Blazers-1977 wrote:In 2004 they went 63-99 after being 93-69 in 2003
In 2008 they went 61-101 after being 88-74 in 2007 and for no reason as the future looked bright for Seattle entering the season, and were expected to win the division
In 2010 they went 61-101 after being 85-77 in 2009 and were expected to win the division
In 2015 they went 76-86 after being 87-75 in 2014 and were expected to improve on that record that year
and now a season removed from being 86-76 and starting season with very high expectations they are struggling again
This is kind of a long overdue post but I figured I should respond.
The Front office & management did a really poor job of player development for a long stretch (2003-2015), prior to the current regime. When Lou Piniella left the club (2002), that's when things started to unravel fast.
On top of that ownership is notoriously cheap.
Jerry Dipoto has done a much better job of building up a farm system & getting young players to develop within their system. They've done a tremendous job of drafting & developing Pitchers. That was a huge struggle under his predecessor.
However, for as good a job as they've done recently, ownership is still viewed as a major hindrance. Their penny-pinching ways have prevented this team from taking the next step & getting back to the postseason.