Grantland on baseball worst contracts

[Station 13]

It's shocking to see current and former Sox on the list. We're truly f***ed it LA hadn't come in to take up those deals.

 

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8914127/jonah-keri-worst-contracts-mlb

 

Guess who is #1?

[Palodios]

I haven't looked yet, but here are my guesses

 

#1: Crawford

#2: Alex Rodriguez

#3: Vernon Wells

#4: Lackey

 

Edit: And on looking, I'm pretty thrilled that Papelbon got an honorable mention. Well deserved :lol:

[Dojji]

When you bring in elite talent you wind up paying for it. The worst contracts are thee ones you pay for nonelite talent, as if it was elite.

 

Papelbon's contract is just fine because he is in fact a consistently elite closer. Paying most of the league's closers Papelbon money would indeed be foolish.

[Bellhorn04]

I haven't looked yet, but here are my guesses

 

#1: Crawford

#2: Alex Rodriguez

#3: Vernon Wells

#4: Lackey

 

Edit: And on looking, I'm pretty thrilled that Papelbon got an honorable mention. Well deserved :lol:

 

The discussion on Papelbon is actually pretty interesting. It suggests that he might be worth that kind of money if his value was maximized by his manager.

[Dojji]

... which is not Papelbon's fault and should not reflect on him

[a700hitter]

Worst contract in Red Sox history-- Dice K. $102 million for 1 mediocre year and 1 good year. It dosen't matter that half of it went for the signing rights. It was still $102 million. It makes the Yankees contract with Carl Pavano look like a bargain.

[Bellhorn04]

Worst contract in Red Sox history-- Dice K. $102 million for 1 mediocre year and 1 good year. It dosen't matter that half of it went for the signing rights. It was still $102 million. It makes the Yankees contract with Carl Pavano look like a bargain.

 

I think Dice K's arm got blown out in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. He was decent in 2007 and 2008 and after that 2009 WBC, which he was MVP in, he was injured or garbage for 4 years. We got double-screwed by Japanese baseball on that one.

[Station 13]

Crawford is the worst contract given out by this team by far. We're living in the aftermath of that mega failure. Crawford got paid $45M over two disastrous season and the team missed the playoff. Along the way we part with 3 1B, leaving us with absolutely nothing from the position. That was a price to pay to unload Crawford. We paid Rizzo/Kelly to get Gonzo. We dump Crawford by giving up Gonzalez. Plus $12M went to LA possibly to cover Crawford.

 

I don't see how anything tops this one.

 

Dice-K won 50 games with Boston and was a big part of the 2007 team.

 

Crawford was a massive failure at every turn. It has turn this organization upside down.

[a700hitter]

I think Dice K's arm got blown out in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. He was decent in 2007 and 2008 and after that 2009 WBC, which he was MVP in, he was injured or garbage for 4 years. We got double-screwed by Japanese baseball on that one.

Aceves is pitching in this year's WBC. I hate it when our pitchers play in that stupid pointless tournament.

[Northern Star]

Dice-K won 50 games with Boston and was a big part of the 2007 team.

 

$2 million per win. Bargain.

[a700hitter]

Crawford is the worst contract given out by this team by far. We're living in the aftermath of that mega failure. Crawford got paid $45M over two disastrous season and the team missed the playoff. Along the way we part with 3 1B, leaving us with absolutely nothing from the position. That was a price to pay to unload Crawford. We paid Rizzo/Kelly to get Gonzo. We dump Crawford by giving up Gonzalez. Plus $12M went to LA possibly to cover Crawford.

 

I don't see how anything tops this one.

 

Dice-K won 50 games with Boston and was a big part of the 2007 team.

 

Crawford was a massive failure at every turn. It has turn this organization upside down.

I don't think it is accurate to say that the $12 million is entirely attributable to Crawford. Even if it were, the $40 million difference between Dice k and Crawford is not insubstantial. Also, we only had to suffer through less than 2 years of Crawford. Dice K was screwing up our rotation for his final 4 years.

[Station 13]

$2 million per win. Bargain.

 

Sure heck beat a guy who was paid close to $50M in two year to sit around and do nothing and watches the organization fallen into disarray.

[a700hitter]

Sure heck beat a guy who was paid close to $50M in two year to sit around and do nothing and watches the organization fallen into disarray.

I don't share that opinion.

[Northern Star]

Sure heck beat a guy who was paid close to $50M in two year to sit around and do nothing and watches the organization fallen into disarray.

 

Nope.

[Bellhorn04]

Aceves is pitching in this year's WBC. I hate it when our pitchers play in that stupid pointless tournament.

 

Likewise.

[Northern Star]

Likewise.

 

Does anyone actually watch the WBC? What channel is it shown on? I've never seen it and really don't care about it at all.

[a700hitter]

Does anyone actually watch the WBC? What channel is it shown on? I've never seen it and really don't care about it at all.

It's a pointless exercise of nationalism that proves nothing. Any organization with a substantial investment in a pitcher should deny permission to participate in the tournament. Pitchers should not pitch fr anyone other than their employer team for the duration of their contracts. I am convinced that Dice K ruined his career by going all out in that stupid tournament in 2009. The Red sox were fools for granting him permission when he was under contract for another 4 years.

[Palodios]

I don't think it is accurate to say that the $12 million is entirely attributable to Crawford. Even if it were, the $40 million difference between Dice k and Crawford is not insubstantial. Also, we only had to suffer through less than 2 years of Crawford. Dice K was screwing up our rotation for his final 4 years.

 

Dice-k was painful to watch, but 3 of his 6 years were pretty solid overall. He pitched 150 innings of 4.6 ERA ball in 2010, so that's barely screwing up the rotation.

 

I think there are several players on the Red Sox roster in the last 3-4 years who had worse contracts. Bobby Jenks was paid 12 million for 15 innings of 6.32 ERA, a drunk driving scandal and a lawsuit against the team's doctors. While Dice-k was paid 2 million per win, Jenks was paid 1 million per inning.

 

The Crawford signing single-handedly destroyed the franchise. When he had his Red Sox press conference, he was so nervous he couldn't put two words together. He handcuffed the Red Sox financially, so they wouldn't budget more starting pitching. He provided less on-field value in two years than Daniel Nava did in one.

 

Oh, and Lackey.

[a700hitter]

Dice-k was painful to watch, but 3 of his 6 years were pretty solid overall. He pitched 150 innings of 4.6 ERA ball in 2010, so that's barely screwing up the rotation.

 

I think there are several players on the Red Sox roster in the last 3-4 years who had worse contracts. Bobby Jenks was paid 12 million for 15 innings of 6.32 ERA, a drunk driving scandal and a lawsuit against the team's doctors. While Dice-k was paid 2 million per win, Jenks was paid 1 million per inning.

 

The Crawford signing single-handedly destroyed the franchise. When he had his Red Sox press conference, he was so nervous he couldn't put two words together. He handcuffed the Red Sox financially, so they wouldn't budget more starting pitching. He provided less on-field value in two years than Daniel Nava did in one.

 

Oh, and Lackey.

The Jenks' contract was a beauty. I was at Yankee stadium for what I believe might have been his last appearance. There were only a handful. I swear that he was so fat and out of shape that he got winded taking his warmups.

[jacksonianmarch]

My hope is that we arent revisiting this in 5 yrs and adding Robby Cano to this list. He just turned 30 so he'll play out his final season on this contract at that age. He will likely get a 7 yr contract covering yrs 31-37 and he will likely produce to his career norms for the first 3 yrs of that contract. After that he could be hurt, ineffective, slowly decline or completely combust. I know we have to re-sign him and if he continues on his current trajectory, he's a HOF lock, but I dont like the look that Boras seems to have in his eye on this contract. He'll make King Felix's deal look like a bargain