3.15 ERA.

Eric Hanson pitched his first career no-hitter against the Seattle Mariners in a 3-0 win.