worst ever free agent signings

[Keppinger]

After a bit of research...

The deal Chan Ho Park got from the Rangers was awful. Tom Hicks is crazy.

Denny Neagle's deal with the Rockies around the same time they signed Hampton. He was never effective.

Albert Belle destroyed the Orioles after they signed him to that monster deal. They lost Palmeiro, Alomar, and Belle ended up physically unable to play baseball before the contract was up.

[WHAK0985]

Carlos Silva!

The M's have to look forward to three more miserable years of the Bus

[asianinvasion]

I second Silva. And most of Bill Bavasi's signings.

How did Florida get into the Hampton mix? He never played for them.

[EVEN11323]

He was traded to them on November 16th 2002 and then was traded to the Braves 2 days later.

[Pavelb1]

I'd like to nominate Andruw Jones for one of the three outfield spots
18M contract 209 at bats, 3 HR .158 batting average.

I'm going to be different and say Arod....when he's 40(!) he'll still have 61 million left on his contract.

Some NY pundit, btw, predicted the Yankees wouldn't be able to stand having him around for four more years at the latest and would have to eat most of his contract to get rid of him. I don't know about all that...but...

[HoustonGM]

I don't think we can honestly evaluate any deals that are still early in their lifespan, as really anything could happen, and it's way too early to evaluate long-term deals that were just recently signed.

[FRENCHREDSOX]

Mike Hampton's signing by Colorado...very bad fit in Coors...then became injured and injured and injured. He'll make a fine addition as a LHP.

I will take this as the worst deal signed that I can remember (although the Renteria deal with the Sox was bad - especially when they traded him to the Braves picked up the cost & he played like as AS!)

[RedsoxRockies]

Mike Hampton's signing by Colorado...very bad fit in Coors...then became injured and injured and injured. He'll make a fine addition as a LHP.

Mike Hampton had to be the worst. It was too much money, at a high altitude, and it was waaaaaay too long

[TheNamelessPoet]

Transactions 
June 4, 1990: Drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 6th round of the 1990 amateur draft. Player signed June 4, 1990. 

December 10, 1993: Traded by the Seattle Mariners with Mike Felder to the Houston Astros for Eric Anthony. 

December 23, 1999: Traded by the Houston Astros with Derek Bell to the New York Mets for Roger Cedeno, Octavio Dotel, and Kyle Kessel (minors). 

November 4, 2000: Granted Free Agency. 

December 12, 2000: Signed as a Free Agent with the Colorado Rockies. 

November 16, 2002: Traded by the Colorado Rockies with Juan Pierre and cash to the Florida Marlins for Charles Johnson, Preston Wilson, Vic Darensbourg, and Pablo Ozuna. 

November 18, 2002: Traded by the Florida Marlins with cash to the Atlanta Braves for Tim Spooneybarger and Ryan Baker (minors). 


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The transaction information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. Last transaction is September 30, 2007.  
 Salaries Leaders
1993 Seattle Mariners $109,000 
1994 Houston Astros $129,000 
1995 Houston Astros $135,000 
1996 Houston Astros $275,000 
1997 Houston Astros $1,420,000 
1998 Houston Astros $2,250,000 
1999 Houston Astros $4,125,000 
2000 New York Mets $5,750,000 
2001 Colorado Rockies $10,500,000 
2002 Colorado Rockies $9,503,543 
2003 Atlanta Braves $13,625,000 
2004 Atlanta Braves $14,625,000 
2005 Atlanta Braves $15,125,000 
2006 Atlanta Braves $14,503,543 
2007 Atlanta Braves $14,500,000 
Career (may be incomplete) $106,575,086

the BEST part of th whole thing... FLORIDA made out like bandits!!!... they traded I THINK 35-40 million in total contracts and got Hampton.

then flipped him 1 MONTH in the OfFSEASON to atlanta and got 2 prospects and only paid 23.5 Million PLUS never had to face him really in a division rival's uniform lol.

so... SOMEONE made out in the Hampton deal... t00 the tune of at least 15 million!!!

based on this.. it saved COLORADO 30 million and FLA 23 Million... and had he not been hurt... it would have ben an AWESOME deal for atlanta... what 4 year about 45-50 million for a former 20 game winner. its almost hard to say it was bad for anyone except ATLANTA... alto the $$4 Hampton was paid for his 6+ era was pretty bad lol.

[beerchaser]

I have a feeling that Andruw Jones will be reunited with Bobby Cox next year, with the Dodgers eating most of the $18M owed to him.

[TheNamelessPoet]

keep him

[metsguy234]

Mike Hampton had to be the worst. It was too much money, at a high altitude, and it was waaaaaay too long

too much money- agreed
waaaaaay too long- agreeeeeed
high altitude- So, some players just aren't cut out to play in Denver because of the high altitude?

[dickay]

Mike Hampton had to be the worst. It was too much money, at a high altitude, and it was waaaaaay too long

I don't understand why he's worst than Zito. At least Hampton was heavily pursued and would have gotten a similar deal elsewhere. Zito was bad BEFORE they signed him and they really did bid against themselves as nobody was going to give him anywhere close to the deal SF did.

What is worst...

- Paying a ton for a stock that everyone agrees is a great buy and having it tank

- Paying MORE than market value on a stock everyone is iffy on and having it tank

[TheNamelessPoet]

I don't understand why he's worst than Zito. At least Hampton was heavily pursued and would have gotten a similar deal elsewhere. Zito was bad BEFORE they signed him and they really did bid against themselves as nobody was going to give him anywhere close to the deal SF did.

What is worst...

- Paying a ton for a stock that everyone agrees is a great buy and having it tank

- Paying MORE than market value on a stock everyone is iffy on and having it tank

you cant compare... zito is 2 years into his deal he still has 5/7ths of the deal left.. if 2 years into the pavano deal he was hurt then the last 2 years he won 18-22 games each there would be no way you could say it. you have to wait AT LEAST until the end

[HoustonGM]

you cant compare... zito is 2 years into his deal he still has 5/7ths of the deal left.. if 2 years into the pavano deal he was hurt then the last 2 years he won 18-22 games each there would be no way you could say it. you have to wait AT LEAST until the end

This is true, but dickay is right in that the Zito deal was horrible the moment it was signed. A lot of bad free agent contracts are only bad in hindsight. Jason Schmidt, for example. Getting a top-of-the-rotation pitcher for way less money AND length than other, WORSE pitchers were getting, was an absolute steal for the Dodgers. In retrospect, the deal looks horrible because Schmidt got injured, but at the time of the signing, the deal was really, really good.

The worst signings are the ones that are bad from the get-go AND turn out bad.