Oh don't get me wrong, there are plenty of solid arguments to be made that they weren't a good candidate. However, dealing with the reality that they were the ones dubbing the show, I think they made a bad artistic decision, but great business decision, by skipping ahead.
Bilingual, uncut anime being sold in the US back in the early-mid 90's when Dragon Ball was first acquired wasn't much of a thing. Sure, you had a movie here and there that was released subtitled and uncut on VHS, but it was pretty rare. Heck, home video releases of entire TV series of any kind hardly existed until the DVD format came about (such as FUNimation's early uncut DVD releases, and through them we actually got the original Japanese version of the TV series out on home video before Japan did). Back then, shows of DB's length needed to get on TV if they wanted to be seen. Getting on TV meant necessary edits. FUNimation could certainly have adapted the scripts more faithfully, but the visual censorship and the toning down of some subjects like death and hell was inevitable and necessary for a TV airing back then...and in that case, not only do you have to worry about attracting eyeballs, you also have to convince TV networks that your show will get said eyeballs, so FUNimation was in no position to tell TV networks who didn't want DB, "Well too bad, air it anyway or else the story will be out of order." They had to just roll with it.
As for DBZ's out-of-order airing harming DB's reputation, that's what I meant when I said I didn't like it as a fan, but understood it on a business level. Again, there are plenty of good arguments that FUNimation wasn't the ideal candidate, but if we look at the reality of the situation that they were, in fact, in charge of dubbing the show, it made total business sense. It's a similar deal to changing the music. Did it make sense on an artistic level? None. Did it make sense on a business level? Tons.