I was just curious to see what is the largest one season improvement anyone has seen after taking over a team. It could be yourself or someone else I just want to know what the records were and what changes were made in order to accomplish the big improvement. I'm hoping some guys will read this and not think it takes four or five seasons in order to make your team competitive. Also, has the team stayed competitive or were they right back to being crappy soon after?

Your answers will come from owners who took over 18 win teams that were abandoned.  You can't help but improve them by 50 games by doing nothing more than paying attention.

I would expect someone with your vast experience to have at least one or two good stories of turnarounds. None you care to share?

I haven't improved a team by 50+ games because I wouldn't join a world that allows teams to win 18-20 a season. 

Happy Jack, 42-120 the season before I took over.

Happy Jack	LV Pit Boss	4	$101.9M	66-96 (.407)	3	-
Happy Jack	LV Pit Boss	5	$90.7M	76-86 (.469)	2	-
Happy Jack	LV Pit Boss	6	$82.1M	75-87 (.463)	2	-
Happy Jack	LV Pit Boss	7	$83.0M	92-70 (.568)	2	-
Happy Jack	LV Pit Boss	8	$74.1M	90-72 (.556)	1	-
Happy Jack	LV Pit Boss	9	$74.5M	93-69 (.574)	1	-
Happy Jack	LV Pit Boss	10	$74.1M	91-71 (.562)	1	-
Happy Jack	LV Pit Boss	11	$86.0M	92-70 (.568)	1	X
Happy Jack	LV Pit Boss	12	$87.4M	107-55 (.660)	1	-
Happy Jack	LV Pit Boss	13	$95.3M	89-73 (.549)	2	X
Totals/Averages	LV Pit Boss	-	$84.9M	871-749 (.538)	1	2

I was thinking more like teams who were at 50 or 60 wins getting to the playoffs but that's a pretty solid example of sustained success after a rebuild. Did you make any major moves to make them better or was it just a matter of properly managing a team that should have been better already?

http://www.whatifsports.com/forums/Posts.aspx?ForumID=58&TopicID=150310&page=-1#postBox

Short version:  The team had little to no BL talent, current or future, and a bloated payroll.   I signed decent FA to make the team respectable and then drafted well.  I made a few good trades along the way for some pretty good role players. 

IIRC correctly, neither one of my WS winners had a high-priced IFA.   And, as you can see, I didn't use the "Dump payroll" strategy.

ABU, 72-90 the previous season.

American Baseball Union	STL Slammers*	4	$76.9M	85-77 (.525)	2	-
American Baseball Union	STL Ferrignos*	5	$86.0M	94-68 (.580)	2	-
American Baseball Union	STL Ferrignos*	6	$87.4M	85-77 (.525)	3	-
American Baseball Union	STL Ferrignos*	7	$89.5M	96-66 (.593)	1	-
Totals/Averages	STL Ferrignos*	-	$87.6M	275-211 (.566)	2	0

Not even sure it counts as a rebuild but the team was never .500 before I took over.

Hamilton, 65-97.  Again, never .500 prior.

Hamilton	KC Swing Kings	6	$36.0M	75-87 (.463)	4	-
Hamilton	KC Swing Kings	7	$81.0M	89-73 (.549)	3	-
Hamilton	KC Swing Kings	8	$78.9M	91-71 (.562)	2	-
Hamilton	KC Swing Kings	9	-	44-28 (.611)	-	-
Totals/Averages	KC Swing Kings	-	$49.0M	299-259 (.536)	3	0

ABU team didn't have much talent but had a moderate payroll.
Hamilton team had no BL talent but a good farm and about 10m in payroll.

Three different poor teams, three sustained rebuilds.   Different strategies for each.   No "tear it down to rebuild it" in the bunch.

I came in the last 20 or games of season 5 when the team was in Portland. I moved to Oakland and had a 31 game improvement.

Sag's Swingers Memorial BPF POR Pioneer's 5 $55.1M 76-86 (.469) 3 - Sag's Swingers Memorial BPF OAK Ownage 6 $71.6M 107-55 (.660) 1 - Sag's Swingers Memorial BPF OAK Ownage 7 $116.0M 109-53 (.673) 1 - Sag's Swingers Memorial BPF OAK Ownage 8 $120.2M 90-72 (.556) 1 - Sag's Swingers Memorial BPF OAK Ownage 9 $133.0M 97-65 (.599) 1 X Sag's Swingers Memorial BPF OAK Ownage 10 $124.4M 87-75 (.537) 1 - Sag's Swingers Memorial BPF SAL Ownage 11 - 54-38 (.587) - - Totals/Averages OAK Ownage - $113.0M 490-320 (.605) 1 1

Anyhow, I think I went off on a tangent.   If you take a 50 win team to 90 in your first season, there are a couple of scenarios where I think it's possible(and all of them are pretty much contingent on several owners in the world being asleep at the wheel).

1.  You took a decent team that was abandoned or tanking.
2.  You took a team with a low payroll and blew it out in FA.  I think this is pretty risky because I firmly believe you can't know how a world "plays" in your first season.  Your big signings could be weak players in the world-scheme and doom you to mediocrity.
3.  The world is pretty weak as far as competition.

I imagine there are other scenarios but they're not coming to me at the moment. 

My goals when I take a project are pretty simple. 
S1 - improve and be respectable
S2 - be .500 or maybe challenge for the playoffs
S3 - be in the playoffs

I took over a 52 win team after S13 was completed, and turned them into a 94 win playoff team the next year.  But as Mike points out, it was from a rookie owner who didn't really have any idea what he was doing.  They were probably a 74-78 win team, so the 42 game improvement would be closer to 16-20.

My current team.  I took it over after a 54-108 season, won 84 the next season, had terrible luck this season, but made the playoffs with 87 wins.  Of course, in Alexander I went from 50 wins to 88 in one season....

Maybe I amazing?