Worst free agent contracts that you can remember....?

Question

here are a few I recall, cant wait to see your answers,
-Darren Dreifort
-Danny Neigle
-Jason Giambi
-Kevin Brown

Answer 1

The Five Biggest Free-Agent Busts of the Last Ten Years:

Albert Belle (LF/RF – Orioles) – 5 years, $65 million ($13m/yr.)
Chan Ho Park (P – Rangers) – 5 years, $65 million ($13m/yr.)
Mo Vaughn (1B – Angels) – 6 years, $80 million ($13.3m/yr.)
Kevin Brown (P – Dodgers) – 7 years, $105 million ($15m/yr.)
Mike Hampton (P – Rockies) – 8 years, $121 million ($15.1m/ yr.)

I wrote an article on this and it's been published at Associated Content. I'll be happy to share that with anyone who is interested in reading it.

Answer 2

no1nyyfan is correct. I read his article and after thinking about it I would say that those are the top 5 worst busts of all time. Carl Pavano would be on the list but his contract isn't over yet. Danny Naigle pitched well for a few of those years I believe and Darren Dreifort wasn't paid nearly as much as the other guys. Giambi had solid years and thus doesn't even crack the list for any reason.

Answer 3

There have been a ton but the worst one that I can remember is the Giants signing Barry Zito to 7 years, 126 Million Dollars. Now on Barry's first season he was 11-13, 4.53 Earned Run Average, and only 131 Strikeouts 34 Starts. Now that is nowhere near 150 Million Dollars worth of pitching.

Now for all you Giants fans out there, with all due respect, I think that was the worst deal your team's management has ever made, giving a guy 15 Million Dollars a year, for 7 years, and He can't even win 15 games. Now please, start thinking about your deals and be more careful. Remember with all due respect.

Answer 4

Gary Matthews Jr. getting 55 million from the angels and Carl Pavano Getting 40 million from the yankees, Bj Ryan 45 million for 5 years with the blue jays is pretty bad too.

Answer 5

How about Carlos Zamrbano's deal that he siged for 5 years that he signed for over 90 million dollars, and that is too much for a guy that might hardly to anything, but pitch every 4-5 days. I would hope that any gernal manger would have would have not gven Zambrano that big of a contract for that much money for a 5 year deal. But Jim Hendry is not like that, he would sign money for a big amount of money, that whole lot of genral mangers would turn down.

Answer 6

A Rod's $252 million with the Texas Rangers.

A Rod's $275 million plus another $30 million in incentives with the NY Yankees.

Doesn't get any worse than that.

Answer 7

Matt Young. Yuck.

Nick Esasky, but his was for a health/medical reason. Career-ending vertigo. (In contrast, Young simply sucked.)

Colorado's massive deals with Hampton and Neagle.

Juan Gonzalez, any contract signed starting in 2002.

Clemens' 2007 deal didn't exactly work out like anyone hoped.

Roberto Alomar's last deal, with Tampa Bay, has to be considered a bust (even though it didn't cost much) since he retired during spring training.

I'd pin the championship on Driefort's five year, $55M deal with the Dodgers (his same team, but he was a FA) signed after the 2000 season.
2001 -- 94.2 IP, 5.13, 4-7
2002 -- DL
2003 -- 60.1 IP, 4.03, 4-4
2004 -- 50.2 IP, 4.44, 1-4
2005 -- DL
and then retired. Double-yuck. Nah; make that triple-yuck.

Answer 8

Danny Tartabull- Phillies 1 -Year 2 Million Dollar Contract.

3-GMs
7-AB
0-H
4-R
4-SO
.000-BA

There are probably worse...however this was the easiest 2 Million Dollars almost anyone has made EVER.

Answer 9

the worst one was in 1977 before abritration, representing himself, mark fidrych got a salary hike from 27,000 to 100,000. he should have gotten much more. he alone was responsible for 15 home sellouts alone. on top of the great media attention he got for the tigers in '76, being the first ball player to cover both SI and rolling stone.
it was the worst, because he was underpaid, not overpaid. even though he never really pitched after that '76 season, fans in detroit still adore him and whenever he pitches a celebrity game he is drawing the fans in just like before.

Answer 10

As a brewer fan.... Jeffrey Lenard was a bad deal!

Hell, Last year we traded 3 Ex prospects for Linebrink, that wasn't good either. But not a free agent, just a bad trade