45 Worst Contracts In Baseball

I like the list. Generally agree with it.

Since you're including signings which were done in '08 (hence inclusion of Renteria), why'd you pick AJ Pierzynski over Raul Ibanez? Personally, I'd put Ibanez over Renteria as well, since Furcal also got a ton of money, Renteria actually plays a premium position(SS), and NO other OF/DH not named Manny even sniffed what Ibanez got.

I'd think the AJ deal was pretty solid in that he's been a solid bat for the palehose and that he's a catcher. I'm just curious.

Im anxious to see what Ibanez can do for the Phillies. I think he could go either way for the team. The lineup full of lefties scares me.

I think the list needs total revision, Tim. I think you can only justify a contract based on the market and team needs when it was signed. Hindsight is not evidence, it's a luxury. I want to see how many remain on the list if analyzed based on all known factors at the time of signing.

I don't get why Eaton is on the list.
/sarcasm

TIM-
Nice list. Carlos Guillen's $ 48 million for four years may be biting the Tigers in the butt before that deal is over. As a shortstop, or maybe even a third baseman, he may be worth it, but LF'ers are a dime a dozen, and he's more of an .800 OPS hitter than a .900 OPS guy by now.

HOW about the BEST contracts? I think we've seen a few of those in the past few weeks- Abreu, Orlando Cabrera, Hudson, even Juan Cruz.

I think Werth has a season this year. He has so much potential to hit alot of HRs and for a high average, and his fielding is decent.

That contract is there because Mr. Dierkes is an avid Cubs fan and will and can do anything in his power to make the Astros (who destroyed his cubs in the 90s) look like the laughing stock of the NL Central.

Personally, I'd put Ibanez over Renteria as well, since Furcal also got a ton of money, Renteria actually plays a premium position(SS), and NO other OF/DH not named Manny even sniffed what Ibanez got.

Posted by: melonis rex | March 02, 2009 at 10:57 PM

Agreed. Abreu got 5 mil/ 1 year for Christ's sake.

I'd throw in J.D. Drew too. 64 rbi for two years each for 70 million? The guy did well for like a month last year but too bad baseball is a 6 month season.

"HOW about the BEST contracts? I think we've seen a few of those in the past few weeks- Abreu, Orlando Cabrera, Hudson, even Juan Cruz."

I think the Hamels contract was a great one. Burrell's 2/18 could pay off.

It's not a huge amount of money, but considering that Texas is paying 6 freaking million dollars for pinch hitter extraordinaire Frank Catalanotto for 2009 including his buyout, I was surprised to find this deal wasn't on the list. The whole deal is 3 yrs. / 13.5 mil.

A.J. isn't much with the bat...the Sox could've just kept him through '08.

As I wrote regarding Lee, the next four seasons is where I think that deal will really hurt (as he moves closer to DH fielding abilities). No one would dream of taking on that contract, even for nothing in return. Keep in mind I am not saying that Lee is a bad player. Just that he has a bad contract.

I wanted to add that a commenter over on the other site questioned Overbay and I can see where he was coming from.

Posted by: Tim Dierkes | March 02, 2009 at 11:09 PM

AJ is on the list for one reason ... Tim is a Cub's fan.

Zito's K is by far the worst.

Some guys I believe belong on the list are Derek Jeter, AJ Burnett (he'll belong on here after his first season with the Yankees), Alex Rodriguez's current contract. (This is coming from a yankee fan)
Reasons are...Derek Jeter hasnt won a championship for the yankees since his major payday, and at 18.9m its a steep price. He's always hit for average (declining for 3 straight years) but never for power. I have always felt he should have made the shift instead of AROD because I think Arod was a better defensive shortstop. Alex is going to be paid 27.5million per year until he's 42 years old....yea a 42 year old is going to produce for a contract paying 27.5million (those late years are the years his bonus's are gonna kick in more then likely earning him 6mil more per milestone he reaches. Burnett, just look at the stats. Compare his contract to other pitchers that had similar pasts to him.

Konerko and Thome probably would've been legit additions to the 44, regardless of team they played for. Contreras too.

On the Cubs side, I could see Dempster on that list coming soon.

Zito and Soriano's contracts are just one mile above all the others in stupidity.

What do you guys think of Torii Hunter's contract, btw?

I honestly think its horrible, as his defense is clearly declining, and he's exiting his prime.

Jose Contreras - 29 million has so far bought 300 lousy innings, add to it no one ever seems to know the age of any Cuban in the league.

Vincente Padilla - Only good thing to say about him: At least he's cheaper than Millwood.

Jarrod Washburn - No one even bid against the M's.

I may disagree with you on Carlos Lee at the time of that deal. There weren't a lot of corner OFs like him at the time. He was coming off 4 consecutive seasons of 30+ HRs of around a .280-290 AVG. Many of his peripherals compare to be solidly above-average, even at his offensive-minded position. Sure, he projected to be a player who may not have longevity because of weight and maintenance issues, which made the deal ill-advised, but surplus at his position isn't the reason the deal was bad.

I have got to think that Derek Lowe's contract is gonna be on this list, shortly. You don't drop $60 million on a guy who is, at best, a number 3 on a decent rotation. That deal was Frank Wren losing his nerve and overpaying for a pitcher who is known as much for his ability to not miss a start as he is for having the attention span of a can of tuna.

"The list is pretty good, but Juan Pierre not being in the top three is a miscarriage of justice. The man is nearly as useless as Bud Selig."

The list isn't ranked. It's done by teams, in alphabetical order.

Any RANKED list of current bad contracts that doesn't have Zito as #1 is crazy.

I like most of the picks.
I think Carlos Lee and Alfonso Soriano will end up earning their contracts. I'm hoping Chris Carpenter does too.
It'd be nice if Jose Guillen pulled out a couple great years to give the Royals a push... is that a pipe dream?
It's too bad about Eric Byrnes, I was a fan.
The Andruw Jones debacle is just plain laughable.

HOW MANY WAYS CAN A PLAYER SUCK?

I might rank it differently. There are a couple reasons a player is bad. Either: A. He just suddenly sucks, or, B. Health limits his playing time. Personally, I think the former is worse than the latter. A decade ago the Yankees acquired Kevin Brown during one of their playoff runs. He was severely limited in his playing time because his body fell apart as a Yankee, but when he was in their, he was a strong groundball machine who turned in good starts. That's a lot different than, say, Zito who was actually good before Free Agency, then gets the big Pay Day, then turns horrible as a Giant. The worst of all is the player who has a huge contract year, gets the big contract, then is always on the DL AND sucks when he is healthy, a la Carl Pavano.

You forgot C.C. Sabathia, 7 years, $161 million. I kid, I kid!

Hey Tim, you should do a worst trades list. I don't think you've done anything like that for a while.

Rafael Soriano's contract isn't the prettiest piece of paper I've ever seen.

^^^^^ I guess that's why I may not place Carlos Lee and/or Alfonso Soriano in there. Sure, their contracts are huge liabilities today in the current economy, but, it's not as if they're just not producing. Not only are they producing, they produce at a pretty high level. I guess the question with those guys is how much must a player produce to offset the liability of a 20M/YR contract? I'm sure the answer places those layers on the negative gain side of the differential, but I don't think by that much.

It's a lot worse when said player just doesn't produce at all matched up to their contract. I personally think a single player earning 10M/YR who is always hurt is WAAAAY worse than a Soriano who is paid a ton but still produces and plays everyday. With that Hurt player, you not only have to take their salary as a sunk cost, but you also have to pay another player to play their position.

Shucks...maybe I should start reading at least the first few comments.

Good call Rex.

Being an all-star means nothing.

Only one Red Sox contract and an obvious one at that.

basemonkey-

It's OK not to have a low K rate.

As long as you don't couple them with Daniel Cabrera-esque walk totals, which Zito did.

Again, the only reason Zito had a low ERA is because he played in a park which greatly inflates the stats of flyball pitchers.

Zito also possessed a VERY pedestrian WHIP in 2005 and 2006. The only reason more of those hits didn't turn into runs is because of who manned the A's infield.

That should read *It's OK not to have a HIGH K rate

""Hey Tim, you should do a worst trades list""

That would turn into a wankfest so quickly its not even funny.

Ok for one he 'won' 3 gold gloves. He has never been a good SS. He was an All Star which is 90% a popularity contest. And winning a Silver Slugger for AL SS is like winning best body at fat camp.

And its 10 years $189 mil that no other team in baseball would have done.

I can name a better Off and Def SS and the guy stands besides Jeter.

2001-2003 A-Rod was better
2004-2006 Tejada was better
Last 2 years he was the best offensive AL SS.

But saying AL removes all of the great SS in the NL.

But in the end Jeter costs his team. When Jeter moves from SS and a good defensive guy moves in I can see the Yankees winning another ring. But not until Jeter vacates SS.

To say Jeter staying at short is what is costing the Yankees a ring is just ignorant.

Why does baseball need a salary cap? So the owners can pocket more money than before? Makes sense.

Ok look at these numbers from '08

.300/ .363/ .408 88 R 11 HR 69 RBI 11 SB

vs

.288/ .366/ .401 71 R 10 HR 60 RBI 2 SB

The top player is Jeter. He got to the plate 75 more times then the 2nd guy. Yunel Escobar is considered a solid young player. And good defensively. Is Yunel's numbers worth even half of Jeter's salary?

"Hey, you know what would reduce the number of bad contracts?

A salary cap."

It would reduce the size of bad contracts, but it wouldn't reduce the number IMO.

It would also reduce a team's ability to get out from under a bad contract and increase the potential for one bad contract to cripple a team.

Think what ya want. But you know its true. Him staying at Short even though he is a horrible defender is selfish. In a team sport selfish attitudes lead nowhere. How else can you explain how a team that has spent a Billion dollars in salary has not won a championship.

Pitching and Defense is what wins.

Baseball owners can take care of all the inequities by evenly distributing the revenues. There's no shortage of overall revenue, it's just distributed unevenly. Two teams play in each game, so why not divide the revenues half to the home team and half to be divided by the other clubs?

In the NFL, for example, when the Raiders play the Dolphins, the Packers and Eagles get an equal share of those revenues, because it's all derived from a national TV contract. The fact that more revenues are coming from non local sources such as MLB.com, the MLB Network, the sale of the live streaming technology, the WBC, etc, all helps even the playing field, but a team in Pittsburg will never be on equal footing with a team in New York or L.A. A salary cap would only make the richest owners richer- and you'd have a long, long work stoppage before you ever got that.

They haven't had solid pitching for years. He may be a horrible defender, but he is costing the Yankees a championship. Where would you like to move him to right now?

"Pitching and Defense is what wins.

Posted by: XD23 | March 03, 2009 at 12:41 AM "

And if you don't believe him, go look it up. Last team to win the WS without a very, VERY solid starting rotation was the 1993 Blue Jays. That team had a 4.21ERA and it would have been higher if the bullpen wasn't so good.

As a hockey fan I can honestly say that the salary cap saved the sport.

Large market teams can no longer merely buy every all-star free agent and small market teams can compete ... hence the term "sport" as opposed to "spectacle" which is what baseball has become.

The best thing that could happen to baseball would be to have the Yankees and the Cubs / Mets in the World Series for the next 3 years. The fans would finally get it.

What got "saved" by the salary cap in the NHL were the teams in markets that they had no business being in. Hockey is basically still a regional sport, with the ability to appeal in larger markets. But "saving" the Nashville Predators, the Charlotte Hurricanes or the Phoenix Coyotes is no great achievment, IMO. What they did is they busted a union that is much weaker than the MLBPA. In saving the over- expanded market and teams that aren't viable in a free market system, they saved a load of jobs for NHL players, too. So they all get along.

Still, the Red Wings ruled under the old system, and when they had to cut payroll in half to meet the new cap, they still rule!

AJ does have a lot of value, it is his ~315obp over the last four years that makes him stick out though (still not sure the contract is too bad), Soriano's contract is going to get even worse, and nice to see the Rays avoid the list because they realized spending on that team before this year was a waste.

The NHL has increased salary caps as overall revenues have increased. As the economy turns for the worse, the salary caps will level out (and rightfully so)

As for the Red Wings, they weren't much before Scotty Bowman and he is no longer there. Lidstrom will be retiring soon also.

The NHL has to open its' books and have an independent audit so that the cap can be set, based on HRR (Hockey related revenues). Just opening the books is enough to drive MLB owners away from the cap idea. I'd like to see it brought up just to see the look on the Steinbrenners' faces.

Scotty got the Wings over the hump, but was an adviser recently and is basically retired. They've done just fine since he gave up the coaching gig, cruising through every season with relative ease and usually going deep in the playoffs. No other NHL club can match them over the past 20 years, either before or after the cap.

Lidstrom will be around at least another season, and there are several young studs in the minors that would be starting on any other team. Not to mention the players that would sign at a discount with the Wings just to get the chance to drink from the cup. Ask Marian Hossa.

right on the money!

You conveniently limit your argument to the past 20 years but the fact is that the Montreal Canadiens have won 24 Cups, while the Wings have won 11.

Scotty Bowman is not basically retired, he is working with the most improved team in the NHL now, the Blackhawks... no coincidence.

I was responding to the comment
"Large market teams can no longer merely buy every all-star free agent and small market teams can compete "
20 years is a time frame in which hockey expanded into smaller markets, beyond it's limits, and during the time frame when the salary cap was brought in.

The point is that the NHL was without a major national revenue source while baseball has been expanding it's revenue sources nationally. Still the disparity in local revenues in MLB is massive, and they need to evenly distribute what they have if they want to "save" smaller market teams so they can compete, before capping salaries which would only make the richest owners richer.

Scotty is in Chicago what he was in Detroit- a semi- retired adviser. He went there to work with his son, who has cancer. He's not behind the personnel moves and isn't involved in the day to day operations of the franchise. He is still a hockey legend.

BTW- Not one of the five Tiger contracts on Tim's 45 worst was a free agent signing. All were given to either "home grown" players, or players that Dombrowski traded for and then signed to "extensions". The only multi year free agent contract signing still on the Tigers is Ordonez, who has two $ 18 million options that will vest for 2010 and 2011 if he logs 457 Plate appearances this season. Maggs is a great hitter, but would not get that much on today's free agent market.