Picture courtesy of StlToday.com/Associated Press.
Randy Johnson won his 300th career game Thursday as the San Francisco Giants beat the Washington Nationals 5-1. I've always liked Randy, especially after his performance in the 2001 World Series, but seeing him in a Giants uniform reminds me of all the junk after the Series. Randy is a reminder of what happens when team ownership gets stingy...at a bad time.
Randy came up through the Montreal Expos (now Washington Nationals) farm system, then was traded to the Seattle Mariners where he made a reputation for being a nasty pitcher to face. He was traded again, this time to Houston, then signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks prior to the 1999 season. He won the Series MVP in 2001, multiple NL Cy Young Awards, and was at his most dominant in this period. After the D-Backs' disastrous 2004 season, Randy was traded to the New York Yankees, where his two seasons were deemed a flop. He returned to Arizona for the 2007 season, and helped stabilize the rotation. When he became a free agent after the '08 season, the Diamondbacks ownership had decided on not bringing many players back. They let second baseman/defensive whiz Orlando Hudson go to the Dodgers, outfielder/power hitter Adam Dunn go to the Nationals, and after a lot of back and forth, Randy signed with San Francisco.
When Randy first signed with Arizona in 1999, the owner was Jerry Colangelo, who was bent on assembling a championship roster as fast as possible. After the world championship in 2001, the D-Backs were loaded with aging players and lots of deferred money on contracts. These contracts helped lead to the ousting of Colangelo as majority owner in 2004. He was replaced by Ken Kendrick, who has since made a reputation of being one of the worst owners in regards to penny-pinching.
The fans in Arizona still like Randy, even though he left for a division rival, but a growing number of fans are getting irritated by the management. The D-Backs went from the NLCS in 2007 to a current 4th place standing in their division (looking up at both San Fran and the LA Dodgers). While some of the decline involves injuries to key players, the losses of Hudson, Dunn, and Johnson are just too big to overcome. It was unlikely for all three to come back, especially given the economic climate, but for none to return was a terrible mistake. Now, as Randy Johnson has won his 300th game, it only serves as a reminder that if it weren't for a stingy ownership, Arizona fans could have seen him achieve the accomplishment in a Diamondbacks uniform.
On a separate note, if you'd like to see the news broadcasts from the class I took this past semester, just go to CougarNews.com. Among other things, I did the sports anchoring for the March 18th and May 6th shows. It was a challenging but very rewarding class.
