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the arrival of the Big Unit really did change the franchise.  There were other things happening at that time, but he was kind of the biggest single step we'd taken towards relevance.  We've been a better team ever since acquiring him, and he's got to receive at least part of the credit for that...
Can a negative event *actually* have a lasting impact on a franchise?  I know that on-field events can have devastating impacts on the fan-base, and how they identify themselves (One worm-burner under the 1B glove into RF, for example), but can something like this really have a lasting negative impact on the way a franchise, and its fans, behaves for a long period of time?
The M's lost their Big Three in A-Rod, Griffey and RJ, and I'm not so sure it had a negative impact.  116 wins in 2001 certainly played a huge part in that, but the team didn't seem to break.  I'm just trying to come up with examples of a departing player signalling a Dark Age for a franchise.  I'm probably just too tired to come up with one right now.