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The Bobby Bonilla thread got me thinking- what other bad contracts do teams have in the MLB? Most teams defer money over the length of the deal of course, but I'm not primarily going to be looking at that, as Bonilla was a special case as a buyout. I'll be naming two players- one "honorable" mention and the "winner."
Some teams will have obvious players, some teams won't. Feel free to chime in with what you all think as well. I should have a new division done every couple of days.
These also turned out longer than I expected. So I am also going to bold the names to stand out if you don't care to read it.
Past articles for this series:
NL East
Arizona Diamondbacks
I was thinking that the Diamondbacks would be difficult to do. After all, they are an expansion team, had a good era of success and are rebuilding with young talent. I couldn’t have been more wrong, and Russ Ortiz’s four year, $33 million deal proves it.
Ortiz was an above average pitcher with the Giants and Braves, with seasons of 17, 18 and 21 wins, he was a lock to pitch 200 innings and he also had three seasons with over 150 strikeouts. Ortiz was dreadful with the Diamondbacks, going 5-16 with an ERA of 7.00 (ouch!) and a 1.896 WHIP (double ouch!) over a year and a half with the club. The Diamondbacks were lucky to unload him, but Ortiz never regained control.
Honorable Mention: I mentioned Bobby Bonilla and his deferred contract. I said I wouldn’t do that, but when I discovered what Arizona did with deferred contracts, I had to. The following players are still on the Diamondbacks current payroll: Bernard Gilkey, Randy Johnson, Luis Gonzalez, Armando Reynoso, Curt Schilling, Matt Williams and Roberto Alomar. I know the former ownership of Arizona wanted to win at any cost, but still paying these players is ridiculous.
Colorado Rockies
This is, of course, the easiest contract to pick, and its Mike Hampton’s eight year, $121 million mistake. The Rockies were in desperate need of pitching, and decided to invest that money in Mike Hampton, who was fresh off a great season with the Mets and had a track record of success with the Astros before that.
Turns out, Hampton proved to be dreadful, accumulating a 21-28 record in two years in Colorado with a 5.75 ERA. Somehow in 2000, Hampton managed to pitch better at Coors Field than away. They somehow unloaded him to the Florida Marlins too, which was no small feat. Hampton would battle injuries to his arm until the contract was completed and never regained his previous form.
Honorable Mention: This has to go to Todd Helton’s current nine year, $141.5 million deal signed back in 2003. At the time, the Rockies had to make this deal to keep their franchise player, but the length was entirely too long (and being backloaded does not make it better.) Helton is getting paid $19.1 million this season, and while he has remained a good hitter and having another good season in 2011, he has not topped 30 homers since 2004 nor 20 since 2005. This has not been a good return investment at all.
Los Angeles Dodgers
I will not be going with Kevin Brown here. For those at VSN/VSD who don’t know me well enough yet, I do not like $100 million contracts in baseball, nor the fact that there isn’t a cap. So it goes without saying I do not like Kevin Brown for that reason. He did pitch very well for the Dodgers. I’m also not going to go with Andruw Jones or Juan Pierre, or even Darren Dreifort.
This honor goes to Jason Schmidt. After coming to the Giants from the Pirates, Schmidt put together some great seasons as the ace of the Giants staff, including some top five finishes in Cy Young voting. So in 2007 the Dodgers gave him a three year, $47 million deal, to a pitcher who had a history of arm trouble earlier in his career. One missed season, ten games and a 3-6 record later, Schmidt was done with the Dodgers and baseball.
Honorable Mention: Ignoring the warning signs the previous season, the Dodgers gave Andruw Jones a two year, $36.2 million deal. Those warning signs were a drop-off in home runs from 41 to 26, and a .40 dip in batting average. In his first and only season with LA, Jones hit far below the Mendoza line at .158 and hit just three home runs. The Dodgers would end up deferring money in his second year and releasing him.
Take Two: I just could not bring up Darren Dreifort. The Dodgers were really hard to make a decision on, since they have so many bad contracts throughout the years. Still, Dreifort’s five year, $55 million deal is terrible. They panicked over another teams bid, increasing their yearly value, despite an average season the year before- a 12-9 effort with a 4.16 ERA. For all of that money, they got two partial seasons, two injured seasons and a season in relief, totaling 205 2/3 innings. This was definitely Scott Boras at his finest.
San Diego Padres
The Padres are a team that has traditionally spent their money very well, and sometimes, have not spent enough of it (Adrian Gonzalez anyone?) Brian Giles toiled in obscurity with the Pirates before joining the Padres during the 2003 season, and becoming the centerpiece of the San Diego offense. A year and a half later, the Padres signed Giles to a three year, $30 million deal.
The problem here? Giles was 35 years old at the time. After the first season, his numbers dropped off, although San Diego still picked up his fourth year option at $9 million. An arthritic knee played into this, but it was not a smart decision to invest this much in an aging outfielder.
Honorable Mention: I am grasping again, as the Padres have not given out that many bad deals. They traded away Adrian Gonzalez this season, but instead of trying to bring in a power bat, Orlando Hudson signed a two year, $11.5 million deal. I know the Padres wanted to improve their defense, but Hudson is terrible at the plate this season, hitting .230, although they are using his speed. At that price, San Diego should have just banked the money and used an in-house replacement if they were not going to keep Gonzalez.
San Francisco Giants
There are a few options for the Giants, but we all know that Barry Zito is at the top of the list with his $126 million deal. The Giants thought they made a smart signing with Zito- he was 28 years old, had seven successful years with the Oakland Athletics and the reputation of being an innings eater. He also had a Cy Young trophy to boot.
It was still a risk- Zito had a lot of innings on him and some rumors arose that Zito was heavily reliant on his curveball, throwing it sometimes 50% of the time. Its quite amazing that Zito hasn’t had any major arm injuries, but his time with the Giants has been marginal at best- 4.45 ERA, 1.4 WHIP and 40-57 record.
Honorable Mention: Aaron Rowand is one of those players you almost have to admire for the way he plays the game, but his five year, $60 million deal with ill-advised. In 2007, he had a career year offensively with the Phillies and that led the Giants to invest in him. His numbers have since dropped into his career averages and Rowand hit rock bottom last year hitting .230 and eventually losing his starting job to Andres Torres.
Some teams will have obvious players, some teams won't. Feel free to chime in with what you all think as well. I should have a new division done every couple of days.
These also turned out longer than I expected. So I am also going to bold the names to stand out if you don't care to read it.
Past articles for this series:
NL East
Arizona Diamondbacks
I was thinking that the Diamondbacks would be difficult to do. After all, they are an expansion team, had a good era of success and are rebuilding with young talent. I couldn’t have been more wrong, and Russ Ortiz’s four year, $33 million deal proves it.
Ortiz was an above average pitcher with the Giants and Braves, with seasons of 17, 18 and 21 wins, he was a lock to pitch 200 innings and he also had three seasons with over 150 strikeouts. Ortiz was dreadful with the Diamondbacks, going 5-16 with an ERA of 7.00 (ouch!) and a 1.896 WHIP (double ouch!) over a year and a half with the club. The Diamondbacks were lucky to unload him, but Ortiz never regained control.
Honorable Mention: I mentioned Bobby Bonilla and his deferred contract. I said I wouldn’t do that, but when I discovered what Arizona did with deferred contracts, I had to. The following players are still on the Diamondbacks current payroll: Bernard Gilkey, Randy Johnson, Luis Gonzalez, Armando Reynoso, Curt Schilling, Matt Williams and Roberto Alomar. I know the former ownership of Arizona wanted to win at any cost, but still paying these players is ridiculous.
Colorado Rockies
This is, of course, the easiest contract to pick, and its Mike Hampton’s eight year, $121 million mistake. The Rockies were in desperate need of pitching, and decided to invest that money in Mike Hampton, who was fresh off a great season with the Mets and had a track record of success with the Astros before that.
Turns out, Hampton proved to be dreadful, accumulating a 21-28 record in two years in Colorado with a 5.75 ERA. Somehow in 2000, Hampton managed to pitch better at Coors Field than away. They somehow unloaded him to the Florida Marlins too, which was no small feat. Hampton would battle injuries to his arm until the contract was completed and never regained his previous form.
Honorable Mention: This has to go to Todd Helton’s current nine year, $141.5 million deal signed back in 2003. At the time, the Rockies had to make this deal to keep their franchise player, but the length was entirely too long (and being backloaded does not make it better.) Helton is getting paid $19.1 million this season, and while he has remained a good hitter and having another good season in 2011, he has not topped 30 homers since 2004 nor 20 since 2005. This has not been a good return investment at all.
Los Angeles Dodgers
I will not be going with Kevin Brown here. For those at VSN/VSD who don’t know me well enough yet, I do not like $100 million contracts in baseball, nor the fact that there isn’t a cap. So it goes without saying I do not like Kevin Brown for that reason. He did pitch very well for the Dodgers. I’m also not going to go with Andruw Jones or Juan Pierre, or even Darren Dreifort.
This honor goes to Jason Schmidt. After coming to the Giants from the Pirates, Schmidt put together some great seasons as the ace of the Giants staff, including some top five finishes in Cy Young voting. So in 2007 the Dodgers gave him a three year, $47 million deal, to a pitcher who had a history of arm trouble earlier in his career. One missed season, ten games and a 3-6 record later, Schmidt was done with the Dodgers and baseball.
Honorable Mention: Ignoring the warning signs the previous season, the Dodgers gave Andruw Jones a two year, $36.2 million deal. Those warning signs were a drop-off in home runs from 41 to 26, and a .40 dip in batting average. In his first and only season with LA, Jones hit far below the Mendoza line at .158 and hit just three home runs. The Dodgers would end up deferring money in his second year and releasing him.
Take Two: I just could not bring up Darren Dreifort. The Dodgers were really hard to make a decision on, since they have so many bad contracts throughout the years. Still, Dreifort’s five year, $55 million deal is terrible. They panicked over another teams bid, increasing their yearly value, despite an average season the year before- a 12-9 effort with a 4.16 ERA. For all of that money, they got two partial seasons, two injured seasons and a season in relief, totaling 205 2/3 innings. This was definitely Scott Boras at his finest.
San Diego Padres
The Padres are a team that has traditionally spent their money very well, and sometimes, have not spent enough of it (Adrian Gonzalez anyone?) Brian Giles toiled in obscurity with the Pirates before joining the Padres during the 2003 season, and becoming the centerpiece of the San Diego offense. A year and a half later, the Padres signed Giles to a three year, $30 million deal.
The problem here? Giles was 35 years old at the time. After the first season, his numbers dropped off, although San Diego still picked up his fourth year option at $9 million. An arthritic knee played into this, but it was not a smart decision to invest this much in an aging outfielder.
Honorable Mention: I am grasping again, as the Padres have not given out that many bad deals. They traded away Adrian Gonzalez this season, but instead of trying to bring in a power bat, Orlando Hudson signed a two year, $11.5 million deal. I know the Padres wanted to improve their defense, but Hudson is terrible at the plate this season, hitting .230, although they are using his speed. At that price, San Diego should have just banked the money and used an in-house replacement if they were not going to keep Gonzalez.
San Francisco Giants
There are a few options for the Giants, but we all know that Barry Zito is at the top of the list with his $126 million deal. The Giants thought they made a smart signing with Zito- he was 28 years old, had seven successful years with the Oakland Athletics and the reputation of being an innings eater. He also had a Cy Young trophy to boot.
It was still a risk- Zito had a lot of innings on him and some rumors arose that Zito was heavily reliant on his curveball, throwing it sometimes 50% of the time. Its quite amazing that Zito hasn’t had any major arm injuries, but his time with the Giants has been marginal at best- 4.45 ERA, 1.4 WHIP and 40-57 record.
Honorable Mention: Aaron Rowand is one of those players you almost have to admire for the way he plays the game, but his five year, $60 million deal with ill-advised. In 2007, he had a career year offensively with the Phillies and that led the Giants to invest in him. His numbers have since dropped into his career averages and Rowand hit rock bottom last year hitting .230 and eventually losing his starting job to Andres Torres.
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