Worst contract in baseball?

gosteelers

Are we at the point yet where we can say that the Angels are already exploring their options in regard to Albert Pujols and his $254 contract? Here are some other notably bad contracts (off the top of my head):

-Arod (last 2 contracts)
-Ryan Howard
-John Lackey
-Carl Crawford
-Barry Zito (contract is finally coming to an end, but it was horrible while it lasted)
-Josh Hamilton

I know I missed a ton, but these are obvious to me...what else ya got?

Dboneesq

Mike Hampton (Rockies)
Denny Neagle (Rockies)
Andruw Jones (Dodgers)
Carlos Silva (Mariners)
Mo Vaughn (Angels)
Gary Matthews Jr. (Angels)
Johan Santana (Mets)

And the list is never ending!

jdip9

It just goes to show how dumb most GMs are....the fact that BJ Upton got $15M/year, despite never hitting 30 HR's, has only season with an OPS above .800, and has a career .252 batting average is all you need to know about the current landscape of GMs.

It's easy to second guess contracts after the player doesn't perform, but the contracts of almost everybody listed in the OP's thread were first-guessed by any knowledgeable baseball follower.

Somebody will make the same mistake with Jacoby Ellsbury after this season, too. He is an $8-$10 million/year player, tops, but somebody will give him at least $15M/per.

jay0791

didn't ryan braun get a few too many $

3stars

Chone Figgins
Johan Santana
Ichiro (current)

orioles93

Albert Belle Orioles contract. 5 yrs/$65 million, played 2 years, and retired....

Estil

<< <i>Albert Belle Orioles contract. 5 yrs/$65 million, played 2 years, and retired.... >>



The Dennis Rodman of baseball

markj111

<< <i>Albert Belle Orioles contract. 5 yrs/$65 million, played 2 years, and retired.... >>




Belle retired because of injury. Insurance paid a chunk of his salary.

mcadams

<< <i>It just goes to show how dumb most GMs are....the fact that BJ Upton got $15M/year, despite never hitting 30 HR's, has only season with an OPS above .800, and has a career .252 batting average is all you need to know about the current landscape of GMs.

It's easy to second guess contracts after the player doesn't perform, but the contracts of almost everybody listed in the OP's thread were first-guessed by any knowledgeable baseball follower.

Somebody will make the same mistake with Jacoby Ellsbury after this season, too. He is an $8-$10 million/year player, tops, but somebody will give him at least $15M/per. >>



I don't think you really want to go down that road. That same GM also traded Martin Prado for Justin Upton, and also dumpted Javier Vazquez (the Braves Ace 1 year prior) to the Yankees just before his ERA doubled. (Funny how pitchers can't throw anymore when they leave Atlanta). Also the same GM that took a flyer on an undrafted catcher out of TX who was working as a janitor named Evan Gattis, who is arguably a top 5 catcher in baseball so far this year. There are plenty of teams who would fire their GM tomorrow if Frank Wren were on the market.

Barndog

as much as I hate seeing Lackey pitch, his is not in the top five of awful contracts. At five years and 85 million, it was 17 million per year. With the clause in there concerning surgery and a missed year, he gets MLB minimum pay for an added on sixth year. So now it works out to about 14 million per year. Seems that average pitchers are getting about that on short term contracts these days. Bad contract for a bad pitcher? Yes. Worst? Don't think so. Just on the Sox recently, look at Beckett, Crawford, and Gonzalez as bad contracts due to length and dollars. Only a GM with a time machine or crystal ball should be empowered to make such commitments.

1985fan

It's pretty easy to sit back and play armchair GM, but the truth of the matter is, there's no such thing as a sure thing in sports, most of all in baseball. There are so many games and so many wild fluctuations, that it's near impossible to do the job well. You can go the route of the bottom dwellers and never pay anyone, or take risks if you have the resources.

Now toss in people who simply don't understand the economics of baseball, especially when they fail to take into account (a) the team that signed them and (b) player scarcity year to year and you have a nightmare of a job, a job with which your successes are never highlighted but only complaints about so-called 'overpaying' a player.

Curious why wasn't Mark Teixeira on this list? Making 22.5 million a year and has yet to take the field this year. Vernon Wells made $21M last year, played less than half the year and OBP'ed .279. Adam Dunn making $15 million to K/BB at a 3-1 rate and get on base at a .280 clip.

Some of the people I see in this list make no sense. Chone Figgins making $8 million to sit at home is an abysmal contract, Ichiro making $6 million is hardly worth mentioning as the worst of the worst, especially given NY's ability to pay up to $200 million in payroll without batting an eye.