Biggest Boston Red Sox Contracts in the last two decades – Part 2
Nomar Garciaparra has been the beloved short-stop for the franchise given he was a six time All-Star. On top of that Garciaparra has been an over looming threat for the MVP and has won one batting title after another. However, he has struggled with injuries
throughout his career, due to a wrist injury he could not play in all of 2001. There have been many other DL stints during his time in Boston and his statistics declined to a point where he was traded by the Red Sox. On top of that he was never part of the
team that brought home the World Series title.
In 2008 Dustin Pedroia signed on the Red Sox with a six year contract worth $40.5-million. Since then he has certainly lived up to the dollars he received. He was won many awards which include a MVP award, Gold Glove award and has been to the All-Star games
thrice. During the 2007 Red Sox Championship, he was the second best hitter on the team. He has a hard style and because he has a tendency to speak his mind, he has always been a fan favourite in Boston. Let’s hope he rebounds from the injury-laden 2010 season
and does even more justice to the contract.
After a tremendously successful 2007 season, David Ortiz signed a $62.5-million deal for five years. Based on his performance and legacy and the fact that he was the star behind the Red Sox 2004 World Series Championship he surely deserves this contract.
During the 2004 postseason he had three home-runs with .370 and he had 10 runs in which two were walk off hits against the Yankees in the ALCS. Since his time in Boston, he has been in six All-Star games and has managed to be in the top 5 of the MVP voting
five times. He led the American League in most home-runs for one season. Most importantly, he seems to be the most feared hitters in the league when the game is crucial and is one the line.
2000 saw Manny Ramirez being signed on for eight years with a whooping $160-million deal with options for two additional seasons. Since then he has managed to bag himself a batting title, has led the league in most number of home-runs and has been on nine
All-Star teams, consecutively. He helped in the breaking of the 86-year-old curse which had prevented the Red Sox from being the World Series MVP and was a part of the 2007 team which won the World Series Championship. This seems to be a perfect record and
anyone would think that he deserves the contract he got but Ramirez’s volatile behavior has led to many trade demands and several intense altercations with players, coaches and staff members, both physical and verbal.
General manager Dan Duquette traded for Pedro Martinez and immediately signed him on for a six year contract for $75-million. Since that time he has proved himself to be one of the best, if not the best pitcher to have been part of the franchise. He has
won two Cy Young Awards and has been selected to six All-Star teams. The 1999 season, Martinez gave the greatest pitching season of all times. He topped the American League in wins, ERA and strike-outs. Martinez was undeniably the best Red Sox pitcher of his
time and if all that wasn’t enough to justify his contract, then he was also part of the 2004 Red Sox team that broke the curse for the Red Sox by winning the World Championship.
There have been many contracts throughout the history of baseball that have people wondering whether the player can meet up to the expectations or not. Sometimes they do and sometimes they fail but that hasn’t stopped the team officials from spending big
bucks and taking their chances because you never know, you could always be pleasantly surprised.
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