This article is a compilation of all the worst contracts given out by teams in Major League Baseball over the past decade. Each year, as part of their contract negotiations with players who have recently become free agents, MLB teams must decide which player to sign and how much money they are willing to offer that player. These figures represent what each team has spent on its payrolls for this season only and do not include any signing bonuses or other contractual obligations (e.g., roster spots).
The “worst baseball contracts ever mets” is a list of the 6 worst MLB contracts in the last decade. The list includes Chris Sale and the Boston Red Sox.
The Boston Red Sox will be without Chris Sale for the 2022 MLB season. But that’s nothing new for them at this point.
Sale, who turned 33 this month, is on the 60-day disabled list to begin the season due to a stress fracture in his right rib cage. While it’s unrelated to his long-standing arm woes, it’s yet another ailment that’s keeping Boston’s biggest pitching investment off the field.
The hard-throwing lefty earned a big agreement with the Red Sox after two All-Star seasons with the team in 2017 and 2018. It is currently considered one of the worst contracts given out by MLB clubs in the previous ten years.
So, what are some of the other bad contracts over the previous ten years? As one would anticipate in a sport with no pay limit, there have been a slew of them. While many huge agreements have paid off for the clubs who made them, others have become albatrosses as soon as the ink has dry.
We’ll look at the six worst contracts in MLB since the winter leading up to Opening Day 2012 for this exercise. This covers both free-agent and extension agreements, and takes into account the player’s age, contract length/amount, and overall performance after the contract’s signing.
1B Eric Hosmer (8/$144), 2B Robinson Cano (10/$240), DH Giancarlo Stanton (13/$325), SS Francisco Lindor (10/$341), SP David Price (7/$217), 3B Pablo Sandoval (5/$95) are among the honorable mentions.
6. Jason Heyward is a right fielder for the Chicago Cubs.
“He’s a tremendous pro and a great influence.” He follows the rules to a tee.”
Also some stuff about Pete Crow-Armstrong and Seiya Suzuki in @GDubCub‘s latest week in (p)review column:https://t.co/m5hd9biiMh
— Cubs Talk (@NBCSCubs) April 5, 2022
Eight-year contract for $184 million in 2016.
Yes, Jason Heyward’s emotional rain delay speech may have aided in the Cubs’ first World Series victory since 1908. However, it is the pinnacle of J-time Hey’s on the North Side.
Following the 2015 season, Heyward signed a hefty eight-year deal with the Cubs after five seasons with the Atlanta Braves and a one-year stint with the St. Louis Cardinals. The smooth-fielding lefty was seen as the last piece of the jigsaw that needed to be put in place before Chicago could compete for a championship.
Although Heyward has not been worth his expensive price tag, the Cubs have won the World Series. The 27-year-old sliced a dreadful in 2016. With seven home runs, he hit 230/.306/.325. He would only hit 11 home runs once in the next five seasons while providing ordinary to below-average contact while batting towards the bottom of Chicago’s lineup.
The Cubs’ front management has been unwilling to let go of Heyward, who is 32 years old. As a consequence, they were forced to part ways with franchise legends Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, and Javy Baez in an attempt to save money. Meanwhile, Heyward’s exorbitant deal has two years and $49 million remaining on it.
SP is number five. Boston Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale
The Boston Red Sox’s Chris Sale #41 speaks to the media. | Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images
Five-year contract for $145 million in 2019.
Between 2012 and 2018, it was difficult to find a better pitcher than Sale. In 2017, Boston acquired a prospect package led by Yoan Moncada in return for the 27-year-old ace after five All-Star seasons with the Chicago White Sox. He went on to have two more outstanding seasons at Fenway Park, landing in the top four in Cy Young voting and winning the World Series in 2018.
But it’s been a catastrophe for Sale since the Sox signed him to that expensive agreement right before the 2019 season.
The southpaw posted a career-worst 4.40 ERA in 2019, the year before his next deal began, but he still managed 218 strikeouts in 147.1 innings. However, he was forced to retire in August owing to tendinitis in his left elbow. He had Tommy John Surgery in March 2020, which put him on the shelf until August 14, 2021. When he returned to Boston, he made nine starts, including one where he went six innings.
After breaking his rib throwing batting practice in February, Sale is now sidelined for at least two months. Sale hasn’t pitched a complete season since his first year in Boston, in 2017.
The seven-time All-Star is signed through 2024, with a vesting option for 2025. To top it off, the Sox will pay him $50 million in deferred compensation between 2035 and 2039.
4-1B Los Angeles Angels’ Albert Pujols
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In 2012, a ten-year contract for $240 million was signed.
Albert Pujols’ contract with the Angels comes to mind when you think about inflated contracts for older players. We cared so much about him that we made sure he was included in the specifications, despite the fact that his contract was signed in December 2011.
Albert’s 11-year tenure with the Cardinals is legendary. El Hombre’s achievements in St. Louis included 445 home runs, a 1.037 OPS, three MVPs, and two World Series triumphs. Then he signed in Anaheim, where things began to take a turn for the worst.
Pujols’ extended stay with the Angels resulted in just one All-Star participation, in 2015, when he hit 40 home runs for the first time in his career. In fact, The Machine has only hit 30 home runs twice before. And as his power faded, so did his exceptional approach at the bat, as he went from a Cardinals.328/.420/.617 slash to an Angels.256/.311/.447 slash.
The Angels terminated Albert only a few weeks into the last year of his contract, 2021. To put it another way, they paid him $30 million to stop playing baseball for them.
Pujols’ involvement in teaching the legendary Mike Trout protects this deal from being worse than number four on the list as he closes his career back where he started for one last year.
1B. 3. Miguel Cabrera is a member of the Detroit Tigers.
Pujols release feels like preview for the #Tigers having to do the same with Miguel Cabrera at some point before his contract concludes. Sad reality for great careers amid long pact. Just a matter of when ownership is OK eating the remainder.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) May 6, 2021
Contract length: eight years, with a total value of $248 million in 2014.
Miguel Cabrera was the greatest right-handed hitter of the 2010s, if Albert Pujols was the best right-handed hitter of the 2000s. For the first part of the decade, at least.
From 2011 through 2015, the Venezuelan earned four batting crowns, two MVPs, and a Triple Crown. So, in 2014, the Tigers made their superstar slugger a Tiger for life, signing him to a contract that paid him until 2023 when paired with his prior contract. Two $30 million mutual options for 2024 and 2025 were included in the extension.
Few expected Cabrera’s deal to age gracefully, given that he was already 31 when the extension began. But it’s been much worse than anybody thought, as the future Hall of Famer started to deteriorate almost immediately after the deal was signed in 2016.
Cabrera hasn’t hit over 16 home runs or batted.300 in a season since his lone All-Star season in 2016. His OPS, which was always around 1.000 during his heyday, was.701 in 2021 and.746 the year before. Over the previous five years, he’s had a cumulative WAR of -1.1, which means he’s been nearly one victory lower than a replacement-level player.
For the 2022 season, Miggy is kindly turning up the first base role to top prospect Spencer Torkelson. But it doesn’t alter the fact that the 38-year-old still has two more guaranteed seasons left on his contract, with a total value of $64 million.
1. 2B Chris Davis is a member of the Baltimore Orioles.
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Seven-year contract for $161 million in 2016.
Chris Davis has a good argument for being ranked first on this list. Because everything fell apart the moment the towering slugger re-signed with the Orioles in 2016.
In Baltimore, the 6-foot-4, 255-pound first baseman revived his career, leading the American League in home runs with 53 in 2013 and 47 in 2015. Davis turned down offers from other clubs as a free agent and elected to return to Baltimore on a deal that would have lasted through the 2022 season.
Crush hit 38 home runs in his first year as a millionaire, but his OPS dropped from.923 to.792. He only hit 26 home runs the next year, with a.215 average and.732 OPS. But that’s just the beginning.
He had the lowest batting average among qualified batters ever in 2018, hitting an anemic. In 522 plate appearances, there were 168. He didn’t fare much better in 2019, hitting.179 and going 0-for-54 for the first time in his career. In 16 games during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, he slashed.115/.164/.173 for a.115/.164/.173 batting line.
Davis, 35, announced his retirement last season while recuperating from season-ending hip surgery. He will now get $17 million this year, as well as an extra $42 million in deferred payments starting in 2023.
1. Los Angeles Angels LF Josh Hamilton
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Five-year contract for $125 million in 2013.
The Angels’ surprising contract with Josh Hamilton isn’t any more costly than any of the other accords. But, in the previous ten years, no MLB deal has gone as badly as this one, both on and off the field.
LA surprised the baseball world by signing Hamilton, despite having the reigning Rookie of the Year Trout and the relatively new Pujols. With the rival Texas Rangers, the 2010 MVP had made five consecutive All-Star selections and blasted a career-high 43 home runs in 2012. The addition of the great left fielder would theoretically push the Angels over the top and propel them into contention.
Hamilton, 32, managed to remain fit in 2013, but he was far from productive. His 21 home runs and.739 OPS were both down from the previous season. He only appeared in 89 games in 2014, hitting 10 home runs with a.745 OPS. He went 0-for-13 in the postseason for the Los Angeles Dodgers in their three-game defeat to the Kansas City Royals.
In 2015, it was discovered that Hamilton had relapsed into his drug addiction while recovering from offseason shoulder surgery. The Angels dealt the former MVP back to the Rangers a few weeks later, and he never played in the major leagues again.
During his 240 games with the Halos, Hamilton hit.255 with 31 home runs. But, because to injuries, fan squabbles, and a tumultuous divorce that caused the Angels to spend $75 million during the three years he wasn’t on the club, this deal will go down as the worst in baseball history.
Baseball Reference provided all statistics, while Spotrac provided contract information.
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Frequently Asked Questions
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A: None of the current players on the active MLB roster have a contract that is less than $1 million.
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