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Tony's Top 5 worst pitching contracts in baseball
Tony's Top 5
Worst pitching contracts in baseball
5
A.J. Burnett, five years, $82.5 million. First of all, he has an obvious injury history. Second, he was 69-66 entering this year, which just happened to be a contract season. By the time this one is up, we're willing to bet the Yankees will have their Matt Clement.
4
Kei Igawa, five years, $46 million*. Technically, this is just a five-year, $20 million contract. In reality, with a $26 million posting fee, the Yankees paid $46 million for a man who has been a complete bust. The Yankees should have just taken the cash and burned it.
3
Carlos Silva, four years, $48 million. We knew this was a bad deal at the time, but somehow, the contract actually has worsened over time. Silva still has three years left after going 4-15 with a 6.46 ERA. Without the contract, he'd have been released.
2
Jason Schmidt, three years, $47 million. With one year remaining on this contract, Schmidt is 1-4 with a 6.31 ERA in 25 2/3 innings during his career with the Dodgers. Deals like this one are why people get fired. Like the Yankees, the Dodgers should have toasted the money.
1
Barry Zito, seven years, $126 million. The king of all bad contracts. Through the first two years of this deal, Zito has the 10th highest ERA in baseball among all qualifying pitchers. Good thing that Tim Lincecum is making relatively short money, eh?
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About Mazz
Tony Massarotti is a Globe sportswriter and has been writing about sports in Boston for the last 19 years. A lifelong Bostonian, Massarotti graduated from Waltham High School and Tufts University. He was voted the Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year by his peers in 2000 and 2008 and has been a finalist for the award on several other occasions. This blog won a 2008 EPpy award for "Best Sports Blog".
Tony's Top 5
NFL power rankings
5
Broncos. OK, we’re convinced. Kyle Orton is now 26-12 in his career as a starter. Josh McDaniels looks like a real coach. And the defense is much improved.
4
Saints. Went into Philly and beat the Eagles, went into New York and beat the Jets. Better defense than we thought. Right?
3
Vikings. If you’re a Vikes fan, Brett Favre should scare you come playoff time. But in the regular season? So far, so good.
2
Colts. Don’t look now, but only three teams in the NFL have allowed fewer points than Indy. And have we mentioned the quarterback?
1
Giants. They can run, pass and play defense. And did we mention they’re well-coached? Who needs Plaxico?
Featured Comments
Sox pitching depth hits bottomThe real reason for concern is that key pieces of the 04 and 07 winning teams are old and rusty.
Ortiz, Lowell, Varitek. Is there a baseball "Cash for Clunkers" program? Trade them in for new models.
Bob
'Big Papi' revealed as a mythWow....no sugar coating here, huh Tony? It is bitterly disappointing to confirm what I think most honest Red Sox fans must have at least suspected. Does it change anything? Not really. Again no honest Red Sox fan really believed none of the Home Town players were involved with this, did they? Baseball could have ended this whole story years ago by just making "The List" public. Instead, it will continue to trickle out over the next 10 years and we'll never get past this.
Steve from Plattsburgh, NY
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