The long, dark winter continues, but there’s a light in the distance for baseball fans: pitchers and catchers report in less than four weeks. In anticipation of a new MLB season, we decided to take a look at the worst contracts in baseball on a team-by-team basis. Some of these deals were handed out during the current off-season, while others were signed years ago.
In some respects, this is a surprising list of players. In a league without a salary cap, one would expect more abominable, team-unfriendly deals, but there just aren’t as many terrible contracts in baseball as there used to be.
While there’s no such thing as a truly untradeable player—see: Kemp, Matt—every team has at least one guy who would be incredibly difficult to deal away because he’s just not worth what he’s being paid.*
Here’s our list of MLB’s current hardest-to-trade players:
*OK, this isn’t actually true. The Kansas City Royals, Philadelphia Phillies, San Diego Padres and Tampa Bay Rays don’t have any legitimately bad deals on the books.
AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST
Ubaldo Jimenez
Jimenez is in the final year of a four-year deal that will see him take home $13.5 million this season—the third-highest salary on the books for the Orioles in 2017. Considering that he posted an ERA of 5.44 last season, that salary is way out of line. Jimenez is a far cry from the player he was in his best season, when he was an all-star for the Rockies.
Pablo Sandoval
Sandoval inked a five-year, $95-million deal ahead of the 2015 season, and after putting up ugly numbers that year and showing up to spring training severely overweight for year two, that contract looks incredibly bad. It’s hard to imagine any team wanting to trade for the 30-year-old right now, though there’s some good news for Red Sox fans: Sandoval is reportedly in better shape ahead of the 2017 season.
Jacoby Ellsbury
The Yankees have no shortage of highly paid players, but Ellsbury’s ugly deal—seven years, $153 million—keeps him with the team through 2020. He’s already 33, and his OPS+ last year was only 88. At least he’s keeping it interesting by doing something no one else is doing: reaching base on catcher’s interference a freakishly high number of times.
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Congratulations, Tampa Bay Rays: Not only does your team not have a single overpaid player, but your insistence on signing your most promising players to team-friendly pre-arbitration extensions means some of your biggest stars are losing out on big paydays (hello, Chris Archer).
Kendrys Morales
This one’s probably a bitter pill to swallow, but it’s abundantly clear now that the Blue Jays overpaid for Morales when they jumped on him early in the current off-season.
AMERICAN LEAGUE CENTRAL
James Shields
After the Padres dealt Shields to Chicago last season, the right-hander’s performance was disappointing. He posted an ERA of 6.77—and a FIP of 6.93—across 22 starts. Shields is currently the highest-paid player on the White Sox roster and is owed $42 million through 2018.
Yan Gomes
Yan Gomes had a bad year in 2016. Not only did the Cleveland backstop suffer a testicular contusion after Mariners slugger Dae-Ho Lee fouled a ball off his nether regions—forcing him to start wearing a Kevlar cup called “The Nutshellz”—he also suffered a shoulder injury that sidelined him for much of the season. That was followed by a fractured wrist, so Gomes is probably due for some better luck this season. Across 74 games last season his OPS+ was a horrifying 33. While he should rebound this year, there’s no way he’d get the $17.5 million he’s owed through 2019 if he were a free agent right now.
Anibal Sanchez
The Tigers’ roster offers up a number of hard-to-trade candidates. Jordan Zimermann is a strong one—he’s signed through 2020 and owed another $92 million—but Sanchez gets the honours. Zimmermann battled injuries last season, but Sanchez was just bad (his ERA was 5.87). He’s owed nearly $17 million this year, the final year on his deal, and his performance has declined steadily, so it’s hard to imagine a team keen to take him on.
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This time last year, Ian Kennedy would have been a good candidate for hardest-to-trade. He somehow got five years and $70 million a year ago despite putting up pretty underwhelming numbers in 2015. But Kennedy had a solid season in 2016, so the Royals don’t have anyone who counts on this list.
Phil Hughes
Hughes will earn $13.2 million in each of the next three years, but he posted a 5.95 ERA during an injury-shortened 2016 season. Not exactly the kind of player rival teams are going to pursue.
AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST
Tony Sipp
Sipp is one of the lower-paid players to make this list—he’ll make $6 million this year, and another $6 million next season. But the 33-year-old lefty isn’t worth that kind of money. His FIP in 2016, across 43.2 innings pitched, was an unhealthy 6.19.
Albert Pujols
Some of the names on this list might be controversial, but not this one. Pujols is still owed $140 million for the second half of his 10-year deal, and he’s already 37. FanGraphs’ Depth Charts projects his WAR next season at 1.0, which tells you all you need to know about why nobody would want to take on this contract.
Ryan Madson
Oakland isn’t a big-spending team, but Madson is overpaid. The 36-year-old reliever landed a three-year, $22 million contract after a career year with the Royals in 2015 (when he posted an ERA of 2.13 and took home a World Series ring), but his performance declined last year and he’s projected to put up slightly worse numbers this season.
Marc Rzepczynski
The Mariners have had a very busy off-season, but one of the deals GM Jerry Dipoto made raises eyebrows: the team signed Rzepczynski to a two-year, $11 million contract. The left-handed reliever put up solid performances with two different teams last year, but Seattle still overpaid for Rzepczynski, whose numbers against right-handed batters make him best deployed as a left-handed specialist.
Shin-Soo Choo
Choo’s 2016 season saw him land on the DL four separate times. He’s poised to bounce back this year, but he’s owed $82 million in the final four seasons of his contract, so unless he regains his form in a significant way, the Rangers are overpaying.
NATIONAL LEAGUE EAST
Matt Kemp
Kemp’s eight-year, $160-million deal keeps him on the books through 2019. A year ago, he would’ve been one of the players least likely to be traded, and yet the Padres managed to ship him to Atlanta—though in exchange, San Diego took on Hector Olivera in a your-problem-for-my-problem swap. Kemp, now 32, slashed .280/.336/.519 in 56 games with Atlanta after the trade, but he’s not worth the kind of money he’s owed—especially when his value is projected to be just a smidge over replacement-level this year.
Wei-Yin Chen
Chen is in a category of underperformers: players whose contracts didn’t raise eyebrows initially but who have since struggled to meet expectations. The lefty posted an ERA of 4.96 across 22 starts in his first season with the Marlins.
David Wright
A fan favourite, Wright is owed $67 million for the final four years of his contract. The 34-year-old third baseman may be beloved in New York, but he’s had health concerns that limited him to just 75 games played between 2015 and 2016. In June, Wright underwent neck surgery, raising concerns about his ability to stay healthy down the line.
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The Phanatic can rest easy—the Phillies didn’t make this list.
Ryan Zimmerman
Zimmerman’s got another four years and $48 million to go. His OPS+ last year was 69. That’s bad, obviously, though the upside is that Zimmerman’s awful season looks like an anomaly. Still, it’s hard to see a team wanting to take on a 32-year-old for that price when his WAR last season was -1.3.
NATIONAL LEAGUE CENTRAL
Jason Heyward
Sure, the Cubs won the World Series last year, but Heyward’s first season with Chicago was a disappointment numbers-wise. Considering his eight-year, $184 million deal, his performance was substandard (especially in the World Series itself, when he slashed .150/.150/.150 across 20 plate appearances—though he did make an inspiring speech during the rain delay in Game 7, which maybe counts for something). He’ll need to rebound if he’s going to earn that paycheque.
Homer Bailey
Bailey’s 2014 season was shortened when he was diagnosed with forearm fatigue, and as a result of various health issues he’s made just eight starts across the past two seasons. There’s hope that he could be fully healthy this year, but considering he’s owed $63 million on the final three years of his deal, he’d be a very tricky player to move.
Matt Garza
Now entering the final year of his deal, Garza will make $12.5 million in 2017. The righty just isn’t worth that kind of money considering the numbers he put up last year. Yes, he dealt with injury, but he’s not getting any younger and his velocity is down. As if trading him wouldn’t be hard enough, he also talks down to women, which means he’s unlikely to win fans on a new team.
Antonio Bastardo
Bastardo is owed $6.62 million in the final year of his two-year deal. He started last season with the Mets and pitched terribly, though he was slightly less bad after New York managed to send him to Pittsburgh in exchange for Jon Niese. Still, his projected numbers don’t quite match up with his salary.
Mike Leake
Like Chen, Leake underwhelmed in his first year with a new team. The 29-year-old righty had earned a five-year, $80 million deal with St. Louis, and while he’s still a valuable contributor, the Cardinals are overpaying for a pretty average starter.
NATIONAL LEAGUE WEST
Yasmany Tomas
Tomas landed a six-year, $68.5 million deal two years ago. He posted some lacklustre numbers in his debut season—with an OPS+ of just 88—and while he improved in his sophomore year, his skillset’s reminiscent of Chris Carter and Mark Trumbo, two players having trouble finding big paydays in free agency.
Gerardo Parra
Parra will make $8 million this year and $10 next year. FanGraphs valued the outfielder at -1.8 wins above replacement last year, and he’s projected to improve to -0.2 this year. In the words of Lionel Hutz, “Case closed.”
Brandon McCarthy
The Dodgers have the highest payroll in baseball, so it’s understandable that the team has a number of candidates here. McCarthy, who’s owed $23 million on the final two years of his contract, has struggled with injuries, making only 14 appearances between 2015 and 2016.
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The Padres managed to stay off this, which is unsurprising since theirs is the lowest payroll in MLB.
Matt Cain
Cain will earn $21 million this season after a year in which he posted an ERA of 5.64 across 89.1 innings. It seems unlikely that he’ll recapture the form he possessed earlier in his career, and he’s grossly overpaid considering how unreliable he is as the Giants’ fifth starter.
