At Home Plate - The All Overpaid Team

Written by Daniel Paulling (Contact & Archive) on May 19, 2008

The All Cheap Team is a fun exercise in salary database research, but the All Overpaid Team is so much more fun. The players listed here cash big paychecks, but are not worth a fraction of what they are earning. One commonality amongst these guys is that they’re getting older and reaching the latter portions of their contract. This should show GMs not to give players long-term deals for big bucks. Too bad they don’t learn from their mistakes and I get to make fun of them. (Note: if a player was injured, I didn’t hold it against him. Also, all salary information came from ESPN.com’s salary database.)

SP Barry Zito, San Francisco Giants – Zito started opening day this season, and things have not gone well since then. He was relegated to the bullpen for a while before returning to the starting rotation. Zito’s contract has been made fun of so much that I need not rehash the jokes here. Giants fans: Enjoy the next five seasons. We’re paying him what?! $14,500,000

RP Eric Gagne, Milwaukee Brewers – What’s next for Eric Gagne? Last week, he said he didn’t think he was capable of saving games. Now, he has been moved back into the closer’s role. No matter what, he has already blown five saves and been removed from the role once. If the Brewers had another decent arm in their bullpen or not given him such a big contract, Gagne would’ve lost his job by now. We’re paying him what?! $10,000,000

C Ivan Rodriguez, Detroit Tigers – We should have seen the end coming last year. After all, a .281/.294/.379 line pretty much marks the end. He doesn’t walk, doesn’t hit for power, and can’t steal bases anymore. His career is just about over, and it’s time for him to decide between taking a semi-graceful step out or a Mike Piazza hang-around-too-long approach. We’re paying him what?! $12,379,883

1B Jason Giambi, New York Yankees – Giambi will always have some value because of his good batting eye, but he has lost his power (nearly 100 points lower last season in slugging percentage than career average), does not hit for average, and shouldn’t bother bringing a glove to the stadium. The Yankees are lucky Giambi is in the last year of his contract. We’re paying him what?! $23,428,571

2B Ray Durham, San Francisco Giants – He has had a solid career, but the Giants hung on too long to Durham. He had a sub-.300 OBP last year and his slugging percentage makes pitchers feel like it’s the deadball era once again. On the field, he is merely average. On this list, we should expect players on high-revenue franchises, since they have money to throw away. However, this is the second player from the Giants. What does that say about GM Brian Sabean? We’re paying him what?! $7,500,000

SS Julio Lugo, Boston Red Sox – Some may argue against his inclusion on this list, since Lugo is hitting more than 50 points higher than he did last year and getting on base at a much better clip. However, his slugging percentage has stayed nearly the same. He isn’t on pace to steal anywhere the same number of bases that he did last year. Too bad Jed Lowrie deserves an everyday shot at the major league level. We’re paying him what?! $9,250,000

3B Melvin Mora, Baltimore Orioles – He is going through a normal decline phase, which isn’t bad. It is bad, however, if he is earning a bundle of money to put up piddling numbers. Mora hit only 14 home runs last year, unacceptable power production for somebody at a corner position. We’re paying him what?! $7,826,915

LF Garret Anderson, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim – It’s really too easy to call this a bad contract. The Angels gave a boatload of money to a guy who couldn’t really get on base (Torii Hunter figures to be Anderson in a few years) and watched his skill set steadily decline. Now the Angels need to be rid of him. Look for middling power numbers (15 HRs) and an empty .285-ish batting average. We’re paying him what?! $12,600,000

CF Jim Edmonds, Chicago Cubs – Every baseball player is mortal, and Edmonds is a perfect example of that. In late 2006, Edmonds suffered a concussion and it seems as if his career is now over. Things are so bad that the Padres, a team desperate for any offense, released him. Now, Edmonds takes his .181/.264/.234 to the Windy City. We’re paying him what?! $8,000,000

RF Andruw Jones, Los Angeles Dodgers – I don’t know how agent Scott Boras does it, but he got Jones a $36 million contract after coming off a season with a .222 and 26 homers. Just imagine what Jones would’ve gotten had he put together a good season. Anyway, Jones has a .182/.291/.298 batting line and has been losing playing time to Juan Pierre. That is the perfect barometer of being awful. We’re paying him what?! $14,726,910

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