How Sal Bando destroyed a decade of my life

[reillymcshane]

To this day I curse Sal Bando. I tell anyone who listens about his sins. I got the urge today to share my ravings, so I thought I'd post it here.

 

In October 1991, the Brewers made one of the worst decisions in franchise history - naming Sal Bando general manager. For the next eight years, Bando's ineptness would doom the Brewers to more than a decade of bad and mediocre clubs. Only one team - the 1992 club - was over .500 - and that was a team he had little to do with. I'm not talking about his decisions filling out the major league roster - those were bad enough, such as letting Paul Molitor walk. I'm talking about the draft. Eight years of pathetic draft selections doomed the Crew to a run of losing records that would reach 15 years. It took a new regime and a new draft czar - Jack Z - to bring the Crew back to a winning record.

 

I realize that Bando was hamstrung by inept ownership. The scouting department was bare bones and the Seligs did not invest in growing from within. This lead to mediocre teams with band-aid fixes year after year. And injuries didn't help either. that's always a risk with athletes. But every team has its challenges.

 

Back to Sal and draft. How bad was he? Here's how bad - this is a list of the players he picked that provided a moderate level of production in the majors:

 

1992 - Scott Karl - 6th

1993 - D'Amico, Jeff - 1st

Loretta, Mark - 7th

1994 - Belliard, Ronnie - 8th

1995 - Jenkins, Geoff - 1st

1998 - Hall, Bill - 6th

1999 - Sheets, Ben - 1st

 

Yep, seven guys. Perhaps I missed someone. But 7 guys in eight years is not good.

 

In comparison, let's look at the 1992-1999 Twins.

 

I picked the Twins because they are a team many people use as a model for a small market team succeeding. Here's their draft record for the same time frame:

 

1993 - Hunter, Torii - 1st

Varitek, Jason - 1st (didn't sign)

Cora, Alex - 12th (didn't sign)

Kolb, Dan - 17th (didn't sign)

1994 - Walker, Todd - 1st

Pierzynski, A.J. - 3rd

Dellucci, David - 11th (didn't sign)

Koskie, Corey - 26th

1995 - Redman, Mark - 1st

Hinch, A.J. - 3rd (didn't sign)

Mientkiewicz, Doug - 5th

1996 - Lee, Travis - 1st (didn't sign)

Moeller, Chad - 7th

Lamb, Mike - 31 (didn't sign)

1997 - Cuddyer, Michael - 1st

LeCroy, Matthew - 2nd

Romero, J.C. - 21st

Punto, Nick - 33rd

1998 - Putz, J.J. - 17th (didn't sign)

1999 - Morneau, Justin - 3rd

Neshek, Pat - 45th

 

Obviously, this is just one team in comparison (I will say that the number of good players the Twins didn't sign is pretty amazing). But it displays how amazingly bad Bando and his team drafted.

 

The Brewers added two very good players in eight years - Sheets and Jenkins. Hall, Belliard and Loretta were solid players, some longer than others. But there are no perennial all stars. No MVPs. The Brewers also missed out on the prime picks - only three 1st round picks did any good. And they certainly didn't mine for nuggets, considering the the 8th round was the last round they got a decent guy.

 

Finally, you can simply look at the 1st picks of the Brewers that failed - Kenny Felder, Antone Williamson (4th overall pick - i remember reading years later a scout for another team said he gasped when he heard the pick - he had Williamson as a 3rd rounder type guy), Chad Green. Most were flawed from the outset - the types of players most people would have shied away from that high in the draft.

 

So thanks a lot, Sal. Your crappy drafts doomed me to sitting through countless seasons of guys like Jimmy Haynes and Lou Collier. I enjoyed watching saves from Mike DeJean. And I loved watching a washed up Marquis Grissom get 600 ABs with a sub .300 OBP.

 

I will say, thank you Dean Taylor for hiring Jack Z. Rebuilding the farm system was the first order for Taylor, and it has paid off. All those bad seasons and terrible drafts only make me appreciate winning even more. Sean Berry was quite the keeper.

 

That's it.

 

Thank for reading my rant.

[monty57]

I think the GM is the most important and most underrated position in sports. A bad GM like Bando or Matt Millen can destroy a franchise for a decade plus, while a good one like Ron Wolf or Ted Thompson can create a dynasty. That's the fun part about a board like this... we'll never be professional athletes, be we can all be "Monday morning GM's."

[pebadger]

Just to make the lists a bit more equivalent, is there a list of guys drafted but unsigned by the Crew who turned out that we can add to the rant? The perfect answer here is "they didn't have any of those, either" (and I really don't recall any), but I'm curious as to the real answer.

[RockCoCougars]

Frankly, I blame that era more on Selig's absentee ownership allowing Wendy and Laurel to run things into the ground. I don't think that it's any coincidence that the Brewer fortunes turned almost exactly at the point where Selig became interim commissioner. It was also at that time that Bruce Manno and a big chunk of the scouting department departed to be replaced by ineptitude for several years (Al Goldis, etc.)- my guess is that the team was cutting corners in that department as well. This doesn't absolve Bando of his ineptitude by any means. The signing of Eldred along with the Bichette trade in particular was the height of idiocy. Allowing Molitor to walk speaks for itself, but my guess is that he was the middle man in those negotiations. I can't blame him for the Sheffield trade either, though he didn't get near enough for Greg Vaughn. I will say that you are not giving him enough credit for the '92 team. His choice of Garner as manager (over Tenace) was very good and he added a few a spare pieces to that team that were big.

[Raw Biz]

Just to make the lists a bit more equivalent, is there a list of guys drafted but unsigned by the Crew who turned out that we can add to the rant? The perfect answer here is "they didn't have any of those, either" (and I really don't recall any), but I'm curious as to the real answer.

Matt Morris in 92 and Kip Wells in 95 are the only ones that stick out to me.

[RockCoCougars]

Garciaparra

[DocLuna7]

For what it's worth, I have always heard that Selig handled the Molitor negotiations directly. Trying to low-ball him because of his age turned out to be a fairly flawed strategy especailly for an AL team who still had a need for a competent DH.

[Raw Biz]

Garciaparra

Drafted in 91 before Bando took over.

[RockCoCougars]

Garciaparra

Drafted in 91 before Bando took over.

I was thinking that he was drafted in '92 for whatever reason. Just looked it up, and saw the name Kenny Felder. I had successfully erased him from my memory banks until now.

[PKBadger]

http://www.sectalk.com/boards/images/imported/2011/08/Oh_look__it_s_THIS_thread_again-1.jpg

There should be a "whining about the 1990s" forum.

I'm sorry, but it just strikes me as a weird time (in the middle of a pennant race) to be bringing this stuff up AGAIN. I must have seen the list of crappy Brewers draft picks about 50 times. Can we perhaps get over it?

[Never Outhustled]

I like that this is being brought back up again. The sour times make winning even sweeter. Also, it helps give credit to the real hero of the Brewers, Jack Z.

[RockCoCougars]

How am I supposed to get over this?

 

http://cmcforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Dean-taylor.png

 

 

To make the 90's topic fairly relevant, (actually I think it's 2000 but the same difference) since I first saw it, I've been a little nervous about the 'Cowboy picture' becoming this decades ''sweep suits'. Trying a little reverse mojo here to break the hex.

[pebadger]

To make the 90's topic fairly relevant, (actually I think it's 2000 but the same difference) since I first saw it, I've been a little nervous about the 'Cowboy picture' becoming this decades ''sweep suits'. Trying a little reverse mojo here to break the hex.

Thanks for mentioning this first. Now I won't feel responsible for jinx-by-thought.

The good thing about the sweep suits debacle is that it's sort of a touchstone for a lot of otherwise great memories for me of events that happened exactly when that whole thing played out.

 

[monty57]

Thanks for mentioning this first. Now I won't feel responsible for jinx-by-thought.

 

My thought exactly. I didn't want to say anything in the "Cowboy picture" thread.

[jmeks23]

I don't understand why my post was deleted? I basically did the exact same thing as Kegstand before he did. And I had the same intent-- this topic is worn out. We're all tired of the 90's, and the recovery period in the early 2000's. This is a different era, and we all need to move on. Sick of talking about it.

[reillymcshane]

I'm upset that people are upset that I'm upset.

[hawing]

If it makes you feel any better, reillymcshane, I'm just about always up for some Sal Bando bashing. Back in bf.net's early days (well before Yuku, so we don't have evidence of it anymore), someone here - I want to say gregmag - called Sal a waste of carbon, or something like that. I'm not particularly the vindictive type, but that made me smile.

[Flying Dutchman]

RockCoCougars wrote:

 

 

To make the 90's topic fairly relevant, (actually I think it's 2000 but the same difference) since I first saw it, I've been a little nervous about the 'Cowboy picture' becoming this decades ''sweep suits'. Trying a little reverse mojo here to break the hex.

I'm glad someone else is thinking this. I've been terrified of this since the picture was taken. Here's hoping the mojo turns soon.

[danzig6767]

For as poorly as Bando drafted over his tenure, it sure seemed like the Selig's were the driving force behind the strategy of trying to "compete" each year mainly with band-aids instead being willing to just bottom out and put those resources into the draft. That money being continually wasted on the likes of Greg Brock, Franklin Stubbs, Shaun Berry, Marquis Grissom, etc should have been pored into the draft instead of taking the most sign-able guys like Chad Green.

[GAME05]

i don't hold it against Bando for any draft picks that didn't sign. maybe they were late-round picks or they just chose college, but that happens to every team. we let Hunter Pence slip away in 2002, but so do most 40th round picks.

the strategy of trying to "compete" each year mainly with band-aids instead being willing to just bottom out and put those resources into the draft.

did that strategy even exist yet? that actually seems to me like something that was only first tried with Tampa Bay, and not really by choice, either.

so maybe Bando was bad, but i'd be all for bringing back Ulyce Payne.

[CheezWizHed]

I'm upset that people are upset that I'm upset.

 

?

[DHonks]

don't forget Jeff Cirillo. Kelly Wunsch wound up having a solid run after leaving the Brewers. I still don't get how we evaluated talent...for instance, Troy O'Leary had a nice run after leaving Milwaukee. How was it that our organization was so pitiful by 95/96 that we were reliant on scabs like Jamie McAndrew, Brian Givens, etc? I don't fault them, but we had an organizational problem besides even the drafting of Chad Green, Antone Williamson, etc.

[Never Outhustled]

For as poorly as Bando drafted over his tenure, it sure seemed like the Selig's were the driving force behind the strategy of trying to "compete" each year mainly with band-aids instead being willing to just bottom out and put those resources into the draft. That money being continually wasted on the likes of Greg Brock, Franklin Stubbs, Shaun Berry, Marquis Grissom, etc should have been pored into the draft instead of taking the most sign-able guys like Chad Green.

 

Jack Z took the most signable guys too, but he still had great results. Possibly Z's greatest pick, Brett Lawrie, was a slot signing. Braun signed quickly and easily. Cory Hart signed for cheap. Gallardo, Hardy and Lucroy were slot signings, so were the 3 Z picks that were used in the Greinke deal, and Escobar was a cheap international signing by Z. Z had an even smaller international budget set by Melvin than what Bando did. The Brewers next wave, with Gindl, Schafer, and Green, were 2 slot signings and a cheap D&F.

 

Money didn't hold Bando back, it was his complete lack of scouting and organizational skills.

[RockCoCougars]

Troy O'Leary was dumped to keep David Hulse if I remember correctly.... Wunch really surprised me when he made it with the White Sox. From watching him in Beloit, the two things that I remember was the 5K inning and the ears. They had 2 firsts in '93 and two sandwich picks in '93, Wunch was one, Adams Friendship's own Joe Wagner was another. D'Amico and Dunn were the others. I really think D'Amico would have been a good pitcher had his arm not fallen off. Bando and the scouting staff back then really had a thing for drafting college players in the first rounds Off the top of my head, I'm thinking Williamson, Green, Jenkins, Peterson and Sheets. Outside of D'Amico, I'm not sure that regime ever took a high school player in the first round.

[DHonks]

didn't they take JM Gold and Neugy?