25
2012
ESPN: Worst Contracts In Baseball
An article by 72MetsFan
David Schoenfield posted his ten worst contracts in baseball on ESPN.com.
1. Alex Rodriguez, 10 years, $275 million: Hey, it’s worth keeping in mind that the Yankees wouldn’t have won the 2009 World Series without A-Rod’s monster postseason — six homers, 18 RBIs in 15 games. Was that worth $275 million? Considering he still has five years and $114 million left in salary (plus potential bonus payments for reaching home-run milestones), I would say this contract is untradeable — except it probably isn’t.
2. Ryan Howard, 5 years, $125 million: Howard’s deal was signed in 2010 but didn’t kick in until 2012. Howard was already in decline then from his 2006-07 peak, and in the past three seasons he has averaged just .256/.339/.483 and 0.3 WAR per season. The Phillies will owe him $105 million over the next four seasons.
3. Carl Crawford, 7 years, $142 million: Crawford was a terrific player for Tampa Bay in 2010, hitting .305, playing awesome defense and stealing 47 bases. He’d averaged 4.3 WAR from 2004 through 2010, so the contract was more risky than outrageous at the time. Still, Crawford was a guy who never had many walks, so his value resided in batting average and defense. He’s 31 now and I wouldn’t write him off, but I wouldn’t want to own that contract, either.
4. Jayson Werth, 7 years, $126 million: Werth was a vastly underrated player while with the Phillies, and his signing was an important moment for the Nationals in that it signified this was a franchise trying to compete and was willing to spend to do it. Werth has produced 1.6 WAR in his two seasons, although bounced back in 2012 and turned into a valuable leadoff hitter. But the $99 million remaining is a lot to pay for a leadoff hitter who turns 34 next season.
5. Albert Pujols, 10 years, $240 million: Pujols had the 24th-best OPS in 2012. He made only $12 million in 2012, which means his salary will really escalate in upcoming years — all the way to $30 million in 2021. You tell me how this is going to work out.
6. Adrian Gonzalez, 7 years, $154 million: Congratulations, Dodgers fans, your team acquired two of the worst contracts. I could be wrong here, but I still see a player who has dropped from 40 home runs to 31 to 27 to 18 the past four seasons and whose walks have dropped from 119 to 93 to 74 to 42. And he turns 31 in May.
7. Mark Teixeira, 8 years, $180 million: He had a great year in 2009 with the Yankees, but this is obviously a player in decline. His OPS has declined each of the past five seasons and was down to .807 last year. He’s a far better defender than Howard, but the skill set now is about the same: a low-average slugger.
8. Joe Mauer, 8 years, $184 million: Mauer is a great player who led the AL in OBP in 2012, but he also started just 72 games at catcher. In the end, that’s a lot of money to pay for a part-time catcher/part-time DH/part-time 1B who had just 45 extra-base hits. And since the Twins aren’t a team that can afford to spend like the big players, this deal does hinder payroll flexibility somewhat.
9. Vernon Wells, 7 years, $126 million: This contract is so bad that even though it has just two years remaining, it makes the list. Unfortunately for the Angels, that’s $21 million per year for a guy whom they could conceivably just end up releasing.
10. Contract of your choice, too many years, too much money: Jason Bay, John Lackey, Chone Figgins … even if these deals have only a year or two left, if you’re a fan of these teams, you know the aggravation factor. So fill in the blank here with the contract you love to despise.
I hope David Wright never ends up on a list like this. :-)
About the Author: Drew Staley
On June 1, 2012 Johan Santana officially became my favorite current Met! I'm a Queens native who grew up in the shadows of Big Shea. I was a huge Ron Darling, Dave Magadan and John Olerud fan. Honored to be a part of such a great site for Mets fans. Ya Gotta Believe!
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It is interesting that 4 of the 10 contracts were signed in the last two off seasons. Couple in Maurer and Howardstarting his in 2011 and 2012, and that is 60% in just the last two years. It it amazing how quickly these deals are considered bad with a lot of time left on them. These contracts are closer to their start than their end.
And Met fans thought living through Jason Bay was tough. These contracts will weigh on these teams throughout this decade.
how hard it weighs depends on how much they can spend to make up for it. A lot easier for the phils to swallow Howard with a 180mill payroll than the Tiwns getting around Mauer if he flames out, with their what, 80mill tops?
Howard to me is the most interesting case. His deal went craptastic before he actually started it (since he signed the extension at least 1.5 years prior). That is hard to do.
I dont think the ability of a club to swallow a contract changes the goodness/badness of it.
A bad deal is a bad deal even if a team can afford it.
of course bad is still bad. But the downstream impact does not have to be as severe.
Yeah, Bay’s deal wouldn’t be so bad if the team was still spending 140+ a year and/or winning. I’m surprised that Santana isn’t mentioned either. Dude has pitched great when he’s healthy, but seeing how the last two years have gone and there’s still another 31mil (including buyout) left and we have no idea what to expect from him…it’s not that easy to sallow either.
“It is interesting that 4 of the 10 contracts were signed in the last two off seasons.”
Not counting Alex Rodriguez’s renewal a few years ago, there have been 35 $100 million+ contracts. The first was Kevin Brown in 1999.
22 were signed in the last 5 years.
Since Ryan Zimmerman signed back in February who I counted as the 33rd member of the $100M Players club I only recall Cole Hamels signing this year for $144M. Who am I missing as the 35th?
I should rephrase that somewhat. By 33rd member I mean 33rd contract. There are actually 31 different players (again not counting Hamels) since AROD an Pujols are the only players to sign 2 $100M contracts.
I counted Pujols 2x because it is 2 different deals with 2 different teams. I guess we can discount Hammels.
I was also considering not counting Votto and Zimmerman since their big money hasn’t kicked in yet.
What really baffles me is that even though everyone agrees that those deals don’t work, and the first couple of $100 million deals were disasters (Brown, Hampton, Griffey, Giambi, Rodriguez), they are just thrown out there more easily every year.
It would be one thing if it were teams locking down their home grown stars. Kemp, Tulo, Votto etc etc at least give you a great deal more marketing revenue (also, those deals were signed when their teams were looking to lock down TV deals with FSN as well). But why do teams insist on these long term, big money deals for FAs?
The only one I can ever think worked was Beltran.
I guess you could say Cabrera, but he was already a Tiger when he inked that deal.
Since Reyes was most likely going to be the latest member of the $100M club I made attempts to follow it’s members. Here is what I have so far with the exception of Hamels who I never got around to adding.
http://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0ApxE2V-jZhJHdFVfNF9XOFFESnFiaGlDbExWbDNEc1E&single=true&gid=2&output=html
I used Cots. They have Sabbathia listed 2x, but I guess you can call that 1 deal extended.
Yea Sabathia would be a tricky one. He had an opt out after 2011 with 3 years remaining I believe and to keep him from opting out they gave him an extra year with an additional vesting option. Technically it would count so it looks like I will be updating it with 3 contracts.
I think Jeter earned his money during his ten year deal. But the difference was he was signed at 25, not 30 or 32 like most the others.
Ya, but he was a home grown guy, not a FA from another team.
Didnt Cain sign for over $100M?
Ah thanks, Yes Cain as well signed. So I have to add both Cain & Hamels.
No sign of Jose Reyes on this list…
Yes, great job not sucking as much as Carl Crawford did his first year.
Metsie I hate to be a jerk but no comment. Yes as Metsie points out Mike Piazza was a good deal for the Mets. Piazza was traded from the Marlins to the New York Mets for Preston Wilson, Ed Yarnall, and Geoff Goetz. However the Marlins acquired Piazza to trade him in their many rebuilding phases. They were similar to the Mets now and just could not afford Piazza. The same with Al Leiter but marlins got A. J. Burnett. Bloggers here I have a question. Who got a six year contract at 20 M or more that earned it. I guess Barry Zito this year.
.
Hell no, Zito hasn’t earned that.
Beltran, I guess Jeter (but more for non-baseball reasons). Cabrera.
It is an interesting discussion.
The only guy who is on pace now is Matt Holiday. However, I think he will end up coming up short for the simple fact he will be 37 when his deal ends.
That wasn’t a $100 million deal.
According to Cots, 7 yr/$120M with an option in 2017 for $17M.
Seems like a $100M deal to me.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4799313
Huh, didn’t know it was a 7 year deal. thought he got a little more than Bay.
He got a lot more than Bay. But dont worry, Bay is still averaging about $3M per homerun since he came to the Mets. Lets see Holiday top that one.
I guess I should have said sarcasm. better stil SARCASM. Yes Beltan is a maybe. I was thinking of him but he did have reduced playing time. Cabrera too and guess I should have said sarcasm. Yes Beltan is a maybe. I was thinking of him but he did have reduced playing time. Cabrera too and Mariano Rivera. However Beltran, Cabera and Rivera are technically under 20 M per year. But inflation adjusted to today then it is acceptable to include them.
Hey, you are posting on a fan site where for the last 2 years people have in all seriousness bemoaned the fact that Kevin flippin Millwood was not signed by the team.
there is no comment too stupid that we can’t take it seriously.
Oh please,
All I ever said he would have been a nice minor league signing – That’s it. And he would have been because he pitched decently in the last two years.
And if you want to talk about ridiculous things said on this site, what about when you compared Josh Thole to John Olerud?
No, there have been others who wanted him for “veteran leadership” and things like “winning attitude”. Maybe you needn’t be so defensive… unless you feel you have to.
When I asked for examples that show such attributes, I was met with the usually rounds of dodging and insults.
“And if you want to talk about ridiculous things said on this site, what about when you compared Josh Thole to John Olerud?”
When I said Thole had a swing like him and could be a solid line drive hitter? Ya, I said that. Of course, that isn’t panning out because either Thole changed his swing too much or isn’t adjusting to pitching.
Kind of different than going guano crazy because Kevin Millwood pitched OK in 10 games for the Rockies.
Nobody went crazy. That’s not true at all.
I’m another one of the people that advocated signing Kevin Millwood and not only did he pitch well enough and better than i would think he would, his veteran leadership, especially in the absence of Santana is a definite help in a rotation of good young pitching.
You’re so full of it because if Sandy signed Millwood and he put up the numbers he has the last 2 years you would attacking anybody who criticized it. It’s possible he could have helped the Mets win more games the last 2 years than Chris Young.
cue snarky response.
But Hotstreak…None of those guys heped the Marlins rebuild when all was said and done!
This off season look to Hamilton and possibly Bourne to make the list. And I feel both those are destined to be bad as soon as they are signed.
really interested to see what happens with Hamilton this year. He seems to be breaking down already, so how long will any team go on him?
zack greinke too.
You can add in Dice K of the Red Sox. Even though his contract wasnt $100M, with the fee the Sox paid for him, it far exceeded that mark.
Interesting list.
If not for this post season, I would be adding Zito to that list with his 7 year, 128 MIL contract.
He was so bad in 2010, they left him off the post season roster completely.
Fast forward two years and he pitches one of the best games of his career in the NLCS and a very good outing last night as well.
Does that mean there’s hope for Bay?……
He is in his contract year (presuming his option doesnt vest). It wouldnt be the first time a guy was garbage for his entire contract right up until the last year.
Off Topic: I can’t help but be reminded every time I see that AROD pic that he is doing his impersonation of George Burns in Oh God You Devil.
http://www.fffmovieposters.com/images2/posters/supersized/5204.jpg
I am sorry to say it, but Johan Santana should be on this list pretty soon.. also, Please go ahead and include troy tulowitzky and zimmerman to this list, and if the mets sign Dwright for something north of $100 million, Add him as well.. One thing i’ll say though, The Yankees make the playoffs every year, A contract like Tex and alex is basically pocket change to them.. Also, they did win the WS with them, Same with the Phillies with howard.
Isn’t it just a bit premature to say some of those guys are bad signings when they still have years left on thier contract?
Pujols in particular!