A question for those who remember 1989

[Tony-OH]

2 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I think it’s unfair to think of Hemond as one of the worst GMs in O’s history.  He built winning teams in 1989, 1992, 1993 and 1994, all on a shoestring budget presumably dictated by Eli Jacobs.  

Of the moves he made in 1989, the one that disappointed me (in terms of results vs. expectations) was Keith Moreland.  The dude was a career .754 OPS hitter and was at .746 when we acquired him. He was absolutely worthless for us, .524 OPS in 111 PA.   No way Hemond could have foreseen that collapse, which hurt us a lot down the stretch.  

I’m not saying Hemond was a great GM, but I’d say he did okay.

 

We'll disagree. He made two of the worse trades in team history and sat on his hands and acquired dog crap during the 1989 seasons.  Moreland was 35-years old, and besides a good May, had been the same bad right-handed, slow DH since his last decent season in 1987. 

Those three things alone make him a terrible GM in my opinion. His teams were mediocre at best. Basically if you want a mediocre but not terrible team, Hemond was your guy. Add in his penchant to get creamed in trades, he was not good.

[Frobby]

51 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

We'll disagree. He made two of the worse trades in team history and sat on his hands and acquired dog crap during the 1989 seasons.  Moreland was 35-years old, and besides a good May, had been the same bad right-handed, slow DH since his last decent season in 1987. 

Those three things alone make him a terrible GM in my opinion. His teams were mediocre at best. Basically if you want a mediocre but not terrible team, Hemond was your guy. Add in his penchant to get creamed in trades, he was not good.

He made some very good trades as well.

He acquired Brady Anderson and Curt Schilling for Mike Boddicker, who was a pending free agent.

He acquired Randy Milligan for minor leaguer Pete Biohm.

He acquired Chris Hoiles for the dregs of Fred Lynn’s career.   

Obviously the Glenn Davis trade turned our horribly.   It certainly wasn’t obvious at the time that Davis’ career would nosedive.   

As to the Murray trade, Eddie is one of my two favorite Orioles ever, but he basically forced that trade by sulking his way through the 1987 and 1988 seasons.  He needed a change of scenery badly at the time.  Agreed, the guys Hemond acquired never did anything.  

Anyway, I am sticking to my guns.  


 

[slakattack]

7 hours ago, Frobby said:

My first child was born Sept. 25, 1989.  It was a bummer losing those two games on Sept. 29-30, but my family’s new arrival helped me keep things in perspective.   

Ha, that's great!  My first was born Oct. 12, 1989.  I was sooo into that season that Summer, but being a young, broke couple, we didn't have the extra $10/month for HTS, so you only got to see them when they were WBAL or The Game of the Week.  I would actually watch the games scrambled (picture would occasionally unscramble) and listen on the radio. I have never heard a game called better then Jon Miller in his prime on the radio and Joe Angel was the perfect partner for him too!