Ten horrible MLB pitching contracts – Part 2
In 2002 Chan Ho Park got a $65 million contract for five years with the Texas Rangers. He remained injured for the most the time. His performance was mediocre and he turned out to be a pretty big waste of money for the Rangers. Although the Rangers have
had some tremendous seasons over the past few years, it seems they have money to burn with wasteful contracts like these.
The New York Yankees signed Carl Pavano to a four year $39.95 million contract. He never really performed to the level that the Yankees would have liked. He also succumbed to injury more times than one can remember. It seems that this contract was a total
dud for the Yankees. Even though they can afford to make such mistakes, it becomes rather ridiculous to justify the large amounts being paid to players that cannot perform or are always sitting on the bench as other players that make considerably less are
on the field fighting it out for the team.
The Los Angeles Dodgers gave 34-year-old Kevin Brown a seven year $105 million contract in 1999. His performance was very average for the amount of money that he was getting. He also was constantly injured over the years. It seemed the Dodgers screwed up
giving so much money to a pitcher that could not do anything for them on the field. As the Dodgers are currently in the process of being sold to a new owner, it is no wonder they are out of money with contracts like these and nothing to show for it.
Mike Hampton joined the Colorado Rockies in 2000 with at the time was considered to be one of the biggest contracts in sports history, of $121 million for eight years. Hampton performed so poorly that within two years he was traded to the Atlanta Braves.
Here is another example of wasting big money on nothing but hype. It seemed the Rockies got caught up in the moment and they must have thought that Hampton would be able to do something special for the team. However it was not meant to be and they were fortunate
to be able to trade him and save a bundle of cash in the process.
The San Francisco Giants signed on Barry Zito with a contract of seven years, paying him $126 million in 2006. His performance was far from grand, as the Giants actually left him off the post-season roster and managed to win the World Series. It seems the
Giants had money to waste as they gave a pitcher such a large sum of money that Zito was doomed from the start. Having to live to those high expectations takes its toll on players. That is why most of these ridiculous contracts involving sickening amounts
of money usually end up in the can.
The Los Angeles Dodgers gave Darren Dreifort a five year $55 million contract in 2001. His performance was just average and did not justify the large amount of money he was getting. His record was horrible and it seemed that the Dodgers had messed up again
with another lousy contract on an average player.
In another not-so-brilliant move by the Los Angeles Dodgers was in 2007 when they signed on Jason Schmidt to a three year contract worth $47 million. Schmidt somehow managed to stay on the team without pitching, and when he did pitch, his performance was
terrible. It seems that the Dodgers did not learn much from their previous high priced mistakes. The Dodgers again messed this one up as they supposedly had high hopes for this pitcher, but he just could not perform.
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