Worst Contracts in Baseball

[Hubs]

To me, the worst contract in baseball is Alex Rodriguez's $275 M deal with the Yankees.

 

Pujols is producing how he has the last two years isn't a great investment, and some may call it an albatross, but I look at the quality of the individual, and I don't think Pujols comes close to the wreck in Yankee-land.

 

I also think the Ian Kinsler and Elvis Andrus contracts for the Rangers are really bad and are not talked about in this context because they were for less dollars overall.

 

When the Andrus contract goes into effect, it effectively neutralizes a trade asset that teams would've really liked to have. The Rangers are not going to get as much for Jurickson Profar as they would had they not signed Andrus. And they basically can't trade Andrus now. With Profar already called up and on the team, extending Andrus was an awful decision.

 

Yes, he may have been a 4.3 WAR player at age 24, but the guy is not a great hitter most of his value is tied up in his defense. Think that they are basically going to be paying him the kind of money that Troy Tulowitski makes, for only his defense? There are a lot of no-hit, great glove shortstops out there, and they don't get paid $15M a season for the next eight seasons. It's ridiculous to think a guy who hit .271 with a .328 OBP and a .331 SLG gets that kind of money. And one who has zero power and hits in Arlington?  

 

And they have no reason to extend him, as they had him already under contract. Maybe it's that they think he'll turn into a Jeter type hitter, but I don't see it.

 

Consider that Andrus is making nearly twice as much as the Angels paid Erick Aybar for twice as long. They also did the same thing with Kinsler (twice as much as Kendrick for nearly twice as long) but at least Kinsler can hit.

 

Pujols may not be the player he was, but at least he was given a contract which was warranted by his past performance. I'd have gone after Fielder, because the Angels needed a left handed bat and they had Mark Trumbo to platoon at DH/1B with him, but they went with the higher profile (older) and a winner. Then spent $125 M on Josh Hamilton.

 

I still have hope that Pujols and Hamilton can produce to the players they have been, I have little hope projecting a 24 year old shortstop through age 34 as the player the Rangers are paying him to be.

Edited November 19, 2013 by Hubs

[Mudville]

You said OBP twice.

[Richard]

You said OBP twice.

 

I like OBP.

[Mudville]

Kinky.

[ScottT]

Best contracts in baseball

 

Dodgers tv deal

MLB tv deal

Angels tv deal

Rangers tv deal

Yankees and Mets tv deals 

[Angel Oracle]

At least Pujols' contract "allegedly" helped to get the new Halos tv deal done.    That's about the only good so far from the signing, but it does beat giving $275 million to a washed up has been who creates nothing but controversy in MLB with his teflon PayRod approach to everything.  

[sneaky_flute]

You might not like the Rangers but the Andrus and Kinsler contracts aren't even close to being the worst in baseball. Andrus will likely provide surplus value by the time his contract is up, and while Kinsler's contract isn't the greatest, it's hardly "ludicrous" as some here have put it. All they have to do is provide about 4 WAR per season to live up to their contracts.

 

There are truly bad contracts out there like Ryan Howard's, Albert Pujols,' Barry Zito's (until recently), Prince Fielder's, Jayson Werth's, Mark Teixeira's. I'm sure I'm forgetting a few.

[Mudville]

Howard has only had two seasons where he wasn't above a 120 OPS+. Kinsler has had one season where he has been above 120+ OPS.

 

Andrus has yet to get to 95 OPS+ but the good news for the Rangers is he has 9 more years to get there.

[sneaky_flute]

Ryan Howard's contract is currently the worst in MLB. Your argument is silly.

[gurn67]

10 years $50,000,000 for a manager deserves a mention.

[Hubs]

Ryan Howard definitely gets added to the list. That was another silly early extension.

 

Andre Ethier. Ryan Braun. 

 

My point with this post is not to rank the worst contracts in order, it's to start thinking of the worst contracts in baseball and why the Angels need to not rush to sign any more. 

 

Certainly based on future WAR, the Pujols and A-Rod contracts look the worst. Ryan Howard is close though. Obviously Wells, Zito, and others would've made the list but they are essentially over.

 

The Mets didn't get value out of Johan Santana as they expected.

[70runner]

10 years $50,000,000 for a manager deserves a mention.

 

The going rate for:

 

Guaranteed contact plays

Lineup cards with a .250 hitter who can't run hitting 3rd instead of the best player in baseball

Recent trend of slow starts providing ample opportunity for nut swingers to remind the rest of us how long the season is

Dumping one of the best power hitting catchers ever to suit up for the Angels because "I still think there is a lot of upside of what our team can become with Vernon."

Unswerving allegiance to his lifelong coaching buddies regardless of job performance/results

 

worth every penny

[ten ocho recon scout]

10 years $50,000,000 for a manager deserves a mention.

No mention yet of 'too blessed' either...

[AngelsAndRamsFan]

At least Pujols' contract "allegedly" helped to get the new Halos tv deal done.    That's about the only good so far from the signing, but it does beat giving $275 million to a washed up has been who creates nothing but controversy in MLB with his teflon PayRod approach to everything.

Unfortunately, that's not true. The tv contract made it easier to sign Albert, but signing Albert didn't increase the Angels tv contract at all (on of the Angels beat writers confirmed this a few months ago).

[Vegas Halo Fan]

The going rate for:

 

Guaranteed contact plays

Lineup cards with a .250 hitter who can't run hitting 3rd instead of the best player in baseball

Recent trend of slow starts providing ample opportunity for nut swingers to remind the rest of us how long the season is

Dumping one of the best power hitting catchers ever to suit up for the Angels because "I still think there is a lot of upside of what our team can become with Vernon."

Unswerving allegiance to his lifelong coaching buddies regardless of job performance/results

 

worth every penny

 

You forgot - 

 

Unswerving loyalty to players so bad that the GM has to trade them to stop them from starting and killing the team.

[mancini79]

So far the worse current contract is to a player that retired in 2000. The Mets will pay Bobby Bonilla $1.2m/year til 2035. Bobby will have played a grand total of 60 games when the contract is over.

[YouthofToday]

Andrus and Kinsler's contracts are not even in the discussion as top 10 worst contracts in MLB.

[Hollyw00d]

Howard has only had two seasons where he wasn't above a 120 OPS+. Kinsler has had one season where he has been above 120+ OPS.

Andrus has yet to get to 95 OPS+ but the good news for the Rangers is he has 9 more years to get there.

you're assuming offense is the only skill of value in baseball. Ya Howard is a decent hitter but his defense and base running is so abysmal that it negates any advantage he might provide with the bat

[YouthofToday]

Howard only had a wRC+ of 111 last year. He is simply brutal vs. LH.

He is only a replacement level bat only against RH pitching.

He had a wRC+ of 44 against LH last year. That is remarkably putrid.

[Mudville]

Howard only played in 80 games last season due to injury. Andrus meanwhile had a WRC+ of 78.

[sneaky_flute]

It's still not even in the top 30 of bad contracts. You're shitting on Andrus' contract just because he's on a rival team while rationalizing a contract that's much, much worse. Howard's first extension wasn't that unreasonable, but please tell me how he deserved that exorbitant 5-year, 125 million dollar contract?