Biggest busts
Goldenage
Posts: 3,278 ✭✭✭✭✭
in Sports Talk
Epic failure signings by your favorite teams.
Good players who turned out to be a bust
Example. Pablo Sandoval. Red Sox
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Kung Fu Panda won 3 world series with the Giants of which he was instrumental in reg and playoff seasons. So he is not a bust, he just peaked in his early years with the G's.......... Better examples of total busts are out there.......
Dan Uggla with the Braves.
Pablo ate himself out of the league. Had a Mo Vaughn type of diet going on.
Ah, but Sandoval was pretty good, or at least much better, when he went back to San Francisco. He had a very weird career, but he clearly wasn't washed up when he came to Boston.
Dolly Parton.
As a New Yorker, the Yankees probably need their own thread here.
Suffice it to say, I once considered collecting all the Jacoby Ellsbury cards ever printed just to be able set them all ablaze.
😁
Some other local teams?
NYM - Jason Bay
NYG - Nate Solder
NYK - Frederic Weiss
NYJ - Blair Thomas
BKL - Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving (tie)
Curious about the rare, mysterious and beautiful 1951 Wheaties Premium Photos?
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/987963/1951-wheaties-premium-photos-set-registry#latest
Who was that pitcher from Chicago in the 80s . A lefty I think. Bad acquisition
I remember Mike Hampton signing a big contract (for the time) and being injured almost the entire time. maybe the braves...
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Are you thinking of “Black” Jack McDowell?
He signed his mega deal with the Rockies, I believe.
Curious about the rare, mysterious and beautiful 1951 Wheaties Premium Photos?
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/987963/1951-wheaties-premium-photos-set-registry#latest
Hampton's contract was the biggest ever in baseball at 8 years 121 million. I remembered it being the biggest but I had to look it up. This was in 2000 when he got that deal. I was living in NYC and commuted by subway everyday. I read the Daily News on the trip to work, and the NY Post on the way home, always starting with the sports section. And I remember this being such a huge story. The press and locals were killing him for leaving the Mets, because his stated reason was that he was going to the Rockies because of the better school systems. But this was after signing the sport's biggest contract. LOL Anyway, he was a great hitter for a pitcher.
Wayne Garland.
He was one of the first free agents for MLB in 1976 and signed a then mega-contract of more than $2 million for 10 years. Shortly thereafter he was injured, underwent rotator cuff surgery and his pitching days were effectively over.
How about Wrex Grossman of the Bears.
Not sports, but Morganna the kissing bandit influenced a few games.
Of course, she has plenty of stories from her days storming baseball fields. One of the funnier ones involved longtime Kansas City Royals third baseman George Brett.
Morganna planted her lips on Brett’s cheek during a game against the Baltimore Orioles while he waited on deck. Three weeks after their meeting, Brett found the stripper on stage and gave her a kiss back.
Most players didn’t seem to mind Morganna’s antics. One basketball player, former Detroit Pistons player Kelly Tripucka, said it was “like hugging a mattress. When I saw her coming at me, I thought it was like a Mack truck. I had two options — either get hit or get out of the way. I decided to get hit.”
When Nick Swisher signed a 56Million dollar, 4 year gaurenteed contract with the Indians in 2013. For the Indians dollars they got 2 years from him, 2013 he batted .246 in 549 ABs, 2014 he batted .208 in 350 AB's. I'm not sure how he made it back to Cleveland in 2015 but only hit .198 in 100 AB's then Cleveland finally got rid of him to Atlanta
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
Tony Mandarich?
Blueboy,.......You win the prize!
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
In 1996 my Panthers drafted RB Tim Biakabutuka with the 8th overall pick. We picked him over Ray Lewis, Marvin Harrison, and Eddie George. Huge bust!
The Nationals long term deal with Stephen Strasburg will be the worst contract in sports history.
After the 2019 World Series they signed him to a fully guaranteed seven year deal at 35 million dollars per year. Here is what he has done so far to earn that money:
2020 he had 5 innings pitched with a 10.80 ERA
2021 he had 21.1 innings pitched with a 4.57 ERA
2022 he had 4.2 innings pitched with a 13.50 ERA
31 awful innings pitched in three years so far.
Still has four more years are 35 million per year
2023
2024
2025
2026
The Bobby Bonilla Mets contract.
oliver miller had some big hooters
you'll never be able to outrun a bad diet
Well don't forget abaout Morganna the Kissing Bandit - I think she made me start watching MLB - LOL!!!
And loved the time Morganna ran out to give Nolan a kiss during the game and he was ready for it.........
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
Kevin Maas.
Oscar Gamble with the Padres.
Steve
Morganna . . . it's a Sports Forum
Him and at least a 100 other 1rst round qb's................ Ryan Leaf anyone?
From Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Leaf
"1998 NFL Draft
Peyton Manning and Leaf were widely considered to be the two best players available in the 1998 NFL Draft,[7] and scouts and analysts debated who should be selected first.[12][13][9] Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Tony Dungy recalled that although his team did not need a quarterback, "Manning-Leaf was really split when you talked to people".[14] Many favored Leaf's stronger arm and greater potential,[7][15] while others deemed Manning the more mature player and safer pick.[16] Most observers, however, believed that it would not greatly matter whether Manning or Leaf was drafted first[17] because either would greatly benefit his team.[13]"
Read on, you will see how SD gave away their team to move up one spot and take Leaf LOL..........
He put up OPS+ numbers of 121, 133, 128 & 160 with the Mets. And then had more good years with Baltimore and Florida. The idea that he flopped or was a bust is a myth.
Would you settle for Most Embarrassing Contract?
No. Why would it be embarrassing? Because it lasted forever? It's not even remotely close to some of the awful, embarrassing contracts handed out over years.
A really special shout out to Mitch Trubisky who had such a great college career
that the Bears selected him #2 overall in the 2017 draft.
And thank you KC, for taking a chance on a gunslinger from Texas Tech at #10, Patrick Mahomes,
instead of a QB many considered a better choice, Deshaun Watson.
Just to clarify, I was mostly referring to the money (still) being paid via this contract for his relatively short stay with the Mets not as much about his particular production in those years even though that production wasn't earth shattering either. In my opinion his short stay with the Mets doesn't come close justify the money being forked out to this date. Mr Bonilla is making out like a bandit on this one.
Braves fans will remember the failed Kenshin Kawakami experiment 2009-2011. 3 years and 23 million guaranteed dollars plus a large signing bonus. He was so ineffective he finished up this contact in 2011 in AAA.
I dunno. Average guys are getting $20m a year now. Paying Bobby $1.19m for a couple decades for four good seasons ain't so bad.
I see your point @Tabe, but to me it's the fact that a guy is getting paid that money sitting on his butt doing nada for years. I understand 1.19 mil/yr is pennies in salary these days, but to average working Americans the idea of that contract is insane.
I hear you. I just wouldn't put it anywhere near worst contract or most embarrassing or biggest bust.
Honestly I thought that after I posted. The bust part of it.
Because it's trotted out every July First as an example of GM misconduct. Stretching out $5.9 million to $1.2 million per year for 25 years is optically a bad move.
I suppose. But I see it as a terrific win by Bobby and his agent, especially since they were smart enough to do it another contract that pays him $500k a year as well.
remember all the hype surrounding David Neid when the rockies picked him first in the expansion draft.
bust.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
I remember that well. He was a Brave and at the time I was disappointed to lose him. You never know I guess.
He looked amazing in Atlanta - 1.17 ERA in 3 starts.
Just couldn't cope with the thin air in Denver.
If I'm correct he ended up retiring very young due to injury.
As a long time Cubs fan, the free agent signings of Milton Bradley and Todd Hundley come to mind. Ugh.
Or Jason Heyward? Tyler Chatwood led the league in walks the year before he came to Chicago, so he can't possibly be a bust!