Biggest Disgrace of a Franchise?

[John]

Take into account management, performance, quality of players, ability to draw fans, overall consistency, etc.

[JosephC]

Kansas City has got to be one of the top on people's list... they can't win, but they don't rank top for me because their payroll isn't very high. I'm gonna say Mets right now. They have a HUGE payroll, make stupid decisions, don't do the right medical checkups. They are doing good this year, but they could be doing a lot better. Then the Mariners don't fall far behind because of the Bill Bavisi years.

[The Lone Granger]

I think it's just all of the above. If I had to pick one it would be the ability to draw fans. You notice how teams like the Cubs never win consistently, but their Cubs are still some of the most loyal fans to them in Major League Baseball? Once you lose your fans, you've honestly lost everything. Maybe that's just my opinion though.

[JosephC]

I would never think of the cubs as a disgraceful franchise whatsoever. Just cause they can't win a world series does not make them a disgraceful franchise just like you said.

[John]

The pirates are awful. Front office is terrible, and all the fans that loved them years ago are a bit of old memory. They trade away all their talent. The Orioles are a close second, they have terrible management as well. I am sure everyone would agree that the Pirates and Orioles are the two worst managed teams.

[The Lone Granger]

Oh we're talking about what franchises are a disgrace? My fault I thought we were talking about what makes them disgraceful the most. Sorry about that.

I would have to agree that John is right. The Pirates could actually be a good team right now, but because of the stupid trades of good, talented young players every single season, they are no where better than they were the last year from year to year. They have some good young guys in McCutchen and somewhat Lastings Milledge, but still, they should have a lot more young players with potential than they do, especially their pitching.

[Igoe4Mariners]

Yeah the Pirates are a joke. 19 straight losing seasons automatically makes you the worst franchise at this current time.

[clarknova]

As a Pirates fan I find this thread insulting! The Pirates are a model franchise who's main focus has always been winning, by any means necessary.
On a serious note, as a Pirates and Mariners fan, I'll tell you that in my opinion the two biggest disgraces of franchises are the Pirates and the Royals. The Astros are trying really hard to get up there and they may soon, but they need a few more years of futility. They're being run into the ground though, for sure.

The reason the Pirates are disgraceful is their ownership REFUSES to spend money, and shipping our their players as has already been discussed. They're a farm system for teams that give a shit. It really is sad because they have such awesome tradition, and a stadium that is perennially on the top of the "best stadiums" list (although, I've never been). People that care have actually tried to buy the team- Mark Cuban waved some money at them and was told they weren't for sale. The ownership wants to turn a profit and refuses to spend money and take a few years at a loss to eventually make more profit. They treat their team like a rental home whose tenants are begging for them to fix the faucet and take care of the yard but instead they replace the faucet by running a garden hose in the window and pave the yard. It's disgraceful because the team was once great, and turned out some of the best all time baseball players.
The Royals are disgraceful because they're run by a bunch of morons. They read Moneyball and decided it was about what NOT to do for a small market low budget team. Anyone who would actually trade ANYTHING for Betancourt is a disgrace.
It's hard for me to admit it, but yeah. Pirates by a mile.
I can't say Mets because they really do make a soild effort to bring in talent. They're an example of what happens when you throw money at holes in your team, and are just unlucky.

[MrBigShot_23]

Pirates, Royals, and Astros are all teams that come to mind. I really think the Indians are up there too, but quite a few people on another board disagreed with me on that. Could just be the Tiger fan in me.

[clarknova]

Indians are kinda in the M's category for me. Too recently decent to be considered a total "disgrace". Shitty? Yes. The Indians join the M's on that list. I actually don't mind Detroit, which is saying a lot because I despise about 20 of the other teams. I enjoyed watching the drastic turn around earlier in the decade and have often thought of that situation while hoping the M's would stop sucking soon and do something similar.