 |
 |
 |
|
Earlier this week, the Seattle Seahawks decided they no longer wanted to employ the services of former MVP Shaun Alexander. That eight-year, $62 million contract he signed a couple of years ago? Save for the guaranteed bucks, it's like it never existed.
Unfortunately, baseball doesn't work this way. Plenty of teams are saddled with huge contracts they'd love to get out from under. Problem is, they made dumb decisions, and now they're stuck with well-paid vets dragging down the team's performance. Meanwhile, in many instances a better, lesser-paid option is wasting away in Triple-A.
So who are the main offenders this year? Here's a complete 25-man roster of the All-Overpaid All-Stars -- $273,573,594 million worth of declining guys who are incredibly lucky they chose baseball over football.
The starting nine ($122,785,364)
1. Johnny Damon, New York Yankees (LF, $13,000,000 million)
Last year the Yankees decided they'd be better off with their high-priced center fielder playing left field. Even better, Damon's stats (.270/12/63, .351 OBP) were marginally worse than those of Luis Gonzalez, (.278/15/68, .359 OBP), a fellow left fielder who's currently being paid $11 million less than Damon to get sporadic at-bats for the Marlins.
2. Ray Durham, San Francisco Giants (2B, $7,500,000)
No second baseman qualified for the 2007 batting title with a lower average than Durham (.218), who last year turned in his worst season since 1995.
3. Jason Giambi, New York Yankees (DH, $23,428,571)
Last year, Giambi hit .236 and had 14 home runs. He is the second-highest paid player in baseball.
4. Andruw Jones, Los Angeles Dodgers (CF. $14,726,910)
Know how many outfielders qualified for last year's batting title with a lower average than Jones? Zero. Indeed, Andruw hit .222 and had his lowest home run total since 1999. Still, the Dodgers felt compelled to give him a two-year, $36.2 million deal that gives him the fifth-highest average salary in the majors.
5. Carlos Delgado, New York Mets (1B, $16,000,000)
Delgado is tied for the 10th-highest salary in baseball. Among first basemen last year, only Kevin Millar had a lower average, and only Aubrey Huff had a lower OPS.
6. Troy Glaus, St. Louis Cardinals (3B, $12,500,000)
Adrian Beltre is also overpaid, but at least he shows up to play and puts up decent numbers. Troy Glaus, on the other hand, is about as reliable as a Pinto. Since 2002, he has played in more than 115 games just twice, and as far as power goes, the former slugger has nine home runs since last year's All-Star break.
7. J.D Drew, Boston Red Sox (RF, $14,000,000)
Drew is off to a decent start this season, but keep in mind he has had over 500 at-bats and 100 RBIs just once apiece in nine "full" seasons.
8. Ivan Rodriguez, Detroit Tigers (C, $12,379,883)
Last year, Pudge (.281/11/63) performed slightly worse than Kenji Johjima (.287/14/61), and got paid twice as much.
9. Julio Lugo, Boston Red Sox (SS, $9,250,000)
Don't think Lugo is that bad? In 2007, he made more money than all but four shortstops and finished 24th at the position in OPS.
The bench ($37,916,697)
Richie Sexson, Seattle Mariners ($15,500,000)
Big Sexy gets Vlad Guerrero money and puts up Wilton Guerrero numbers. Even if he rebounds a bit this year, he's not going to make the Mariners stop regretting throwing this kind of cash his way.
Juan Pierre, Los Angeles Dodgers ($8,000,000)
On one hand, Pierre stole 64 bases last year. On the other, he was one of two players to get caught stealing more than 15 times, and even worse, NO starting outfielder had a lower OPS.
Nomar Garciaparra, Los Angeles Dodgers ($9,516,697)
Nomar hasn't made it through a season in one piece since 2003, yet somehow the Dodgers think he's worth nearly $10 million a year to do little more than block prospects from the big leagues and clog up space on the DL.
Brian Schneider, New York Mets ($4,900,000)
Schneider is a fine catcher, but he makes a little too much cash for someone whose 2007 OPS (.661) is eerily similar to that of Brad Ausmus (.642), the poster boy for all-field, no-hit catching.
The starting rotation ($66,729,868)
1. Barry Zito, San Francisco Giants ($14,500,000)
Really, this one needs no explanation.
2. Jason Schmidt, Los Angeles Dodgers ($15,217,401)
Forget the fact that he's injured. Even if Schmidt were healthy, the Dodgers paid him an absurd amount of money for a (then) 33-year-old pitcher coming off his two worst seasons as a Giant.
3. Mike Hampton, Atlanta Braves ($15,975,184)
Hampton hasn't pitched since 2005, but even so, in his last full season (2004) he had just 87 K's in 172.1 innings, and the league hit a whopping .290 against him.
4. Vicente Padilla, Texas Rangers ($11,000,000)
Padilla makes $11 million and hasn't had an ERA below 4.50 since 2003.
5. Matt Morris, Pittsburgh Pirates ($10,037,283)
In 11 starts with the Pirates last year, Morris had a 6.10 ERA and the league hit .315 against him. Naturally, he makes up 20 percent of his team's payroll.
The bullpen ($46,141,665)
Adam Eaton, Philadelphia Phillies ($7,958,333)
In 2006, Eaton had a 5.12 ERA and 1.57 WHIP for the Rangers. These awful numbers impressed the Phillies so much, they decided to give him a 3-year, $24 million deal. Eaton rewarded the team by going 10-10 with a 6.29 ERA last year.
Esteban Loaiza, Los Angeles Dodgers ($7,500,000)
You'd be hard-pressed to find another pitcher who makes this much money yet isn't good enough to crack his team's rotation.
Kyle Farnsworth, New York Yankees ($5,916,666)
For $6 million a year, you might want a pitcher who doesn't make your fans cringe each time he takes the mound in a close game.
Danys Baez, Baltimore Orioles ($6,166,666)
In 2006, Baez had nine saves, eight blown saves and a mediocre 4.53 ERA. The going-nowhere Orioles somehow thought it would be a good idea to hand him $19 million. Thus far all that money has brought them zero wins, six losses and a 6.44 ERA. On the bright side, Baez won't pitch again until 2009.
Octavio Dotel, Chicago White Sox ($5,000,000)
Dotel hasn't thrown more than 30 innings in a season since 2004, yet managed to score a two-year, $11 million deal from the White Sox last winter.
Scott Schoeneweis, New York Mets ($3,600,000)
Schoeneweis doesn't make too much money, but the all-overpaid team needs a lefty, and $3.6 million is a nice chunk of change for a guy who has pitched nine seasons and only twice had an ERA under 4.88.
Eric Gagne, Milwaukee Brewers ($10,000,000)
After being traded to the Red Sox last year, Gagne pitched 18.2 innings and allowed 14 runs. Naturally, the Brewers awarded him with $10 million, and so far this year, Gagne has picked up right where he left off, allowing eight runs in just 8.2 innings.
