Worst baseball contracts

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Blogger's take on worst contracts

 

I am hoping this link has not been posted anywhere here yet (and please lock if discussed elsewhere), but I found this read very interesting. While I do not necessarily agree with everything he has to say, he brings up some really bad contracts. I had no idea how bad the Vernon Wells contract is. Suppan makes the list.

 

Follow-up comments by another blogger: http://www.insidethebook.com/ee/index.php/site/article/poz_is_wrong/

 

Yeah, I got hooked on contract valuation reading last night.

[RockCoCougars]

Wow, Suppan is only 10 on the list. I'd put him at 5 or 6. I'd do a straight up deal for Jose Guillen (#2) in a heartbeat. I'd probably pass on the rest, because none of them are up next near.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

That Vernon Wells contract is astounding.

[Weirdos19]

Maybe they could give Halladay and Wells to the Yanks for Ian kennedy. That may even it out.

[TooLiveBrew]

How the Guillen contract rates as worse than the Soriano contract is beyond me, especially since he seems to be evaluating the contracts largely on years remaining. I see that part of the criteria is production during the whole contract, but it's not too hard to project Soriano for pretty bad numbers the rest of the way. Very strange, rambling post from Posnanski imo.

[Schlitz001]

How the Guillen contract rates as worse than the Soriano contract is beyond me, especially since he seems to be evaluating the contracts largely on years remaining. I see that part of the criteria is production during the whole contract, but it's not too hard to project Soriano for pretty bad numbers the rest of the way. Very strange, rambling post from Posnanski imo.

Concerning Guillen, it could have something to do with the fact that Posnanski sees Guillen play a lot more often than other players on his list. Similar to how us Brewer fans want to see Suppan or Soriano higher on the list. It stings a little more when you have to witness Suppan throwing up meatballs every 5th game first hand.

[jjgott]

One contract I was surprised about is Bernard Gilkey's. Yes, he hasn't played since 2000, but the Diamondbacks are going to be paying him until 2017. I actually think it was pretty smart of the D'Backs to do these deferred salary plans, but it's interesting nonetheless.

Link: http://www.cnbc.com/id/32333349/site/14081545

[BrewCrewForever]

Bernard Gilkey, that is a name I have not heard for quite sometime. Wow.

[TooLiveBrew]

Hah -- that was exactly my reaction... 'Man, Bernard freaking Gilkey' http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[danzig6767]

That Wells contract by Ricciardi is truly mind boggling in stupidity. Imagine you own a baseball team and your GM basically lit over a 100 million dollars of your money on fire? Ricciardi has done some solid things for the Jays and they play in just a brutal division, but wow, the guy has given out multiple ugly contracts.

[RockCoCougars]

Bernard Gilkey = Former Brewer, no?

[MJLiverock]

That Wells contract by Ricciardi is truly mind boggling in stupidity. Imagine you own a baseball team and your GM basically lit over a 100 million dollars of your money on fire? Ricciardi has done some solid things for the Jays and they play in just a brutal division, but wow, the guy has given out multiple ugly contracts.

That contract is astoundingly bad, but when reading some of the comments it is mentioned it was the ownership that pressured Ricciardi to make the deal against his desire to let Wells walk in FA. I don't know how true it is and it may be more of the "blame the owner when the GM does something dumb or unexpected" a la the blame placed on Attanasio whenever Melvin does something that didn't work out or was unexpected.

 

IIRC, wasn't the Wells deal signed back when it seemed every above average guy was demanding $20MM per year after ARod set the bar at $25MM or so. For awhile there it just seemed like $20MM per was the number everyone threw out as the going rate for key FAs.

[Invader3K]

Yeah, according to the comments on that message board, the Wells signing seems to have been more of a PR move to appease the fanbase than anything else. I hope the Brewers never fall into that trap.

[jhart05]

Bernard Gilkey = Former Brewer, no?

 

No.

[sheethead]

Another good point that is brought up is the burden Toronto has to bear being in Canada, where the taxes are outrageous and the exchange rate hurts the players that live in the US. Still doesn't change my opinion of Ricciardi (Dunn, Meche, etc.), but it seems he has just as tough of a job as Melvin if not tougher.

[RockCoCougars]

Bernard Gilkey = Former Brewer, no?

 

No.

Gilkey

 

Did he ever play for the Brewers in Spring Training?

[mls4]

Yes, although it doesn't show up on baseball-reference.com, I am fairly sure that they signed him at one point and/or had him in spring training.

 

Edit: found the transaction recorded on the mlb.com archives from 3/1/03: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/transactions/?c_id=mil&year=2003&month=3

 

Apparently he decided to retire rather than play in the minors at that point- I can't find any other transactions.