Big Free Agent Contracts

[AeroDave10]

With yet another long FA contract signed by Jose Reyes, I am flabbergasted once more at how myopic MLB front offices can be. It is so rare for players to sign a free agent contract and actually provide anywhere near quality production, especially several years down the road. In fact, a good majority of them don't even make it through the entire contract and are dealt, released or retire. In an effort to quantify this phenomenon, I am compiling data on all 5+ year FA contracts ever signed (though I may reduce it to 4+ eventually to make an even stronger case). Right now, I have tracked down 52 contracts of at least 5 guaranteed years in length and am hoping the online SOM community can link me to any others that I missed or forgot about. If you can provide a link to a source confirming the dollar amounts and years, that would be terrific. I'll be happy to provide results once completed.

Remember, free agent contracts only. So the deals Kemp, Jeter, Braun, Longoria, and others signed to lock them up long term before hitting free agency don't count in this case.


I'm sure these will bring back some painful memories for quite a few folks. Here is my list so far:

Player Team Total Years Total $$$
Hunter, Catfish - New York Yankees 5 / $3,350,000
Jackson, Reggie - New York Yankees 5 / $3,500,000
Grich, Bobby - Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 5 / $1,350,000
Baylor, Don - Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 6 / $1,600,000
Fingers, Rollie - San Diego Padres 6 / $1,600,000
Garland, Wayne - Cleveland Indians 10 / $2,300,000
Gossage, Goose - New York Yankees 6 / $2,800,000
Winfield, Dave - New York Yankees 10 / $23,000,000
Carlton Fisk - Chicago White Sox 5 / $2,900,000
Garvey, Steve - San Diego Padres 5 / $6,600,000
Sutter, Bruce - Atlanta Braves 6 / $10,125,000
Langston, Mark - Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 5 / $16,000,000
Tartabull, Danny - New York Yankees 5 / $27,000,000
Bonilla, Bobby - New York Mets 5 / $25,000,000
Bonds, Barry - San Francisco Giants 6 / $43,750,000
Maddux, Greg - Atlanta Braves 5 / $28,000,000
McGwire, Mark - Oakland Athletics 5 / $28,000,000
Brown, Kevin - Los Angeles Dodgers 7 / $105,000,000
Vaughn, Mo - Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 6 / $80,000,000
Belle, Albert - Baltimore Orioles 5 / $65,000,000
Williams, Bernie - New York Yankees 7 / $87,500,000
Rodriguez, Alex - Texas Rangers 10 / $252,000,000
Ramirez, Manny - Boston Red Sox 8 / $160,000,000
Hampton, Mike - Colorado Rockies 8 / $121,000,000
Mussina, Mike - New York Yankees 6 / $88,500,000
Dreifort, Darren - Los Angeles Dodgers 5 / $55,000,000
Neagle, Denny - Colorado Rockies 5 / $51,500,000
Giambi, Jason - New York Yankees 7 / $120,000,000
Park, Chan Ho - Texas Rangers 5 / $65,000,000
Thome, Jim - Philadelphia Phillies 6 / $85,000,000
Guerrero, Vladimir - Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 5 / $75,000,000
Ordonez, Magglio - Detroit Tigers 5 / $75,000,000
Beltre, Adrian - Seattle Mariners 5 / $64,000,000
Millwood, Kevin - Texas Rangers 5 / $60,000,000
Ryan, B.J. - Toronto Blue Jays 5 / $47,000,000
Zito, Barry - San Francisco Giants 7 / $126,000,000
Matsuzaka, Daisuke - Boston Red Sox 6 / $103,000,000
Soriano, Alfonso - Chicago Cubs 8 / $136,000,000
Lee, Carlos - Houston Astros 6 / $100,000,000
Meche, Gil - Kansas City Royals 5 / $55,000,000
Matthews Jr., Gary - Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 5 / $50,000,000
Igawa, Kei - New York Yankees 5 / $46,000,000
Pierre, Juan - Los Angeles Dodgers 5 / $44,000,000
Hunter, Torii - Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 5 / $90,000,000
Rowand, Aaron - San Francisco Giants 5 / $60,000,000
Sabathia, C.C. - New York Yankees 6 / $161,000,000
Teixeira, Mark - New York Yankees 8 / $180,000,000
Lackey, John - Boston Red Sox 5 / $82,500,000
Lee, Cliff - Philadelphia Phillies 5 / $120,000,000
Crawford, Carl - Boston Red Sox 7 / $142,000,000
Werth, Jayson - Washington Nationals 7 / $126,000,000
Beltre, Adrian - Texas Rangers 5 / $80,000,000

[Proverbial Psalms]

i think the greg maddux deal worked out ok...

[Mr Baseball World]

1978 Larry Hisle Milwaukee Brewers 6 years 3.155 million; at th ebottom of the page:

[url]http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hislela01.shtml[/url]

[TRW]

I don't care what anyone says about Jose Reyes. JMO, but signing this guy to a $100mill contract is throwing money away.

Albert Pujols is worth 3-4x what Jose Reyes signed for. And that's coming from a Mets fan.

[JOSEPHKENDALL]

A couple of posts from some very smart gentlemen.

http://www.insidethebook.com/ee/index.php/site/article/he_wont_be_worth_it_in_the_last_two_years_of_his_deal/

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/marlins-get-a-potential-bargain-in-jose-reyes/

[PotKettleBlack]

The interest for me would be to correlate against either the age at the signing or the age at the completion of the contract. I'd rather sign a 26 year old to a 7 year contract (through age 33) than a 31 year old for 5 years (through age 36).

[doug_tucker10]

The Marlins have offered Albert Pujols 10 years at 200 million! :shock:

[url] http://tracking.si.com/2011/12/06/report-marlins-offer-to-albert-pujols-is-worth-over-200-million/
[/url]


Do the Marlins know that Albert is 31 not 21?

[ADRIANGABRIEL]

What's the point? That labor should not be given collective bargaining rights? I'm sure the owners are in absolute agreement.

I'm on the side of labor.

[mrharryc]

AeroDave has a most interesting point here!

I'm traveling at present without time to check the details but the Pirates signed Derek Bell to an outrageous contract about a decade ago; he responded with some pathetic numbers and then announced in a snit he was commencing "Operation Shutdown!" An infamous chapter in a very infamous period of ownership stupidity by Bucco brass.

[scorehouse]

marlins are headed for bankruptcy! they are trying to copy the heat by signing the big 3! bell, reyes, pujols.