The Worst Contracts In Baseball

The Worst Contracts In Baseball
By Tim Dierkes from MLB Trade Rumors.
[ March 3, 2009 at 12:06 AM

For this exercise I only considered current contracts (so Mike Hampton's eight-year, $121MM deal is out). Also, there are some lousy deals that were worth less than $15MM total that I chose to leave out. 2006 was a black hole for free agent contracts. Continue reading for the full list of the the 45 worst contracts, organized by team.

* Gary Matthews Jr., Angels. Five years, $50MM ($10MM per year). Signed in November of 2006. The Halos were enticed by Matthews' career year, but at least they've acknowledged their mistake by reducing his role.
* Carlos Lee, Astros. Six years, $100MM ($16.66MM per year). Signed in November of 2006. This backloaded deal pays Lee $18.5MM per year over the last four years. We've yet to see the worst of it.
* Eric Chavez, A's. Six years, $66MM ($11MM per year). Signed in March of 2004. File this one under, "seemed like a good idea at the time."
* Vernon Wells, Blue Jays. Seven years, $126MM ($18MM per year). Signed in December of 2006. Wells has a full no-trade clause and the deal is heavily backloaded in the last four years. He could still turn things around somewhat if he stays healthy and his center field defense bounces back.
* Lyle Overbay, Blue Jays. Four years, $24MM ($6MM per year). Signed in January of 2007. Overbay, Hall, and Inge all have the same contract; they're the type of players you'd rather go year-to-year with.
* Jeff Suppan, Brewers. Four years, $42MM ($10.5MM per year). Signed in December of 2006. Another heavily backloaded deal. This one was widely panned at the time. It was presumably signed based on Suppan's nice second half and playoff work.
* Bill Hall, Brewers. Four years, $24MM ($6MM per year). Signed in February of 2007.
* Chris Carpenter, Cardinals. Five years, $63.5MM ($12.7MM per year). Signed in December of 2006. The Cardinals already had Carpenter under control through 2008 when they signed this deal. In the first two years he's thrown 21.3 innings.
* Alfonso Soriano, Cubs. Eight years, $136MM ($17MM per year). Signed November of 2006. This backloaded deal includes a full no-trade clause. Jim Hendry bought high on Soriano; he's dealt with injuries as a Cub.
* Kosuke Fukudome, Cubs. Four years, $48MM ($12MM per year). Signed December of 2007. I can't lie - I liked this deal when it was signed. The Padres and White Sox offered similar amounts.
* Eric Byrnes, D'Backs. Three years, $30MM ($10MM per year). Signed August of 2007. Former D'Backs CEO Jeff Moorad is responsible for this one, which was not well-received at the time.
* Jason Schmidt, Dodgers. Three years, $47MM ($15.66MM per year). Signed December of 2006. The Dodgers knew of Schmidt's partially torn rotator cuff before they signed him.
* Juan Pierre, Dodgers. Five years, $44MM ($8.8MM per year). Signed November of 2006.
* Barry Zito, Giants. Seven years, $126MM ($18MM per year). Signed December of 2006, full no-trade clause. Probably the worst contract on the list.
* Aaron Rowand, Giants. Five years, $60MM ($12MM per year). Signed December of 2007. He's a useful player, but the price is wrong.
* Edgar Renteria, Giants. Two years, $18.5MM ($9.25MM per year). Signed December of 2008. Signed before the bottom fell out of the market.
* Dave Roberts, Giants. Three years, $18MM ($6MM per year). Signed December of 2006.
* Jake Westbrook, Indians. Three years, $33MM ($11MM per year). Signed April of 2007. The Tribe already had Westbrook under contract for '07. Hindsight is 20/20, so Westbrook and his Tommy John'd elbow make the list.
* Travis Hafner, Indians. Four years, $57MM ($14.25MM per year). Signed July of 2007.
* Carlos Silva, Mariners. Four years, $48MM ($12MM per year). Signed December of 2007. Silva raised the bar for mediocre starters with this deal, but the market corrected itself in 2008.
* Miguel Batista, Mariners. Three years, $25MM ($8.33MM per year). Signed December of 2006.
* Kenji Johjima, Mariners. Three years, $24MM ($8MM per year). Signed April of 2008. Ownership-mandated - we'll let Bill Bavasi off the hook.
* Luis Castillo, Mets. Four years, $25MM ($6.25MM per year). Signed November of 2007. Castillo didn't play much worse than most would've anticipated in 2008.
* Austin Kearns, Nationals. Three years, $17.5MM ($5.83MM per year). Signed January of 2007. He was coming off a respectable 2006 season.
* Nick Johnson, Nationals. Three years, $16.5MM ($5.5MM per year). Signed March of 2006. The Nats already had him under control for '06, which turned out to be his best year.
* Danys Baez, Orioles. Three years, $19MM ($6.33MM per year). Signed November of 2006. The worst of the Orioles' ill-fated relief signings of '06.
* Adam Eaton, Orioles. Three years, $24.51MM ($8.17MM per year). Signed by Phillies, November of 2006.
* Michael Young, Rangers. Five years, $62MM in present day value ($12.4MM per year). Signed March of 2007. The Rangers have fielded offers on Young and found no takers.
* Kevin Millwood, Rangers. Five years, $60MM ($12MM per year). Signed December of 2005 coming off a career year.
* Andruw Jones, Rangers. Two years, $36.2 ($18.1MM per year). Signed in December of 2007 by Dodgers. Jones was so bad, the Dodgers paid him to go away.
* Francisco Cordero, Reds. Four years, $46MM ($11.5MM per year). Signed November of 2007. It's hard to understand why the Reds decided to use their limited resources this way.
* Ramon Hernandez, Reds. Four years, $27.5MM ($6.875MM per year). Signed by Orioles, December of 2005.
* Julio Lugo, Red Sox. Four years, $36MM ($9MM per year). Signed December of 2006. Another Red Sox shortstop bites the dust.
* Todd Helton, Rockies. Nine years, $141.5MM ($15.72MM per year). Signed March of 2001. This beast runs through 2011.
* Jose Guillen, Royals. Three years, $36MM ($12MM per year). Signed December of 2007.
* Gary Sheffield, Tigers. Two years, $28MM ($14MM per year). Signed November of 2006 as part of trade from Yankees.
* Jeremy Bonderman, Tigers. Four years, $38MM ($9.5MM per year). Signed December of 2006.
* Dontrelle Willis, Tigers. Three years, $29MM ($9.66MM per year). Signed December of 2007. Dave Dombrowski has made many shrewd deals but his recent extensions have hurt the team.
* Nate Robertson, Tigers. Three years, $21.25MM ($7.08MM per year). Signed January of 2008.
* Brandon Inge, Tigers. Four years, $24MM ($6MM per year). Signed December of 2006.
* Michael Cuddyer, Twins. Three years, $24MM ($8MM per year). Signed January of 2008.
* A.J. Pierzynski, White Sox. Three years, $18.35MM ($6.12MM per year). Signed October of 2007. The Sox already had him under contract through '08.
* Jorge Posada, Yankees. Four years, $52MM ($13MM per year). Signed November of 2007.
* Hideki Matsui, Yankees. Four years, $52MM ($13MM per year). Signed November of 2005.
* Kei Igawa, Yankees. Five years, $46MM ($9.2MM per year). Signed in December of '06, this was a clear and poorly thought-out response to Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka signing.


Tim Dierkes follows the hot stove like no one else at MLB Trade Rumors and covers fantasy baseball at Roto Authority.com

That is a lot of money wasted if you ask me

Tigers have 5 bad ones
Giants have 4 (including ex-Tiger Edgar Renteria!)

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

Tigers have 5 bad ones
Giants have 4 (including ex-Tiger Edgar Renteria!)

And look how good those teams aren't!

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

Tigers have 5 bad ones
Giants have 4 (including ex-Tiger Edgar Renteria!)

Amazing

catbox_9 wrote:

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

Tigers have 5 bad ones
Giants have 4 (including ex-Tiger Edgar Renteria!)

And look how good those teams aren't!

I think Willis needs to go back to the NL!!!

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

I think Willis needs to go back to the NL!!!

You might be right



But I am still rooting for him to make it with the Tigers

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

I think Willis needs to go back to the NL!!!

He needs to go back to AAA or maybe single-A...

bobrob2004 wrote:

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

I think Willis needs to go back to the NL!!!

He needs to go back to AAA or maybe single-A...

I hope not


Go Willis

bobrob2004 wrote:

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

I think Willis needs to go back to the NL!!!

He needs to go back to AAA or maybe single-A...

Not Lakeland though...low level A.

catbox_9 wrote:

bobrob2004 wrote:

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

I think Willis needs to go back to the NL!!!

He needs to go back to AAA or maybe single-A...

Not Lakeland though...low level A.

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

I think Willis needs to go back to the NL!!!

He needs to go somewhere

I hope Willis gets it together


Considering all the money he got from the Tigers

SoulRat wrote:

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

I think Willis needs to go back to the NL!!!

He needs to go somewhere

Yup.

laprimamirala wrote:

SoulRat wrote:

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

I think Willis needs to go back to the NL!!!

He needs to go somewhere

Yup.

Another bad day for D-railed.

Good news, Nate pitched 3 very good scoreless innings!

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

laprimamirala wrote:

SoulRat wrote:

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

I think Willis needs to go back to the NL!!!

He needs to go somewhere

Yup.

Another bad day for D-railed.

Good news, Nate pitched 3 very good scoreless innings!