10. Alex Rios
Blue Jays(Traded to White Sox)
$70 Mil/7 years
This is the kind of deal that gets people fired. Signed to this deal prior to the 2008 season coming off of career highs in average, RBI and HR, Rios proceeded to suck the joint out. His power output declined immediately after signing the deal and was batting a stellar .247 before the Blue Jays finally cut bait and shipped him to the White Sox. Rios was another classic case of fool's gold and his OPS hasn't sniffed .800 since 2007. Can't help wondering what the hell the Blue Jays were thinking here.
9. Gary Matthews, Jr.
Angels(Traded to Mets)
$50 Mil/5 years
The Angels got conned into fool's gold with Matthews. Coming off of a career year with the Rangers (.313, 19HR, 79RBI), the Angels splashed the cash on Matthews. Since that moment in time, Matthews' high water mark in average is .252, HR is 18 and RBIs is 72. Couple that with a guilt-by-association moment regarding the illegal shipment of Anabolic Steroids and this contract officially reaches disaster level. The Angels, essentially giving up, traded Matthews to the Mets, where he batted .190 over 36 games.
8. Travis Hafner
Indians
$57 Mil/4 Years
This is not as terrible a contract as some of the others but it defies logic when you consider all the great players that the Indians opted not to pay, while shelling out huge money to Travis Hafner. This list includes, but is not limited to CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez. It's kinda hard to dig yourself out of a hole when you have no money to spend on the talent you develop and the money you do have is allocated to a guy who missed 44 games in 2010 and only hit a whopping 13 home runs.
7. Jayson Werth
Nationals
$126 Mil/7 years
This appears to be a classic case of a team trying too hard to be relevant, a la the Rangers splashing ridiculous money on ARod and surrounding him with a double A team. I can't really blame Scott Boras on this one because how can you say no when some knucklehead team is offering 15% above the market value for your client. Werth is 32 now, 39 at the end of his deal. He has never batted .300 and hit over 30 HR only once in his career. Hardly the next coming of Hank Aaron out in right field. Mark my words, by June 25 of this year, the Nationals will regret spending this money.
6. Francisco Cordero
Reds
$46 Mil/4 years
If you, as an organization, have no money, no starting pitching, no real hitting, no middle relief and no hope of playing in big games after the 4th of July, spending this kind of money on a closer that you can't get the ball to with a lead is just asinine.
5. JD Drew
Red Sox
$70 Mil/5 years
This Scott Boras special would be much higher on this list if the deal were any longer than the 5 painful years Boston fans have had to endure JD Drew and the endless amount of strike outs. Imagine this scenario. Boras managed to talk the Red Sox into upgrading from Trot Nixon, a fan favorite but constantly injured right fielder, to JD Drew, a fan reviled and constantly injured right fielder. Call me crazy, but I just don't get it. And Nixon's numbers when healthy were pretty comparable. At about 1/3 the cost.
4. Carlos Beltran
Mets
$119 Mil/7 years
The Mets got absolutely conned into this deal by Beltran's ungodly 2003 postseason. Beltran hit a postseason record 13 home runs while leading the Astros to the world series. The problem is that the Mets paid this guy like he was Mickey Mantle, gonna hit 55+ HR a year for the next decade. Hasn't happened. The Mets have got about 40 Cents on the Dollar value out of Beltran. Thank Scott Boras and Omar Minaya for this disaster contract.
3. Alfonso Soriano
Cubs
$136 Mil/8 years
A shockingly bad contract by a team that doesn't have a clue. They moved Soriano all over the field because they needed his bat in the lineup but had to find somewhere to hide his awful fielding (11 errors as the left fielder in 2009, an almost impossible feat). Soriano, since joining the Cubs, has not had a single year of over 80 RBIs, and the once-prolific slugger has only hit more than 30 HR only once. At the very least, this money would have been put to better use almost anywhere.
2. Barry Zito
Giants
$126 Mil/7 years
At the time he signed this deal, Zito was the highest paid pitcher in the league. Turns out that good old Barry is a #4 starter at best. And a bit of a chap ass. Barry has prided himself on pissing people off while collecting his ridiculous paycheck. He also managed to turn in a steller 2008, going 10-17 (a career worst in losses) in the second year of his monster deal. Zito's record since signing with the giants: 40-57. Just pitiful.
1. Kei Igawa
Yankees (No Longer in Major League Baseball)
$46 Mil/5 years
Signed in 2006 and still on the Yankee books, his obscene $46mil deal doesn't even include the obscene $26mil posting fee the Yanks had to pay the Hanshin Tigers to get him. When you add up all the money dumped into the Kei Igawa fiasco, the Yankees paid a staggering $36mil per win for a guy that didn't make the club in the final 3 years of his contract. You might think as a Red Sox fan that I am being overly critical but I challenge anyone to find a worse financial arrangement than $36mil per win. That said, one of Igawa's wins was against the Red Sox.
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