Beware of Monster Contracts - Part ... whatever

[Frayed Knot]

- Carl Crawford, hitting .185 over just 81 ABs so far this season, has been DFA'd by the Dodgers.
Now six years and two organizations into a seven year deal he signed in the winter of 2010-11, Crawford, who will turn 35 in August, is owed nearly $36 million over the remainder of this season and next.



- The return to the Rangers of once-hot prospect Jurickson Profar following two full lost seasons to injury has sent Prince Fielder to the bench over the last few games and maybe for the foreseeable future.
Hitting .187 with just 3 HRs in nearly 200 ABs (Profar = near .400), the 32 y/o Fielder is signed thru 2020 with about $111 million remaining. And if Fielder, a slow player who was essentially a full-time DH by the time he turned 30, isn't hitting HRs, then what exactly is he giving you?
The only good news for the Rangers in all this is that Detroit, who originally signed him to a nine-year contract, is responsible for around $28 million of the remainder.


Plus there's always the .200 hitting ARod, but we've known about that one for a long time now.
And Ryan Howard hasn't started in six games and has been at 1B only three times in the last two weeks.

[Guest cooby]

Yeah I was excited to draft Fielder in my fantasy league but he has been a bust.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Don't forget Josh Hamilton when talking about bad contracts. The Angels signed him to a 5 year/$125 mil. contract in 2013. His production and career has been in rapid decline ever since. The Ranger (and probably to some degree the Angels) are paying Hamilton $28 mil. (and some change) while out for the season due to shoulder surgery. Hamilton is owed close to $57 mil. for the next 2 seasons. His deal makes Fielder's look like an absolute bargain.

[Frayed Knot]

The Angels are playing almost all of the Hamilton contract for this year and next.

[Lefty Specialist]

As for Fielder, boy, signing fat guys to long-term deals never, ever ends well.

[Edgy MD]

Well, there's always exceptions: David Ortíz and ... um ... Fred Flintstone.

[Centerfield]

On the other hand, there is Justin Upton, who crushed an opposite field 2 run HR last night to bring his season total to....four.

In the first year of his six year, $132 million contract (complete with opt-outs!) his OPS is now .617. Or, as we call it in Mets-land, 5 points lower than Rene Rivera.

I hope that idiot poster who pushed to sign him last winter over Cespedes has learned his lesson.

[Centerfield]

And just to round things out, Jason Heyward, 3 HR's, .632 OPS. But hey, 10 points higher than Rene Rivera!

[Guest Mets Guy in Michigan]

Centerfield wrote: On the other hand, there is Justin Upton, who crushed an opposite field 2 run HR last night to bring his season total to....four. In the first year of his six year, $132 million contract (complete with opt-outs!) his OPS is now .617. Or, as we call it in Mets-land, 5 points lower than Rene Rivera. I hope that idiot poster who pushed to sign him last winter over Cespedes has learned his lesson.

I was there!


Speaking of Cespedes, the pitcher the Tigers got in that deal -- Michael Fullmer -- is having a great season. He's thrown something like 22 consecutive scoreless innings, and had a 2-hitter last night when the Tigers went to the pen, with a 9-0 lead.

We obviously have enough great starting pitching, but this guy looks great. Good trade for both teams.

[Frayed Knot]

Although not really in the 'monster' contract realm of this thread, the Cardinals signed Kolten Wong to a five-year deal over the winter buying out his arbitration years, a deal which followed his 3rd place RoY season in 2014 and then the further improvement he made on that in 2015.
On Monday, however, Wong found himself demoted to the minors, a victim both of the return of Jhonny Peralta and of the unexpectedly hot start of Cuban SS Aledmys Diaz (Peralta looks to be headed to 3B with Carpenter switching to 2nd). Mainly tough, the fault was a Wong's, hitting .222 with just 4 XBHs over 1/3 of a season. Unlike Crawford and some of the others in this thread, Wong, at age 25, will still have plenty of opportunities to make good on the deal.

[Frayed Knot]

Following up on a few of the guys/contracts mentioned at the start of this thread:

- Prince Fielder's season is officially over as he is about to undergo his second neck surgery in three years.
I don't if one can be more 'susceptible' to herniated discs than the typical person, or if a first surgery leads to a greater likelihood of a second, or if this is just a really bad coincidence for the rotund slugger.
No word on the timetable for a return.


- and it doesn't look like Carl Crawford, who was DFA'd by the Dodgers back in early June, ever latched on anywhere else.
He'll turn 35 next week so I suppose taking the remainder of this season off with an eye towards looking for something next spring isn't out of the question. But, if not, there's a guy to cite as an example of one pretty much falling into the abyss once hitting age 30.