CSN: The five worst contracts in Orioles history

[Redskins Rick]

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).

Good post, and for every OP that complains about Duke and the current FO, maybe the mods can make your comment a sticky and we can point to this, and say stop ya complaining.

[olehippi]

Contracts that turn out to be bad because of injuries should not be considered "bad contracts" in the sense that the GM and the team made a "mistake" by signing them. Belle, Erickson and Roberts are such examples. Take away the injuries - which are a risk every team takes when signing a players - and those contracts might be on a "Best Contract" list.

[atomic]

Hindsight is 20/20. The ones I was against at the time of the signing were Albert Belle because he was such an awful person and Sidney Ponson because he was such an awful player and an awful person.

[TonySoprano]

I definitely expected Segui to be on the list, signed by Syd Thrift in the 2000 offseason following that summer's fire sale.

[atomic]

I definitely expected Segui to be on the list, signed by Syd Thrift in the 2000 offseason following that summer's fire sale.

I never got the Segui signing. Even if he had stayed healthy he wouldn't have been worth what we were paying him. You need more power from a first baseman.

[justice98]

Hindsight is 20/20. The ones I was against at the time of the signing were Albert Belle because he was such an awful person and Sidney Ponson because he was such an awful player and an awful person.

I don't know what they were thinking with Ponson.

But on an unrelated note, I didn't realize Ponson had 27 complete games in an Oriole uniform. That's kinda amazing in this day and age.

[UMDTerrapins]

Wada has to get honorary mention for not throwing a single pitch for the team after signing a two year deal $8.15 million deal.

[Redskins Rick]

Wada has to get honorary mention for not throwing a single pitch for the team after signing a two year deal $8.15 million deal.

I like what olehippi said earlier:

Contracts that turn out to be bad because of injuries should not be considered "bad contracts" in the sense that the GM and the team made a "mistake" by signing them

That would apply to Wada to.

[UMDTerrapins]

I like what olehippi said earlier:

That would apply to Wada to.

Point taken. By olehippi's standard of "what the hell were they thinking", Garrett Atkins still bugs me, though it was only a 1 year deal.

[Redskins Rick]

Point taken. By olehippi's standard of "what the hell were they thinking", Garrett Atkins still bugs me, though it was only a 1 year deal.

The front office before Andy was so damn dysfunctional, it totally mindbogglingly to how stupid they were.

[Frobby]

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

I think that one was worse than any of those mentioned, from a forward-looking perspective. That is, it was bad the day it was signed, due to Segui's long history of being injury prone.

[harp6]

Don't forget that we signed Gregg for a very painful $10 million. This was much worse than the Wada contract. Wada didn't play, so he couldn't win or lose games for the O's. For Gregg, the O's paid him all that money to lose games. Eventually, the O's banished him to the cellar of the bullpen where he could not have an affect on the outcome of a game. The only fun we had out of that 10 million was the Gregg-Ortiz fight.

[OFFNY]

.

Almost immediately after the contract extension took effect, Roberts began suffering from a bizarre series of injuries.

This is not correct.

Roberts signed the extension in February of 2009. 2009 was one of Roberts' best (if not best) seasons ever, as he set the all-time major league record for doubles by a switch-hitter in a season (56), stole 30 bases, hit 16 HR's, and scored 110 runs.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3921371

The 4 years that he was extended for covered his injury-riddled seasons (2010-2103), but the extension was not signed just previous to those seasons.

It still turned out to be an awful contract in terms of production (or lack thereof) in those 4 years, but I believe that it is important to remember it how it happened, and not through myth/misconception. To this day, there are people that still believe that if Bill Buckner had caught Mookie Wilson's dribbler up the first baseline (and beaten Wilson to the bag to record the out) that the Red Sox would have won the World Series. In fact, the Mets had already tied the game, so even if Buckner had caught the ball (AND beaten Wilson to the bag), the game would have continued into the 11th inning ...... and at that point, the Mets were much more likely to win the game, since they had just ripped the heart out of the Red Sox, who had just blown a 2-run lead with 2 outs and nobody on base.

I know that it sounds a little sexier to say, "Right after Roberts signed that contract, he started getting hurt," but that is not the way that it happened.

EPILOGUE: That same off-season (between 2008 and 2009), Nick Markakis also signed a long-term extension, and at that time, it (the long-term extensions of two of the team's core, star players) was being lauded as a commitment to the future of a perennially losing franchise to try to turn things around, and spend money ($66 Million on Markakis, $40 Million on Roberts.)

So, while the Roberts contract turned out to be an awful one because of his previously-mentioned numerous injuries from 2010 through 2013, it should also be noted that when he actually signed the extension (February of 2009), not many Oriole fans were up in arms about it ....... and more significantly, 7 months later in October of 2009 when Roberts had just completed his season with 56 doubles, 30 stolen bases, 110 runs scored, 16 HR's, 79 RBI's, a .283 batting average, a .356 OBP, and an .807 OPS, NOBODY was complaining about it.

[ShaneDawg85]

.

Almost immediately after the contract extension took effect, Roberts began suffering from a bizarre series of injuries.

This is not correct.

Roberts signed the extension in February of 2009. 2009 was one of Roberts' best (if not best) seasons ever, as he set the all-time major league recoird for doubles in a season (56.), stole 30 bases, hit 16 HR's, and scored 110 runs.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3921371

The 4 years that he was extended for covered his injury-riddled seasons (2010-2103), but the extension was not signed just previous to those seasons.

It still turned out to be an awful contract in terms of production (or lack thereof) in those 4 years, but I believe that it is important to remember it how it happened, and not through myth/misconception. To this day, there are people that still believe that if Bill Buckner had caught Mookie Wilson's dribbler up the first baseline (and beaten Wilson to the bag to record the out) that the Red Sox would have won the World Series. In fact, the Mets had already tied the game, so even if Buckner had caught the ball (AND beaten Wilson to the bag), the game would have continued into the 11th inning ...... and at that point, the Mets were much more likely to win the game, since they had just ripped the heart out of the Red Sox, who had just blown a 2-run lead with 2 outs and nobody on base.

I know that it sounds a little sexier to say, "Right after Roberts signed that contract, he started getting hurt," but that is not the way that it happened.

EPILOGUE: That same off-season (between 2008 and 2009), Nick Markakis also signed a long-term extension, and at that time, it (the long-term extensions of two of the team's core, star players) was being lauded as a commitment to the future of a perennially losing franchise to try to turn things around, and spend money ($66 Million on Markakis, $40 Million on Roberts.)

So, while the Roberts contract turned out to be an awful one because of his previously-mentioned numerous injuries from 2010 through 2013, it should also be noted that when he actually signed the extension (February of 2009), not many Oriole fans were up in arms about it ....... and more significantly, 7 months later in October of 2009 when Roberts had just completed his season with 56 doubles, 30 stolen bases, 110 runs scored, 16 HR's, 79 RBI's, a .283 batting average, a .356 OBP, and an .807 OPS, NOBODY was complaining about it.

I believe he set the all-time single season record for doubles in a season by a switch hitter. Sisler still holds the record, and nobody has gotten as close to it in modern times as Todd Helton in 2000.

[webbrick2010]

How about Mike Dejean

1 year / 1.5 Million in 2004, went 0-5 with a 6.31 ERA and 1.94 WHIP in 39 innings

Then they trade him in July for Karim Garcia (??)

and he goes onto have a 1.69 ERA and 257 ERA+ to finish out 2004