10. Wayne Garland, Indians, 1977
9. Chan Ho Park, Rangers, 2002
8. Juan Pierre, Dodgers, 2007
The background: A singles-hitting center fielder who had compiled an OPS better than league average just once in his career, due to an inability to draw walks or hit for power. But he had led the NL five times in caught stealing.
The contract: Five years, $44 million.
The result: Though Pierre is known as one of the good guys in baseball, the Dodgers nonetheless admitted their own mistake after just one season, as they signed Andruw Jones to play center field in 2008. Oops.
7. Gary Matthews Jr., Angels, 20076. Albert Belle, Orioles
5. Darren Dreifort, Dodgers, 2001
The background: Had three good months for the Dodgers at the end of the 2000 season.
The contract: Five years, $55 million.
The result: Despite only 39 career wins and Dreifort's coming off a season in which he allowed 31 home runs, the Dodgers re-signed him to a megabucks deal in the crazy 2000-01 offseason. He won nine games.
4. Denny Neagle, Rockies, 2001
3. Barry Zito, Giants, 2007
2. Mo Vaughn, Angels, 1999
1. Mike Hampton, Rockies, 2001
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1 comment:
There was an article in this week's LA Times about the Diamondbacks, and in it was mentioned them having to pay Bernard Gilkey something like $500,000 a year for the next 20 years or something crazy like that?
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