GOING LONG RISKY BUSINESS
Cautionary tales for clubs weighing six-year pitches for Price, Greinke or Cueto
Major League Baseball boasts 16 starting pitchers on contracts worth $100 million or more, with free-agents David Price, Zack Greinke and Johnny Cueto likely to join that list soon. Some have worked out, others failed miserably. Here’s how six of them — all signed prior to the 2013 season for longer than six years — have worked out:
KEVIN BROWN, DODGERS
YEARS: Seven, signed in 1999 VALUE: $105 million Possibly the poster boy for bad pitcher contracts, Brown’s deal was a record for starters at the time. The deal has been slammed mercilessly, in part because of Brown’s prickly relationship with the media. It was by no means good value, but Brown did make two all-star teams and finished sixth in Cy Young voting in each of the first two seasons of the deal. Overall, Brown averaged just nine wins a season over the life of the contract and was named in the Mitchell Report as one of several Dodgers accused of using steroids and HGH.
C.C. SABATHIA, YANKEES
YEARS: Seven, signed in 2008 VALUE: $161 million Sabathia’s deal is hard to criticize, in part because he was very good for the Yankees until he opted out of the deal after the first three seasons. In the end, they agreed to bring him back by adding a year and $30 million to the pact. Sabathia, though, battled injuries and personal matters — including alcohol rehab this year — and was never the same pitcher.
MIKE HAMPTON, ROCKIES
YEARS: Eight, signed in 2000 VALUE: $121 million Hampton did not come as advertised, posting a 5.75 ERA in two years in Colorado before the Rockies worked a multi-team deal with the Florida Marlins, who then sent him to the Atlanta Braves. He missed the entire 2006-07 seasons due to injury, which only added to the view that this was one of the worst starting pitcher contracts of all time.
BARRY ZITO, GIANTS
YEARS: Seven, signed in 2007 VALUE: $126 million Zito, a Cy Young Award winner and three-time all-star in Oakland, cashed in when he signed as a free agent with San Francisco in 2007 but never lived up to expectations during the length of the deal. He wasn’t a total write-off, racking 1,1391⁄ innings
3 for the Giants and contributing to their 2012 World Series run. But the big dollars dogged him throughout his stay in San Francisco, often the first thing mentioned in any discussions about his pitching.
FELIX HERNANDEZ, MARINERS
YEARS: Seven, signed in 2013 VALUE: $175 million Hernandez’s deal was the record for starting pitchers until Detroit’s Justin Verlander signed two months later for seven years and $180 million. King Felix’s contract was actually an extension that wiped out the final two years of his previous deal so the Mariners could retain him for another five. He’s actually done better in the three seasons since he signed, including 2014 when he posted the best ERA (2.14) and WHIP (0.915) since Pedro Martinez in 2000.
COLE HAMELS, PHILS/RANGERS
YEARS: Six, signed in 2012 VALUE: $144 million Hamels passed up the potential for more on the open market to stay with the Phillies, who drafted him. He became part of the richest rotation in baseball at the time, joining ex-Jay Roy Halladay and lefty Cliff Lee in the $20-million-a-year club. Hamels was traded to the Rangers this year, an excellent deal for both sides (the Phillies got five good prospects). Combined in 2015, he struck out 215, his second-highest total, with a career-high 9.1 per nine innings.