Vote: What are the top National League blunders?

[Dback Jon]

http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/polling?event_id=2185

You can vote for each franchise.

Dback's choices:

1996: Signing amateurs Travis Lee and John Patterson for $16 million
The two loophole free agents didn't come close to earning their massive signing bonuses.


1999: Using No. 4 overall draft pick on shortstop Corey Myers
Myers still hasn't reached the majors; later in the first round: Barry Zito and Ben Sheets.


2003: Signing Luis Gonzalez to three-year contract extension
A fine player, obviously, but committing $30 million through 2006 just didn't make sense for this franchise.


2003: Traded Curt Schilling to Red Sox for Casey Fossum, Brandon Lyon and Jorge de la Rosa
Maybe they had to trade him, and maybe they should have gotten more in return.


2004: Signing free agent Russ Ortiz to four-year, $33 million deal
This one looked bad at the time . . . and now it looks a lot worse.

 

[boondockdrunk]

That is a pretty tough choice. I think it is really between 3 of the 5. The Russ Ortiz signing, Schilling trade, and Myers were the overall worst on that list.

While we did give up too much money to sign Ortiz, our pitching staff was just awful at the time. We needed a starting pitcher and overpaid for one who had a good track record coming here.

The Schilling trade was just awful. A couple of nobody's for a #1 starting pitcher is never a good trade (unless you were Boston). However, that trade is allow us to pick up Sexson, who promptly injured himself, but if he did not that trade would be look upon much more different.

In the end, I had to go with the drafting of Corey Myers. Everyone thought the D'Backs were going to draft Sheets with the #4 overall pick, yet we decided to go with the high schooler Myers. While Sheets was considered to be among the top talent of the draft, Corey was not even close. Some expected him to fall to the 5th round. Then we sign him for $2 million dollars and lose out on solidifying our rotation with either Zito or Sheets.

The other choices are no where near as bad as these three. Giving Gonzo that type of money was a way for the organization to show that they cared about paying back Luis for all he has done. He was underpaid (4-5 million) for all his great years here, and they wanted a good relationship with an obvious fan favorite. In addition, the $16 million for Lee and Patterson was a stretch but we were a young team in need of elite talent in our farm system. Lee was great the first year he was here and Patterson has turned into a pretty good pitcher (too bad it is for another team).

 

[Dback Jon]

I voted for the Myers draft as well. Gonzo signing was as you said - repaying his loyalty. The Lee/Patterson signings were needed to kickstart the franchise.

The Schilling trade never bothered me much - he wanted to be moved, and the D-backs were in a no-win position.

The Ortiz signing is bad, but no where near the stretch the Myers draft pick was.

 

[moviebuff316]

I have no problem with the Luis Gonzalez one because of his loyalty to the d-backs and he continues to be atleast solid.

 

[Diamondback Jay]

Thus far, the Schilling trade is on top of the list, with 37.7% of the vote, followed by the Ortiz signing.

Here's my take on each "blunder"

My number one, by far, is the drafting of Myers. I know that any draft is a crapshoot, and baseball's version is without question more of a shot in the wind than any of the others. However, when this pick DID happen, I couldn't muster up the words to describe the pick other than BLAH. Honestly, I still think to this day the pick was made only because Myers was from Phoenix, because I still remember Myers being penciled in as at best a mid to late first rounder. It was a terrible reach and one that I still consider to be a blah pick.

Schilling to Boston-- Granted, Schilling wanted out and when someone demands a trade, you have to make due, and no one could have predicted the true prize of this deal (Sexson) would last a grand total of 30 games with the D-Backs, however looking back, the deal was essentially Brandon Lyon for Schilling, Capuano, Spivey and Overbay. Chop that one up however you want. I like Lyon, but that deal... Yeah...

Ortiz-- His numbers all around are awful. The sad reality is the Diamondbacks are pretty much stuck with him. No one's gonna take that contract, so Arizona's only real bet is to keep him until next year and let him walk.

Patterson and Lee-- As others have pointed out, Lee was damned good in his first couple of years with the team, and he was one of the keys to the Schilling deal, so I can't shade that. Patterson showed glimpses at times, and I think the bigger problem was the fact that the team gave up on him just as he was reaching the point in his career where he was about to hit that proverbial ceiling.

Gonzo-- Like others have said, his contract was more of a "THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING" sign of loyalty than anything else, and I can't fault the team for that.

 

[devilfan02]

Myers in a landslide. Not only is he not in the majors, he's not in baseball at all. Last I heard he got waived by the Angels. What a waste of a pick considering all the talent that was taken behind him. The Dbacks were the new team in town and wanted the local star to build upon.

Ortiz was a horrible signing and everyone knew it the second it happened. Was the culmination of the Joe Jr. regime.

Schilling trade was simply depressing. That was a time when everyone realized our run was over and the dismantiling would begin. Schilling was a dick throughout the ordeal and used the media to his advantage (The Human Moth.... Wherever there's a media outlet, Schilling flys to it). How we didn't get more pitching prospects out of the Schilling and RJ trades is beyond me....

The Lee, Patterson, and Gonzo signings were fine with me. Gonzo deserved it, Lee WAS a stud, and Patterson proved last year that he can be a very good pitcher. Patterson was here at the wrong time, couldn't break into the rotation when it was the best in baseball, and we probably gave up on him too soon

 

[devilfan02]

How is the Richie Sexson debacle not in there? SD Jay noted it but it should be included. We trade away a great pitching prospect and our entire infielder for a slugger who can't hit the broad side of a barn 80% of the time. Plus, his contract was up the next year which left us with a huge risk. Capuano would look great in a Dbacks uni right about now....

 

[Phill11]

For those who don't want to vote for everything and submit here's what it looks like so far:


6) What's the biggest blunder in Diamondbacks franchise history?

41.6% 2003: Traded Curt Schilling to Red Sox for Casey Fossum, Brandon Lyon and Jorge de la Rosa
Maybe they had to trade him, and maybe they should have gotten more in return.


30.5% 2004: Signing free agent Russ Ortiz to four-year, $33 million deal
This one looked bad at the time . . . and now it looks a lot worse.


14.9% 1999: Using No. 4 overall draft pick on shortstop Corey Myers
Myers still hasn't reached the majors; later in the first round: Barry Zito and Ben Sheets.


10.8% 1996: Signing amateurs Travis Lee and John Patterson for $16 million
The two loophole free agents didn't come close to earning their massive signing bonuses.


2.2% 2003: Signing Luis Gonzalez to three-year contract extension
A fine player, obviously, but committing $30 million through 2006 just didn't make sense for this franchise.

 

[BC867]

How about promoting an abusive, alcoholic Minor League manager, without doing their homework?

Then the embarassing chore of replacing him on short notice with the man the had not chosen. One who is as extremely shy as Backman was rowdy.

You don't rebuild a winner with either extreme.

Have you seen Bob Melvin on post-game press conferences? Picking at his face, covering his mouth as he talks, taking his cap off and on, "y'know--y'know--y'know", sounding like he needs a gallon of caffein.

Other than the money we've wasted on over-the-hill starting pitchers year after year (Albie, etc., etc., etc.), I'd say this blunder comes in #2.

 

[devilfan02]

How about promoting an abusive, alcoholic Minor League manager, without doing their homework?

Then the embarassing chore of replacing him on short notice with the man the had not chosen. One who is as extremely shy as Backman was rowdy.

You don't rebuild a winner with either extreme.

Have you seen Bob Melvin on post-game press conferences? Picking at his face, covering his mouth as he talks, taking his cap off and on, "y'know--y'know--y'know", sounding like he needs a gallon of caffein.

Other than the money we've wasted on over-the-hill starting pitchers year after year (Albie, etc., etc., etc.), I'd say this blunder comes in #2.

It was embarrassing but I still wish Backman would have been manager. Don't think this ranks IMO