The Salary Dump All-Stars

With all the bad contracts and salary dumps on the way this offseason, I thought it’d be fun to create the Salary Dump All-Star Team.  These are the worst contracts at each position, based mainly on 2006 salary.  The salary below is just ’06.  I used Cot’s Baseball Contracts for the figures.

This group would cost over $150MM next year, and I left out the bench and bullpen.  Disagree with a choice?  Leave your thoughts in the comments.

C – Jason Kendall – $11,000,000 – Scott Podsednik, but with a bigger paycheck and catcher’s gear.  And less speed.

1B – Phil Nevin –  $10,000,000 –  I know Jim Thome and Todd Helton are paid more, but Nevin doesn’t seem to have anything left after hitting .237.287/.379 in ’05.

2B – Alfonso Soriano – $10,000,000 – That salary is just a guess, as Soriano figures to get a decent raise from his current $7.5MM salary through arbitration.  The 36 HR look great, but the atrocious defense and .309 OBP don’t.

SS – Cristian Guzman – $4,200,000 – He’s got the lowest salary on the team.  But both Guzman’s glovework and offense took a nosedive and he’s a huge detriment to the team.

3B – Mike Lowell – $9,000,000 – The Marlins are so desperate to dump Lowell’s salary that they may let the Rangers explore the potential of 25 year-old Josh Beckett.  Some have whispered about steroids when talking about Lowell’s massive decline…but isn’t it possible that he simply lost it?

RF – Magglio Ordonez – $15,000,000 – This deal really didn’t make sense for the Tigers.  Magglio’s power numbers were way down in his initial half-season with Detroit.

CF – Ken Griffey Jr. – $12,500,000 – Maybe Griffey finally earned his salary in 2005.  But he still has to go, not that Dan O’Brien understands that.

LF – Ryan Klesko – $10,000,000 – The Padres would be ecstatic to get this one off the books. 

SP – Chan Ho Park – $13,000,000 – The posterboy for bad contracts.  And for getting photographed in compromising positions.

SP – Eric Milton – $8,500,000 – How is it that every casual baseball fan knew this would end up terribly, but Reds’ management didn’t?

SP – Carl Pavano – $8,000,000 – They’re the Yankees, so they can do stuff like this.  But A.J. Burnett for similar money will be a much better investment. 

SP – Matt Clement – $9,500,000 – You can blame the injury, but his strikeout rate was way down last year.  Might be league average from here on out.

Closer – Keith Foulke – $7,250,000 – This was certainly not a bad contract.  But the Red Sox would be happy to get out of the final year of the deal.