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Top 8 Kodiak Missteps During Their Playoff Drought
With another lost season in Kodiak land we look back on the tenure of GM PaulECee to see where things have gone so wrong... This list is likely not exhaustive... Feel free to add to it.
8. Pick 1.17 of the 2016 Draft.
Armed with their double play combo of the future in Marquez, and Morla, the Kodiaks chose another infielder with first basemen Zack Thomas. Thomas ended up playing almost 400 games, and was later a key piece that garnered the California squad SS CJ Wilkinson, it was the next two 1B picks that really bring this pick too light. At 2.10, Erik Colgate of the 149 home runs and 31.6 Career WAR were taken, and even worse yet, at 2.14, Fred Frederick and his 348 career home runs and 48.6 career WAR were also missed on by the Kodiaks.
7. Trading Bing-Zhang Lopan
Shortly after bottoming out 2025 the Kodiaks used their 2.2 pick of the 2026 draft to take SS Bing-Zhang Lopan. Lopan rose quickly through the Kodiak ranks and was the team’s starting short stop by age 23. At the ripe young age of 24, he produced 23 home runs, and a very respectable 2.3 WAR, and providing plus defence at short stop. As per most of the items on this list, a quick trigger by PaulECee saw Lopan shipped out of town halfway through the 2029 season, for three late second round picks to SDR where he proceeded to very cheaply anchor the defence, and set a BLB record with a 4 home run game. What really makes this move really hurt, is that California ended in up a playoff race that went down to the wire, while playing a below replacement level Maddox Coker at short. What might have been with 120 more games of Lopan that season.
6. Pick 1.8 of the 2016 Draft.
Widely considered one of the best drafts of the last 20 years, the Kodiaks snagged future HOF Mike Morla, future HOF AJ Ingle, and starter workhorse TJ Broughton. But, what might have been with a better first round. The Kodiaks also had pick 1.8 and were hoping to grab 3B Matt Healey, who Denver took at 1.7. With many great outfield options left on the board (Webber, Sedevic, Ackers) California, feeling strongly about Dusty Filar, and recently drafted Garrek Finn (Oops!) the Kodiaks passed on all of them, and went with a teenage wild card in SS Nelson Marquez. Envisioning a double play combo that would lead the Kodiaks into the next 10 years turned out to be a career of 37 games and 0.2 WAR… Ouch!
5. Moving up One Spot in the 2026 Draft.
Another lost season in California left then with pick 1.2 in the 2026 draft. As is the theme throughout this list PaulECee, reacted without thought, panicked, and traded up from 1.2 to 1.1, by including next year’s first. In a draft that included Pineda (197 career home runs), McAlear (22.6 career WAR), Daniel (stellar D and 25.5 career WAR), and Jeffs (0.329 career average and 26.7 career WAR) the Kodiaks ended up with a pitcher in Prestianni, that never reached his control potential, and has been decidedly ‘meh in a career that has garnered 13.7 WAR and a 52-63 record during his career.
4. A Move I Think Was Made, But Can’t Seem to Find Proof Of!?
Somehow, PaulECee made another dumb draft day trade that ended up in Carolina getting the Kodiaks #8 pick of the 2031 Draft. I’m not sure what the reason was, but likely the erstwhile GM spotted some prospect he fell in love with at the last minute, and mortgaged the future. Who did the #8 pick become, you may ask… CF Rory Elia… Who mashed 48 home runs compiled 6.6 WAR, and played expectional centre field defence… AS A ROOKIE!!
3. Trading Back Into the 2030 Draft.
This one really hurts, because, the trade was mad at a snapshot in time, when California was in the playoffs 8 weeks into the season, and therefore, PaulECee felt that next year’s first would be a middle of the first round pick. California sent their 2032.1 for Batavia’s 1.23, 2.2, and 3.2 in the 2030 draft. Of course, California went right in the tank after that and finished dead last, which gifted the #1 overall pick to Batavia, who promptly took, former triple crown winner, Roddy ‘Kodiak’ Sierra (currently #13 on the Top Prospect List). To makes matters worse, PaulECee was quoted as saying, “We have a guy we really like and no second round pick, so hopefully he’s worth it!”… Oops! That guy ended up being RP Quincy Swaney. So far in his career, he’s fashioned a 3.93 ERA and 1.9 WAR in his first one and a half seasons, and Sierra looks like a middle of the order bat that has eluded the Kodiak brass in the draft since Mike Morla was drafted.
2. Signing Mike Morla… Again!
Future HOF, 2B Mike Morla, was everything that Kodiak fans and management could have hoped for when he was taken #1 overall in the 2016 draft. He hit 0.308 as a rookie in 2018, and never looked back. In 2022, he signed a bargain 8 year deal that paid him $195 000 000, over which time he produced an astounding 62.8 WAR, two Stout Sluggers, and 8 straight Designated Driver awards! Then came the off season of 2029, when Morla was inked to a second 8 year deal… This time for $196 000 000. That deal has strapped the Kodiaks now, and into the foreseeable future, and has produced exactly 1.6 WAR through the first for years of the deal, and he’s their DH!
1. Blowing Up the 2023 Playoff Squad!
The years 2021 through were grand times in California! The team featured incredible young pitching, featuring the Killer Bs (Bradford, Broughton, and Brower), a Hall of Fame closer in AJ Ingle, and an offense anchored by an in his prime Mike Morla. 2023 saw the Kodiaks lose out to the Hartford Whalers in the DL Championship. Returning all of their key pieces, and adding RF Tommy Horning in the offseason, the Kodiaks seemed to be set up to once again terrorize the DL. But in a move that seems to highlight PaulECee’s tenure in California, the team struggled out of the gate, and was torn down, almost immediately for a bevy of so-so prospects, and high picks that failed to produce any real fruit. This quick trigger more than any other move, has doomed the Kodiaks the last 10 years, which is what leaves it at #1 on our list.
Perhaps the order is a little off, or there are other missteps that were more damning, but this is quite a list of gaffes for PaulECee to overcome in the next few years to earn back the trust of Kodiak Nation!
With another lost season in Kodiak land we look back on the tenure of GM PaulECee to see where things have gone so wrong... This list is likely not exhaustive... Feel free to add to it.
8. Pick 1.17 of the 2016 Draft.
Armed with their double play combo of the future in Marquez, and Morla, the Kodiaks chose another infielder with first basemen Zack Thomas. Thomas ended up playing almost 400 games, and was later a key piece that garnered the California squad SS CJ Wilkinson, it was the next two 1B picks that really bring this pick too light. At 2.10, Erik Colgate of the 149 home runs and 31.6 Career WAR were taken, and even worse yet, at 2.14, Fred Frederick and his 348 career home runs and 48.6 career WAR were also missed on by the Kodiaks.
7. Trading Bing-Zhang Lopan
Shortly after bottoming out 2025 the Kodiaks used their 2.2 pick of the 2026 draft to take SS Bing-Zhang Lopan. Lopan rose quickly through the Kodiak ranks and was the team’s starting short stop by age 23. At the ripe young age of 24, he produced 23 home runs, and a very respectable 2.3 WAR, and providing plus defence at short stop. As per most of the items on this list, a quick trigger by PaulECee saw Lopan shipped out of town halfway through the 2029 season, for three late second round picks to SDR where he proceeded to very cheaply anchor the defence, and set a BLB record with a 4 home run game. What really makes this move really hurt, is that California ended in up a playoff race that went down to the wire, while playing a below replacement level Maddox Coker at short. What might have been with 120 more games of Lopan that season.
6. Pick 1.8 of the 2016 Draft.
Widely considered one of the best drafts of the last 20 years, the Kodiaks snagged future HOF Mike Morla, future HOF AJ Ingle, and starter workhorse TJ Broughton. But, what might have been with a better first round. The Kodiaks also had pick 1.8 and were hoping to grab 3B Matt Healey, who Denver took at 1.7. With many great outfield options left on the board (Webber, Sedevic, Ackers) California, feeling strongly about Dusty Filar, and recently drafted Garrek Finn (Oops!) the Kodiaks passed on all of them, and went with a teenage wild card in SS Nelson Marquez. Envisioning a double play combo that would lead the Kodiaks into the next 10 years turned out to be a career of 37 games and 0.2 WAR… Ouch!
5. Moving up One Spot in the 2026 Draft.
Another lost season in California left then with pick 1.2 in the 2026 draft. As is the theme throughout this list PaulECee, reacted without thought, panicked, and traded up from 1.2 to 1.1, by including next year’s first. In a draft that included Pineda (197 career home runs), McAlear (22.6 career WAR), Daniel (stellar D and 25.5 career WAR), and Jeffs (0.329 career average and 26.7 career WAR) the Kodiaks ended up with a pitcher in Prestianni, that never reached his control potential, and has been decidedly ‘meh in a career that has garnered 13.7 WAR and a 52-63 record during his career.
4. A Move I Think Was Made, But Can’t Seem to Find Proof Of!?
Somehow, PaulECee made another dumb draft day trade that ended up in Carolina getting the Kodiaks #8 pick of the 2031 Draft. I’m not sure what the reason was, but likely the erstwhile GM spotted some prospect he fell in love with at the last minute, and mortgaged the future. Who did the #8 pick become, you may ask… CF Rory Elia… Who mashed 48 home runs compiled 6.6 WAR, and played expectional centre field defence… AS A ROOKIE!!
3. Trading Back Into the 2030 Draft.
This one really hurts, because, the trade was mad at a snapshot in time, when California was in the playoffs 8 weeks into the season, and therefore, PaulECee felt that next year’s first would be a middle of the first round pick. California sent their 2032.1 for Batavia’s 1.23, 2.2, and 3.2 in the 2030 draft. Of course, California went right in the tank after that and finished dead last, which gifted the #1 overall pick to Batavia, who promptly took, former triple crown winner, Roddy ‘Kodiak’ Sierra (currently #13 on the Top Prospect List). To makes matters worse, PaulECee was quoted as saying, “We have a guy we really like and no second round pick, so hopefully he’s worth it!”… Oops! That guy ended up being RP Quincy Swaney. So far in his career, he’s fashioned a 3.93 ERA and 1.9 WAR in his first one and a half seasons, and Sierra looks like a middle of the order bat that has eluded the Kodiak brass in the draft since Mike Morla was drafted.
2. Signing Mike Morla… Again!
Future HOF, 2B Mike Morla, was everything that Kodiak fans and management could have hoped for when he was taken #1 overall in the 2016 draft. He hit 0.308 as a rookie in 2018, and never looked back. In 2022, he signed a bargain 8 year deal that paid him $195 000 000, over which time he produced an astounding 62.8 WAR, two Stout Sluggers, and 8 straight Designated Driver awards! Then came the off season of 2029, when Morla was inked to a second 8 year deal… This time for $196 000 000. That deal has strapped the Kodiaks now, and into the foreseeable future, and has produced exactly 1.6 WAR through the first for years of the deal, and he’s their DH!
1. Blowing Up the 2023 Playoff Squad!
The years 2021 through were grand times in California! The team featured incredible young pitching, featuring the Killer Bs (Bradford, Broughton, and Brower), a Hall of Fame closer in AJ Ingle, and an offense anchored by an in his prime Mike Morla. 2023 saw the Kodiaks lose out to the Hartford Whalers in the DL Championship. Returning all of their key pieces, and adding RF Tommy Horning in the offseason, the Kodiaks seemed to be set up to once again terrorize the DL. But in a move that seems to highlight PaulECee’s tenure in California, the team struggled out of the gate, and was torn down, almost immediately for a bevy of so-so prospects, and high picks that failed to produce any real fruit. This quick trigger more than any other move, has doomed the Kodiaks the last 10 years, which is what leaves it at #1 on our list.
Perhaps the order is a little off, or there are other missteps that were more damning, but this is quite a list of gaffes for PaulECee to overcome in the next few years to earn back the trust of Kodiak Nation!
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