worst contract out of these $100 million contracts

I agree that its a little bizarre to give a guy a record-setting deal when he's not even a free agent yet, but you do have to consider that A) Seattle may have to overpay to get superstars and B) these contracts aren't ever built to be great in their last year or two. you overpay in the end because a guy who produces 8 WAR is really worth $45m or so and you can't pay that much in one year. that said Felix seems to cap out at 6 WAR. seems like another slight upside/massive downside signing but I guess Seattle feels they'll really be competitive in a few years?

Vernon Wells would get a lot more votes if we did this poll today.

Neyer wrote last week about the dodgy future of pitchers w/ Felix's workload, age etc.

the Vernon Wells signing was obviously pretty bad but I'm much more baffled by the Angels trading for him after the awfulness of his contract was long since established

Bonus points go to contracts that were indefensible at the time. Wells' was at least somewhat defensible -- he'd been a 4-5 win player on average up until then, still a good defender, and was entering his age-27 season. The market for outfielders was thin, and he was a popular homegrown player. I don't think the disaster signs were obvious compared to the Zito and Hampton signings (or A-Rod's 2007 re-up).

Most of the debate was about giving superstar money to a guy who wasn't a true superstar. The Jays had been waiting for Wells to break out for a while and then paid him like the player they expected him to be, not the player he was. There are always guys like that e.g. Jay Bruce where people keep expecting a breakout season but it never comes and eventually you just accept that he is who he is. Even so, the argument was that the Jays were paying 5-6 win money for a 3-4 win player, but even that wouldn't have been so bad.

i always appreciate being reminded how legendarily awful adam dunn's 2011 season was

Has anyone ever had a worse season? I mean usually the "worst case" scenario for these big guys in their 30's is that they wind up around 0-1 WAR like Wells has but I've never seen a dropoff so steep where it got to the point that the guy was actively way worse than replacement level and was outhit by like half the pitchers in the league. And he was in a situation where the Sox had really no choice but to play him. You might never see another season like that again!

Not anywhere close to $100 million (relative peanuts, though not for you or me), but who knew that Bobby Bonilla was still getting--and will continue to get--million-dollar cheques for the next two decades?

the highest paid relievers lolz

http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2014/9/17/6264159/highest-paid-relievers-baseball

the current worst

http://grantland.com/features/worst-mlb-contracts-2015-alex-rodriguez-ryan-howard-prince-fielder/

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B9c1IY7CEAI4C6n.jpg

zing

1 war is worth abt 6m now on the market right?

after this year, yeah. chart should adjust for WARflation for the older deals.

Ryan Howard for the win!

shin-soo choo's deal is looking awfully sketchy

You could compare Choo's deal to Jayson Werth's -- high OBP guys with some pop (and collapsing defense) somehow getting paid superstar money in their 30's. Like Werth, I think Choo gets a pass for being hurt last year, when he's healthy he should still be a valuable player.

the matt cain deal isn't looking so hot either

Somehow ended up on this article; I didn't realize the Braves were still paying Bruce Sutter for his 40 saves over three seasons (and will be until 2021).

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/07/01/bobby-bonillas-isnt-the-only-deferred-money-deal-in-the-game-and-isnt-even-the-worst/comment-page-1/

That's insane. A $40M deal in 1985???

Found a timeline of the biggest contracts ever from '79 to 2007. Sutter smay have been behind a few people when he signed with the Braves (Winfield #1):

http://wezen-ball.com/2009-articles/the-history-of-the-highest-paid-player-in-baseball.html

It's the disconnect that amazes me. Sutter's from another universe, and he's apparently still on the payroll.

"may"

the payroll/salary 1 page team pages on b-r are really cool, like I did not appreciate that max scherzer will make a season salary of $42.1M starting in 2019

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/WSN/2015-payroll-salaries.shtml

is there a way to look at all of baseball at once in that salary chart?

not that I see

the $/yrs that tampa has archer at is criminal

whats the diff if someone is repped by Scott Boras v Boras Corp

Update (haven't read this yet):

http://baseball-players.pointafter.com/stories/10927/100-million-dollar-contracts-mlb

I completely forgot Carlos Lee existed

Jacoby Ellsbury is on pace to become one of the worst free-agent signings in New York Yankees history. He still has plenty of time to change the narrative -- his contract, for goodness' sake, doesn't end until after the 2020 season -- but as Yogi supposedly once said, "It gets late early around here."

http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/yankees/post/_/id/91743/153m-man-jacoby-ellsbury-continues-to-look-bad

nats def got some value out of it but the back half of this ELEVEN year ryan Zimmerman contract is looking p rough

2009 24 Washington Nationals $3,325,000
2010 25 Washington Nationals $6,350,000
2011 26 Washington Nationals $9,025,000
2012 27 Washington Nationals $12,000,000
2013 28 Washington Nationals $14,000,000
2014 29 Washington Nationals $14,000,000
2015 30 Washington Nationals $14,000,000

2016 31 Washington Nationals $14,000,000
2017 32 Washington Nationals $14,000,000
2018 33 Washington Nationals $14,000,000
2019 34 Washington Nationals $18,000,000
2020 35 Washington Nationals *$18,000,000 $18M Team Option, $2M Buyout

took a glance @ the balance of that chris davis contract 2day:

2019 33 Baltimore Orioles $23,000,000
2020 34 Baltimore Orioles $23,000,000
2021 35 Baltimore Orioles $23,000,000
2022 36 Baltimore Orioles $23,000,000
Earliest Free Agent: 2023

there's been some pretty fantastic disasters in the seven years since we did this poll – I still think Hampton is the worst.

i don't know, that ryan howard 2012-16 extension (at more than $25 million per year, i think) turned out to be pretty awful.

pujols' may turn out to be worse but the disaster is still unfolding

ya, that's the only that gives me pause.

Wanted to say Mauer was a contender but he’s actually been a solid player, just not the perennial MVP contender/batting champ they thought he would continue to be.

the vernon wells deal deserves some love -- as does the fact that the angels traded for it

Angels are the “best” at this in some way. Never forget Josh Hamilton.

Chris Davis is on par for a -4.0 WAR season, lmao

not really sure how to answer this since there are a lot of different factors at play but I do think the Ryan Howard one gets special consideration because that one was so obviously doomed from the start, even a best-case projection of how Howard would age wouldn't even come close to $125m in value

might as well start using chris davis as a relief pitcher at this point. he wasn't bad the... one? two times he pitched?

the howard deal is extra special because iirc it didn't even kick in for a couple seasons -- completely unnecessary

plus there was virtually no competition for him. was anyone really gonna offer a 32-year old slugger anything close to that?

If Chris Davis gets to -4.0 WAR then he might be the winner. That's nearly as much (negative) value as all five years of Ryan Howard's extension!

eric hosmer's eight-year/$144m deal is not off to a good start

93 wRC+, 0.3 bWAR, -0.6 fWAR at age 28 in the *first* year of the deal

Just think, the Padres can build up their team around the hosmer core for the next 7 years, they’re gonna be great

what we've learned from all this is . . . never sign first basemen. don't even sign ian desmond and inexplicably move him to first. put a reliever there if you want, or better yet just field eight players

Scott Hatteberg

wasnt sure where to put this but whoa damn kenta maeda is on a team friendly deal

2016 28 Los Angeles Dodgers $3,125,000
2017 29 Los Angeles Dodgers $3,125,000
2018 30 Los Angeles Dodgers $3,125,000
2019 31 Los Angeles Dodgers $3,125,000
2020 32 Los Angeles Dodgers $3,125,000
2021 33 Los Angeles Dodgers $3,125,000
2022 34 Los Angeles Dodgers $3,125,000
2023 35 Los Angeles Dodgers $3,125,000
Earliest Free Agent: 2024

hm ok i guess some incentives too, had physical "irregularities"

https://www.truebluela.com/2016/1/7/10733574/kenta-maeda-contract-details-dodgers-risk-bonuses

I guess Toronto inherited Tulowitzki's contract, but his arrival here coincided with him hitting the $20M mark.

2007	22	Colorado Rockies	$381,000	?		
2008	23	Colorado Rockies	$750,000	?		
2009	24	Colorado Rockies	$1,000,000	?		
2010	25	Colorado Rockies	$3,500,000	3.033		
2011	26	Colorado Rockies	$5,500,000	4.033		
2012	27	Colorado Rockies	$8,250,000	5.033	contracts	
2013	28	Colorado Rockies	$10,000,000	6.033	contracts	
2014	29	Colorado Rockies	$16,000,000	7.033	contracts	
2015	30	Toronto Blue Jays	$20,000,000	8.033	contracts	
2016	31	Toronto Blue Jays	$20,000,000	9.033		
2017	32	Toronto Blue Jays	$20,000,000	10.033	contracts	
2018	33	Toronto Blue Jays	$20,000,000	11.033		
2019	34	Toronto Blue Jays	$20,000,000		
2020	35	Toronto Blue Jays	$14,000,000		
2021	36	Toronto Blue Jays	*$15,000,000	$15M Team Option, $4M Buyout

I don't know how long it was before we started paying the whole amount. Anyway, the Jays are on the hook until 2021. For that, we got...a symbolic jolt out of the deal in 2015 (day after or day before getting Price, I think), great defense that first year, a few key hits, and not much else ever since.

We compared every MLB player who has signed for at least $100 mil. Two of the many takeaways: get'em when they're young (like Machado and Harper); shy away from the second big deal.https://t.co/BpykPfKpgU

— Joe Ward (@wardnyt) February 20, 2019