Worst to First - The Sequel

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by illeracula

Congrats. That was a nice quick stay in the Rockies... Let me guess the first move you do with your next team is to trade for Jeter?

Thanks! I need a quick and easy one every once in a while. I would love to be able to trade for Jeter. I'd be surprised if I had the trade chips though.

[NYY #23]

After just two years it's time to move on from Colorado. Thinking back to all of the other teams that I've run so far the Rockies seem the most different. Last year in year 1 our pitching staff gave up 1210 runs. That's 7 1/2 runs per game.

But usually I've tried to build teams with a strong pitching staff, and strong defense and go from there. This time it was all about offense. Our runs against was 12th in the league, our bullpen ERA 14th (5.67), and we were 13th in defensive efficiency.

I can't say that I like building a team like this, but I guess it works for Coors Field. It's also better to be lucky than good sometimes, and I know I've definitely lost with better teams.

I was looking forward to another couple of years from Derek Jeter though, but I guess I'll have to follow him from afar.

Colorado Rockies - 46-116 (.284) 52 GB
1995 - Colorado Rockies 53-109 (.327) 37 GB (Season Score - 1)
1996 - Colorado Rockies 92-70 (.568) 4 GB (Defeated Chicago Cubs 3-1 in Wild Card, Defeated San Francisco Giants 4-2 in LCS, Defeated Oakland A's 4-0 in World Series, Season Score - 121)

[NYY #23]

We are now 2/3 of the way through the teams, and have 10 teams left. Of those 10 teams that we need to guide to the World Series, 8 are currently active teams. Let's take a look at the remaining teams:

10 - Tampa Bay Rays - begin play 1998
9 - Arizona Diamondbacks - begin play 1998

8 - Texas Rangers 97-65
7 - San Francisco Giants 96-66
6 - Houston Astros 90-72
5 - Los Angeles Dodgers 84-78
4 - Florida Marlins 83-79
3 - Minnesota Twins 83-79
2 - Los Angeles Angels 77-85
1 - Seattle Mariners 76-86

There were 8 teams worse than the Mariners, and I know we are getting to the point where taking over the worst team may not always be possible, at least without skipping years. I'm thinking I may have to go with just a losing record eventually, but for now since expansion is coming up I thought I'd skip one year and take over an expansion team from scratch.

I'm going to stay in the NL West and go with the Arizona Diamondbacks since every team finished over .500 this year.

[NYY #23]

1997 was the Yankees year, as they won the AL East with a 89-73 record, swept the Rangers in the Wild Card, defeated the A's in the ALCS in 5 games, and then swept the Astros in the World Series.

After a hot start the Rockies faltered with their offense first strategy when Bill Pulsipher suffered an injury, and Hideo Nomo struggled with a 11-14 record and 5.51 ERA.

But in Arizona we've got our coaching staff and scouting director in place (the AI did a good job with their hiring).

We'll be working with a $42 million budget as we head into the expansion draft. Our first order of business will be picking second in the amateur draft, which will be the first piece of the puzzle.

[NYY #23]

With the Diamondbacks picking second in the draft, our number one target Roy Halladay was off the board. My scout wanted to pick JD Drew, but I went with the promise of Kerry Wood, hoping he can live up to his promise, and avoid injuries.

In the second round we drafted another starting pitcher, Eric Milton. Reliever Scott Elarton was our third round pick with starting pitcher Brian Meadows our fourth round pick. Reliever Roberto Ramirez was our fifth round pick with second baseman Donnie Sadler our final pick.

We're not in Colorado anymore...

[NYY #23]

With the first pick in the expansion draft the Rockies drafted pitcher Eddie Guardado. A look at the rest of our picks:

C - Joe Oliver
MR - Pete Young
MR - Joe Kraemer
1B - Eduardo Perez
C - Eric Wedge
3B - Luis Ortiz
SP - Frank Seminara
SP - Brian Williams
MR - Terry Mathews
MR - Scott Chiamparino
MR - Turk Wendell
2B - Juan Bell
SS - Tripp Cromer
LF - Kevin Reimer
CF - Kevin Belcher
RF - Dave McCarty
LF - Oscar Azocar
RF - Dante Bichette
RF - Kevin Robertson
LF - Harvey Pulliam
MR - Julio Machado
MR - Marcus Moore
MR - Dan Miceli
SP - Jeff Sellers
SP - Jamie Moyer
MR - Phil Leftwich
MR - Archie Corbin
1B - Jay Gainer
3B - Jeff Treadway
2B - Jerry Browne
CF - Lance Johnson
SS - Rey Sanchez
C - Darrin Fletcher
1B - Frank Bolick
C - Carlos Diaz
2B - Alvaro Espinoza
RF - Tim Costo
MR - Heathcliff Slocumb

That leaves us with a $7.7 million payroll. We have some free money to target some free agents, and convince them to come to Arizona.

[NYY #23]

The Diamondbacks welcome both a new catcher and a new centerfielder today. Free agent catcher Tony Eusebio signed a one year contract, while Bernie Williams agreed to a 3 year $24 million contract.

[NYY #23]

We spent some more money trying to upgrade the team to make it competitive, bringing aboard 2B Chuck Knoblauch on a 3 year $13 million contract, SS Jose Offerman on a 3 year $10.8 million contract, and SP David Cone on a 3 year $9.6 million contract. None required compensation.

We've still got plenty of holes in our lineup and our rotation, but hopefully these moves allow us to be more competitive and give our fans something worth going to the ballpark for. We're still predicted to lose 100 games, but having a few established stars should help us draw some fans while we build long term.

[Syd Thrift]

Just wanted to add that I've been avidly following this dynasty as well. The fact that you HATE THE MARINERS has not been lost on me, and neither has your evil, Satanic love for Jeter, but otherwise it has been very enjoyable. JETER SUX

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

Just wanted to add that I've been avidly following this dynasty as well. The fact that you HATE THE MARINERS has not been lost on me, and neither has your evil, Satanic love for Jeter, but otherwise it has been very enjoyable. JETER SUX

Thank you. The Mariners will be getting some love sometime soon. They've always been a little too good to take on, but their day we'll come. As for Jeter, he's been hard not to like, but I won't like him as much with him on another team. Maybe the universe will align and I'll be able to coax Jeter out of retirement to manage the Mariners to a World Series win!

[NYY #23]

The Diamondbacks started the season with a 13-14 record, which was a little better than we expected.

The biggest surprise of the season so far has been Frank Seminara, who is now 3-1 with a 1.67 ERA. He's about to turn 31 years old, and it's been 5 years since he's pitched well. I don't know if he can keep this up, but if he's pitching well around July it might be worthwhile to shop him around to see if he can net a younger player.

[NYY #23]

May was a tough month as the Diamondbacks went 6-24 for the month. We've suffered several injuries this month, but none major.

Our offense is really struggling as we have now scored fewer than any other team in the league. Bernie Williams has been our most consistent hitter, leading the team in batting average, home runs, and RBI.

[Syd Thrift]

Serves you right, Jeterist! >

[NYY #23]

June was a little bit better with the Diamondbacks going 11-16 for the month, but we remain in last place and are 17 games out of first place. Our 54 losses is the highest in baseball.

Kerry Wood suffered another injury and will miss the next two months.

[yougo1000]

Kerry Wood got injured? What a surprise.

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by yougo1000

Kerry Wood got injured? What a surprise.

I know. I should have known better!

[NYY #23]

You would think that David Cone would have realized that signing with an expansion team meant that it would take some time to become competitive, but he asked for a trade to a contender.

He's pitching well enough, but he is 35 years old and was signed to provide innings, so I was happy to oblige. I wish I could have found a better piece of the future, but we traded Cone and MR Terry Mathews to the Orioles and received 29 year old 3B Carlos Baerga back.

Of course just one day later we received an offer from the Royals to exchange SP Frank Seminara for 3B Hensley Meulens. This was a salary dump for the Royals, as Meulens is making $5.5 million through 2000, but he is clearly the better player.

Of course that makes having both Baerga and Meulens on the same team pointless, so we shopped around Baerga and the Red Sox offered middle reliever Alan Benes. We added minor league 1B Mike Bell to the deal and completed the transaction.

We will give Benes a try out in the rotation, and Meulens will be our new cleanup hitter, and may be a good trade candidate during the offseason.

[NYY #23]

The Diamondbacks were officially eliminated from the playoffs last week, which should come as no surprise. I would have liked to do a little better in year one, but I knew it would take a couple of years so it isn't too disappointing.

Sammy Sosa hit his 400th career home run this month for the Rockies.

[NYY #23]

Year one ends with a whimper in Arizona, as we finished tied with Tampa for the worst record in baseball at 58-104. There wasn't much to like this year though, we didn't see enough from Kerry Wood to be confident he'll be able to stay on the field and contribute, and Eric Milton definitely struggled this year.

We got some good production from Chuck Knoblauch, Jose Offerman, Bernie Williams, and Hensley Meulens, but I've always viewed them as a bridge to the future, not the future. They could definitely be dealt this offseason under the right circumstances, but only for the right pieces.

[Trebro]

Top priority looks to be corner outfield, maybe?