CSN: The five worst contracts in Orioles history

[Tony-OH]

With the Orioles signing Jimenez to the largest contract they've ever given to a pitcher, CSN took a look at the worse contracts in the Orioles history.

Any thoughts? Can you think of others that deserve mention?

http://www.csnbaltimore.com/blog/orioles-talk/five-worst-contracts-orioles-history

[clapdiddy]

David Segui's 4/28 deal was definitely a clunker.

[canonfaz]

Ugh. Not a fun read. Many bad memories. Hopefully Jimenez makes us forget some of those bad pitching contracts.

[isestrex]

I kinda agree with all of them. Erickson and Roberts weren't really their fault while Baez and Ponson didn't really hurt that badly.

Belle was just stupid though.

[24fps]

Agree that Segui's contract deserves to be included. I'm surprised the Baez contract didn't get more play around here with all the hand-wringing over letting JJ go and the subsequent Balfour situation.

[Mayor McCheese]

Mike Gonzo -- 2/$12MM

[Redskins Rick]

Dang, SMH.

This wasn't a nice trip down memory lane.

[crawjo]

The Belle contract was a good idea, it just didn't work out. Most of the others were just bad from the beginning, although most of us supported the Roberts extension back in the day.

If you were to make a list of the worst contracts in baseball history, the only one of these that would have any chance of making the list is the Belle contract.

[Justinlstn]

i remember not liking Brady Anderson's 31 million 5yr deal. Only had one good season under that contract.

[Migrant Redbird]

I kinda agree with all of them. Erickson and Roberts weren't really their fault while Baez and Ponson didn't really hurt that badly.

Belle was just stupid though.

Bringing in Belle at all may have been a bad decision, given his surly personality. However, his contract was a reasonable one and, since it was insured, not really that costly to the Orioles. I think they recovered 2/3 or 3/4 of the salary for those 3 years from insurance?

Overall, the O's must rank near the bottom in terms of bad contracts, not that they've risked that much.

[mdbdotcom]

They left out Phil Regan. That deal convinced Angelos that his baseball braintrust might not be so smart after all.

[Redskins Rick]

Glen Davis, one year 3.25 million, which at the time was a club record.

Worse trade in Oriole history, trading 3 future all-star players for Davis and then signing Davis to a new 1 year deal.

[isestrex]

Bringing in Belle at all may have been a bad decision, given his surly personality. However, his contract was a reasonable one and, since it was insured, not really that costly to the Orioles. I think they recovered 2/3 or 3/4 of the salary for those 3 years from insurance?

Overall, the O's must rank near the bottom in terms of bad contracts, not that they've risked that much.

Very true

[ShaneDawg85]

I think an argument can be made that Segui's contract was worse than Belle's, because while Belle didn't work he didn't have a history of injuries and even considering that time the deal was a good contract, and the first year was great and the second pretty good, it just didn't work out long term due to circumstances few could have foreseen.

Segui never made any sense. He had played 150+ games in a season exactly one time in his career up to that point, the year before he signed here. He was a respectable hitter, but he really didn't fit on a team like the Orioles at the time who were supposedly going young (and crappy), and I honestly think he was something of a token signing after Mussina left and the Orioles looked like buffoon's to placate to the fans to say they had done something and ponied up some money. If you could take his four years and put them into one it would have been a decent season, but alas that's not how it works.

The Ponson contract definitely deserves to be on there. It was a terrible deal then, and it's a terrible deal now. The Erickson contract I'm torn on, but I say it goes there because it represented the inconsistency and incompetence of the Orioles front office at the time. They wouldn't pony up the money and years for Palmeiro, but they turned around and gave it to Belle. They wouldn't do the same for Mussina, but they gave it to Erickson, and look how that turned out. Erickson was a horse, but horse's break down, and he wasn't exactly the best influence on some of the younger guys (Ponson).

[Palmoripken]

I think an argument can be made that Segui's contract was worse than Belle's, because while Belle didn't work he didn't have a history of injuries and even considering that time the deal was a good contract, and the first year was great and the second pretty good, it just didn't work out long term due to circumstances few could have foreseen.

Segui never made any sense. He had played 150+ games in a season exactly one time in his career up to that point, the year before he signed here. He was a respectable hitter, but he really didn't fit on a team like the Orioles at the time who were supposedly going young (and crappy), and I honestly think he was something of a token signing after Mussina left and the Orioles looked like buffoon's to placate to the fans to say they had done something and ponied up some money. If you could take his four years and put them into one it would have been a decent season, but alas that's not how it works.

The Ponson contract definitely deserves to be on there. It was a terrible deal then, and it's a terrible deal now. The Erickson contract I'm torn on, but I say it goes there because it represented the inconsistency and incompetence of the Orioles front office at the time. They wouldn't pony up the money and years for Palmeiro, but they turned around and gave it to Belle. They wouldn't do the same for Mussina, but they gave it to Erickson, and look how that turned out. Erickson was a horse, but horse's break down, and he wasn't exactly the best influence on some of the younger guys (Ponson).

Excellent points. I remember being psyched when we signed Belle. This was a guy who a few years prior I believe was the first ever to hit 50 homers and 50 doubles. Anyhow I think Baez, Walker, and Bradford all belong in the same category of "You don't create a bullpen from free agency" We don't have anything truly terrible on here which is good I guess.