Thursday, September 11, 2008

Decade of Dominance - Toledo Tsunamis

Chuck Biscuits - Cobb Times Herald

Decade of Dominance - Casey at the Bat Award

In the first part of our Decade of Dominance project, the Times Herald is examining the franchises who were unfortunate enough to have a decade they would like to forget. Bad management, freak injuries, fire sales, player mediocrity, bad trades, and outright abandonment are the hallmarks of the teams profiled today. There were a few good moments to be sure, but they are few and far between for the bottom feeders of Cobb World. In celebration of the worst of the worst, and the winner of the prestigious but entirely unwanted Casey at the Bat Award, we kick off the Decade of Dominance with a look at the worst team in Cobb History, the Toledo Tsunamis.

#32 - Toledo Tsunamis
Franchise Power Ranking: 17
Best Year: 78-84, s5 - Worst Year: 33-129, s1
Postseason Achievements: None
Best Player: Sammy Maduro - Maduro holds pretty much every single season record for the Tsunamis, even though he only played for them a year and a half.
Best Pitcher: Shayne Campbell - He wasn't in Toledo long, but he was awesome when he was.
Best International Prospect: Louie Lee
Best Draft Pick: Ron Reilly
Franchise Theme Song: Rv by Faith No More - Choice lyrics from a great song, "I think it's time I had a talk with my kids / I'll just tell 'em what my daddy told me / YOU AIN'T NEVER GONNA AMOUNT TO NOTHIN!"
Franchise Highlights: Doug Moore threw a no hitter in season 1, the annual fire sale made the blog in season 7, the drafting of SP Ron Reilly was a very good pick, and Enrique Guardado was the #1 overall pick in season 2.
Franchise Lowlights: Pretty much the entirety of season 1, when the team was abandoned and didn't sign any of it's draft picks, crippling the team for the future. Guardado was traded and is now an MVP candidate for Nashville. Walter Stewart, Dennis Ashby, and Reilly have also been traded from the franchise. Toledo has never had a winning season.
Franchise Outlook: Wait til' next year - the Tsunamis are slowly (very slowly) but surely recovering from the talent disasters that have been previous seasons and now have a verifiable plan to bring prospects up in a group, as opposed to the piecemeal tactics of the past. An actual winning season is on the horizon, perhaps in 3-5 years.

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