Worst contract of all time
With the Detroit Tigers indeed announcing the signing of Ordonez to the worst contract this year, it is worth considering where this ranks in baseball history.
The worst baseball contract ever?
In my mind, A-Rod's contract with Texas goes down as the worst ever. In fact no team even comes close to the stinker Tom Hick's signed. Oh sure, guys like Park and Neagle and Hampton seem bad, but they are gems compared to Pay-Rod's.
Consider what Hick's and the Rangers got for three years of service from Pay-Rod. From a performance perspective, Alex was magnificent- one MVP, solid defense, modest increase in attendance the first year, national attention during the winter. From a dollars perspective for the team however, the contract was an albatross the moment the ink was dry.
Last place finishes every year, no pitching, inability to open payroll to improve the team etc... we all know the story.
For three years of service, the Rangers paid Alex $150 million!!! They averaged $50 million a year to watch Alex play SS. They had to throw in a Chan Ho Park contract worth of money to New York just to make the guy go away!
Sorry, but nothing Alex did was ever worth anything near that kind of money. He needed to throw a few perfect games and work full-time in the Scouting department to even earn half his salary. Even in the inflated world of baseball, if Vlad can win the MVP for $15 million a year, there is simply no way you can justify paying Alex $50 million for anything he did. You can buy a lot of Chan Ho Park's and Denny Neagle's with the extra $35 million the Rangers threw away every year.
In my mind, the Alex contract is simply the worst of all time.
With the Detroit Tigers indeed announcing the signing of Ordonez to the worst contract this year, it is worth considering where this ranks in baseball history.
The worst baseball contract ever?
In my mind, A-Rod's contract with Texas goes down as the worst ever. In fact no team even comes close to the stinker Tom Hick's signed. Oh sure, guys like Park and Neagle and Hampton seem bad, but they are gems compared to Pay-Rod's.
Consider what Hick's and the Rangers got for three years of service from Pay-Rod. From a performance perspective, Alex was magnificent- one MVP, solid defense, modest increase in attendance the first year, national attention during the winter. From a dollars perspective for the team however, the contract was an albatross the moment the ink was dry.
Last place finishes every year, no pitching, inability to open payroll to improve the team etc... we all know the story.
For three years of service, the Rangers paid Alex $150 million!!! They averaged $50 million a year to watch Alex play SS. They had to throw in a Chan Ho Park contract worth of money to New York just to make the guy go away!
Sorry, but nothing Alex did was ever worth anything near that kind of money. He needed to throw a few perfect games and work full-time in the Scouting department to even earn half his salary. Even in the inflated world of baseball, if Vlad can win the MVP for $15 million a year, there is simply no way you can justify paying Alex $50 million for anything he did. You can buy a lot of Chan Ho Park's and Denny Neagle's with the extra $35 million the Rangers threw away every year.
In my mind, the Alex contract is simply the worst of all time.
posted by Tom at
11:02 AM
