Worst Franchise

[knightni]

IIRC the Astros were in a World Series a couple years ago.

 

One of my criteria would be no post season appearances in the past ten years. I'd be hard pressed to pick a League Champion as having the worst franchise.

 

Team history, they are right there with the Rangers and Mariners in overall futility.

 

[DBAHO]

IIRC the Astros were in a World Series a couple years ago.

 

One of my criteria would be no post season appearances in the past ten years. I'd be hard pressed to pick a League Champion as having the worst franchise.

To me that was a one off based on them having Pettite and Clemens.

 

I'm looking at where a franchise is right now and where it's going to be in the future, based on payroll etc.

[witesoxfan]

If we are talking about complete team history with nothing regarding 'what have you done for me lately?' it absolutely has to be the Texas Rangers and Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos, hands down. I would vote for the Rangers, seeing as how their only playoff appearances have come upon the expanded versions of the divisions, but I don't believe either team has ever, ever won a playoff series. I mean, sucks to them that they've been there and f***ed up, but truth remains the same.

 

Those are my two votes with the Rangers being first, even though they've produced several competitive teams within the past few years.

 

I will also not buy "trying to win in a small market" argument. The Oakland A's and Minnesota Twins are among the best teams in baseball in regards to their recent history when spending around baseball went up extraordinarly, and a few others have caught on to it, if only short term (Mariners, Phillies, Cardinals, Diamondbacks, Rockies)...small market is a bulls*** excuse for a team trying to look for a reason as to why they can't compete. Besides that, the Dodgers aren't a small market team and have won fewer playoff series than the Twins in the past 10 years...how is that explainable? They've also won fewer World Series titles in the past 25 years than the Twins too, how is that explainable? (mainly because small market meant absolutely nothing until shortly after the labor strike of 1994)

 

The term 'small market' is also broadly used, as a team like the White Sox, as recently as 4 years ago, was labeled a 'small market team' because they didn't spend much money...it didn't matter that they made their home in Chicago, it just mattered how much money they spent. Same exact thing can be said for the Florida Marlins, who make their home in Miami, so they can suck it in regards to a small market. Poor advertising and a terrible major league team, even if they are good once in a while, is what I see down there.

Edited August 15, 2008 by witesoxfan

[DABearSoX]

I have a hard time labeling any team as "worst franchise" Money ball is the name of the game now....the Twins are an oddity however, best scouts in baseball

 

 

if we looked at all American sports however I would have to pick the Chicago Blackhawks...even though they did some good things this offseason

[YASNY]

I have a hard time labeling any team as "worst franchise" Money ball is the name of the game now....the Twins are an oddity however, best scouts in baseball

 

 

if we looked at all American sports however I would have to pick the Chicago Blackhawks...even though they did some good things this offseason

 

Soon to be usurped by the Chicago Bears.

[Paint it Black]

Houston. Yes then made the series in 05, but has anybody seen their draft fiascos recently? Plus they're just bad and Drayton McLane is a horible owner

[greg775]

I'd have to go with KC cause of the ownership.

[witesoxfan]

I have a hard time labeling any team as "worst franchise" Money ball is the name of the game now....the Twins are an oddity however, best scouts in baseball

 

It depends on what you mean by "Moneyball." If you mean OBP, SLG, OPS, then you are absolutely wrong; you would be suggesting that baseball has become more sabermetric than anything, and those are just the very basic sabermetric statistics. Moneyball is all about finding what teams do not value and loading your team up with that. The A's have had a good pitching staff for a number of years now and it hasn't had everything to do with the quality of their pitcher, as, instead, they've started to focus their game around defense and building the best defensive team they can. If you were wondering, the 2005 White Sox team was a "Moneyball" team in that it wasn't a big spender and instead focused it's financial resources on the entire team itself, rather than one or two players, and found what was being overlooked by the market - defense. The White Sox and A's were the 2 best defensive teams in the entire majors in 2005, and it's no wonder why both teams were in the top 4 in the AL in team ERA.

 

The Twins also take a Moneyball approach and do have good scouting but also have fantastic coaching and a top 2 manager in all of baseball. That doesn't hurt. Rick Anderson is also one of the most underrated pitching coaches in the entire majors.

[Pants Rowland]

It depends on what you mean by "Moneyball." If you mean OBP, SLG, OPS, then you are absolutely wrong; you would be suggesting that baseball has become more sabermetric than anything, and those are just the very basic sabermetric statistics. Moneyball is all about finding what teams do not value and loading your team up with that. The A's have had a good pitching staff for a number of years now and it hasn't had everything to do with the quality of their pitcher, as, instead, they've started to focus their game around defense and building the best defensive team they can. If you were wondering, the 2005 White Sox team was a "Moneyball" team in that it wasn't a big spender and instead focused it's financial resources on the entire team itself, rather than one or two players, and found what was being overlooked by the market - defense. The White Sox and A's were the 2 best defensive teams in the entire majors in 2005, and it's no wonder why both teams were in the top 4 in the AL in team ERA.

 

The Twins also take a Moneyball approach and do have good scouting but also have fantastic coaching and a top 2 manager in all of baseball. That doesn't hurt. Rick Anderson is also one of the most underrated pitching coaches in the entire majors.

 

One other thing the Twins really seem to enforce is pitchers throwing strikes. I think their strong defense helps pitchers put the ball over the plate and have confidence the guys behind them will finish the outs.

 

What is more amazing is how they are able to consistently get all types of players to buy into their approach and rarely do the players do as well when they leave the Twins. I think Ortiz is one of the few I have seen perform better in a different uniform.

[caulfield12]

It depends on what you mean by "Moneyball." If you mean OBP, SLG, OPS, then you are absolutely wrong; you would be suggesting that baseball has become more sabermetric than anything, and those are just the very basic sabermetric statistics. Moneyball is all about finding what teams do not value and loading your team up with that. The A's have had a good pitching staff for a number of years now and it hasn't had everything to do with the quality of their pitcher, as, instead, they've started to focus their game around defense and building the best defensive team they can. If you were wondering, the 2005 White Sox team was a "Moneyball" team in that it wasn't a big spender and instead focused it's financial resources on the entire team itself, rather than one or two players, and found what was being overlooked by the market - defense. The White Sox and A's were the 2 best defensive teams in the entire majors in 2005, and it's no wonder why both teams were in the top 4 in the AL in team ERA.

 

The Twins also take a Moneyball approach and do have good scouting but also have fantastic coaching and a top 2 manager in all of baseball. That doesn't hurt. Rick Anderson is also one of the most underrated pitching coaches in the entire majors.

 

Not only defense, but they found needed "cheap" speed in Pods (which allowed them to manufacture runs for the first time since the late 90's), leadership from Pierzynski, a player who was willing to do the overlooked "little things" in Iguchi...then they really got lucky with Hermanson for 4-5 months, and Jenks the last 6-8 weeks....as we went through 3 closers in one year. El Duque was a great mentor for Contreras as well that season, to get him back on track.

 

But that's the gist.....Carlos Lee/Ordonez/Valentin

 

The trade for Pods was never about talent...it was about getting rid of Lee's salary and changing (at the time, we've now reverted again) the fundamental composition and approach of the team.

 

[The Ginger Kid]

I'm not going to say they are THE worst, but I do think the Tigers are one of the worst. Outside of Gallaraga, their starting pitching is s***. They're pre-season chant of "1000 Runs" should've been about runs scored against. Now they're really in a bind, IMO: they have one of the highest payrolls and the only way to justify that is to remain competitive, and to do that they need to fix their pitching, which means they have to spend even more money. I think that's a sign of bad management.

[The Ginger Kid]

Soon to be usurped by the Chicago Bears.

why do i keep signing up for the NFL package every year? I need my head examined.

[DABearSoX]

why do i keep signing up for the NFL package every year? I need my head examined.

 

That commercial I have been seeing where it alerts you whenever someone on your fantasy team scores sounds awesome however...

 

I will probably spend the same if not more than you and your package...Going to a bar every sunday getting lunch and beers really racks up...

 

 

so don't feel too bad...

[whitesoxbrian]

why do i keep signing up for the NFL package every year? I need my head examined.

Why do I keep re-newing my season tickets?