Bad baseball transactions showing up early this year

[RightIsWrong]

First, the Pirates release Matt Morris outright after acquiring him at the trading deadline last year. By doing this, nearly 1/4 of their payroll ($10M+) this year is going to to a person that is no longer playing for them.

Now two days later, the Giants are jettisoning Zito to the 'pen. Zito signed with the team prior to last year (7 years - $126M) to be their ace. After an 0-6 start and an ERA over a touchdown, they realize that he is a joker instead.

Oh to be paid millions to make decisions that are so bad.

Edit #1: Blue Jays still paying Frank Thomas $8M after releasing him.

 

[Baked]

We're not gonna get Morris, he sucks just as bad as Zito. We do need to get 1 more SP to fill Zito's spot in the rotation. At least we're not at the bottom of our division, which everyone thought we would be at the beginning of the season. Lincecum FTW!

 

[Mr Pickles]

Go Rays!

 

[shopbruin]

Originally posted by: RightIsWrong
First, the Pirates release Matt Morris outright after acquiring him at the trading deadline last year. By doing this, nearly 1/4 of their payroll ($10M+) this year is going to to a person that is no longer playing for them.

Now two days later, the Giants are jettisoning Zito to the 'pen. Zito signed with the team prior to last year (7 years - $126M) to be their ace. After an 0-6 start and an ERA over a touchdown, they realize that he is a joker instead.

Oh to be paid millions to make decisions that are so bad.

Sabean good decision: scamming the pirates to take matt morris AND his salary.

Sabean bad decision: giving zito that much money. ARGHHHHHH. I would defend Zito but his body of work this season is just... undefendable.

 

[cubby1223]

Don't forget the Dodger's new $18m/year center fielder who's hitting well below the Mendoza line.

The Cubs are still trying to figure out how to make use of Soriano, a terrible lead-off hitter who also cannot steal a base anymore, and yet refuses to hit in any other spot in the lineup.

The Blue Jays released Frank Thomas after more of his usual complaining. He was later signed by the A's, yet somehow the Blue Jays still have to pay him his full $9m for this year.

 

[happybelly]

The Barry Zito deal is easily the worst baseball contract of all time as of now.

He's been in decline since 2003. The warning signs were clearly there he wasn't a dominate pitcher anymore. He's topping out at 84 MPH now and lost the sharpness on his curve.

He's lucky if he returns to much better than a 5th starter.

 

[maddogchen]

what about frank thomas getting jettisoned by Toronto? they're paying for his millions this year.

 

[anxi80]

as much as thomas complained, i think it also has something to do with gibbons as a manager. i dont know what is said behind closed doors but the way this guy has already butted heads with dave bush, shea hillenbrand, ted lilly, and now frank thomas tells me that he may need to work on his interpersonal skills just a little bit.

 

[Matilda]

zito has been horrendous. maybe he can have new life in the bullpen. right now he's killing that team.

remember to add the orioles trading brian roberts to this, when it happens

 

[RightIsWrong]

I added Thomas to the OP. I can't quite add Andruw Jones....yet. He started fairly slow last year and rebounded to have a decent year in every category but BA.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: RightIsWrong
I added Thomas to the OP. I can't quite add Andruw Jones....yet. He started fairly slow last year and rebounded to have a decent year in every category but BA.

I would put Jones on the list. He has put on a good amount of weight and has not been keeping up it seems. He was already showing his age at atlanta a bit last year and i think that was one of the reasons to not go after him.

 

[chuckywang]

Originally posted by: happybelly
The Barry Zito deal is easily the worst baseball contract of all time as of now.

He's been in decline since 2003. The warning signs were clearly there he wasn't a dominate pitcher anymore. He's topping out at 84 MPH now and lost the sharpness on his curve.

He's lucky if he returns to much better than a 5th starter.

You really think the Zito deal is the worst contract in baseball? What about Mike Hampton?

 

[Toasthead]

Originally posted by: chuckywang

Originally posted by: happybelly
The Barry Zito deal is easily the worst baseball contract of all time as of now.

He's been in decline since 2003. The warning signs were clearly there he wasn't a dominate pitcher anymore. He's topping out at 84 MPH now and lost the sharpness on his curve.

He's lucky if he returns to much better than a 5th starter.

You really think the Zito deal is the worst contract in baseball? What about Mike Hampton?

Hampton was alwyas hurt and insurance allows the team to recoup the salaries. Zito just SUCKS.

 

[Nutdotnet]

Originally posted by: Toasthead

Originally posted by: chuckywang

Originally posted by: happybelly
The Barry Zito deal is easily the worst baseball contract of all time as of now.

He's been in decline since 2003. The warning signs were clearly there he wasn't a dominate pitcher anymore. He's topping out at 84 MPH now and lost the sharpness on his curve.

He's lucky if he returns to much better than a 5th starter.

You really think the Zito deal is the worst contract in baseball? What about Mike Hampton?

Hampton was alwyas hurt and insurance allows the team to recoup the salaries. Zito just SUCKS.

Yup. He was dominate in 2003 but has been in a steady decline ever since. The only reason he was a number 1 on the A's is...because it's the A's. Sabean is a moron for this signing. Then again...I'm happy anytime the Giants look like idiots.

Go A's!

 

[Poulsonator]

Jayson Stark just had a chat about this exact subject. His verdict:

'As Hampton nears the finish line of his eight-year, $121 million contract, here's how that one breaks down: He will have been paid $35.5 million by the Braves, $38 million by a team he never pitched for (the Marlins) and $47.5 million by the team that originally signed him (the Rockies). He has won 53 games over the first seven years and $100 million of that contract, which comes to just under $1.89 million a win. (Yikes!) But the scarier number is 100, which is our estimate of the number of starts he has missed since he signed on that dotted line.

THE VERDICT

There are compelling arguments for both sides. But I'm going with Hampton, for two reasons: 1) He's so near the end of his deal, it's easier to assess how disastrous a contract this was. And 2) at least Zito goes out there and pitches (and as messy as that has been), there's at least some redeeming value in the innings he eats. ("Some" is the magic word in that sentence, by the way.)'


STARK

 

[maddogchen]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: RightIsWrong
I added Thomas to the OP. I can't quite add Andruw Jones....yet. He started fairly slow last year and rebounded to have a decent year in every category but BA.

I would put Jones on the list. He has put on a good amount of weight and has not been keeping up it seems. He was already showing his age at atlanta a bit last year and i think that was one of the reasons to not go after him.

good thing that the Giants went and got Aaron Rowand instead of Andrew Jones.

So sad how much Zito has fallen. On a re-building team he can't even stay in the rotation. Even if he was throwing well, he would be fighting with Sanchez to be the 3rd best pitcher on the Giants. Cain and Lincecum are a lot better than Zito.

 

[habib89]

what about jason schmidt to the dodgers. 3 years 47 mil.. that's 16mil a year for those of you without calculators... he's played a whopping 6 games with a record of 1-4 since joining the dodgers...

zito was a bad deal though... but i think the owners (peter mcgowan & co.) were more responsible for zito than sabean was

 

[RightIsWrong]

I might think that the worst of all-time is Carl Pavano's signing with the Yankees:

Pavano followed up his playoff exploits with his best season to date in 2004, posting an 18-8 record and a 3.00 ERA. He became a free agent following the season and, despite receiving bigger offers from Boston and Cincinnati, chose to accept a four-year contract worth $39.95 million with the New York Yankees on December 11, 2004.[2][3]

..........

In his Yankees career, Pavano has earned five wins while compiling a 4.77 ERA. At the rate of his contract, this computes to around 8 million dollars per win.

That is current. He is still on the DL and a member of the team.

 

[Sinsear]

Originally posted by: RightIsWrong
I might think that the worst of all-time is Carl Pavano's signing with the Yankees:

Pavano followed up his playoff exploits with his best season to date in 2004, posting an 18-8 record and a 3.00 ERA. He became a free agent following the season and, despite receiving bigger offers from Boston and Cincinnati, chose to accept a four-year contract worth $39.95 million with the New York Yankees on December 11, 2004.[2][3]

..........

In his Yankees career, Pavano has earned five wins while compiling a 4.77 ERA. At the rate of his contract, this computes to around 8 million dollars per win.

That is current. He is still on the DL and a member of the team.

/thread

We are still paying this douchebag.

 

[oogabooga]

Who'da thought that when my team got rid of one barry causing negative light on the team, yet another barry would be there to pick up the torch

I hope zito gets better, not just cause I'm a giants fan, but because if not, he'll have to live with being one of the worst signings ever. I wouldn't wish that on the guy even if he had ended up with the mets or seattle. I still don't know why the giants were so desperate to sign him.

It's also kinda sad they still call him "Ace"

 

[maddogchen]

Zito was lucky to have Bonds as a teamate last year. It deflected all the attention from his poor performance.

 

[rockyct]

As bad as the Padres are right now, at least they don't have any albatrosses around their neck. The worst deal so far this year is paying Jim Edmonds $6 million ($8 million salary - $2 million from the Cards). Of course, Brian Giles' $9.67 million salary this year is pretty high, but at least he's not completely sucking (.258, 3 HR, 15 RBI).

The Padres are bad, but at least they aren't paying massive contracts while remaining bad.