Worst free agent pitcher ever?

[Michael Echan]

I would think many people would say Hampton because he gets hurt so freakin' much, but if you want to take a different look at it, it may have helped the Braves a LITTLE bit. Because he's on DL so much, the Braves have to bring up minor leaguers, and some of them haven't been that bad. Also, Hampton's stats weren't trending downward when he signed the deal, and (for what it counts) he's a decent hitting-pitcher. Zito has been steadily getting worse and worse since he won the Cy Young six years ago in '02 (damn, it's been that long?). Add in the fact that he moved from the AL to the NL and is doing even worse in a pitchers' park, I think the Zito contract is the worse of the two.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Darren Dreifort thinks your list is too short.

 

[poindexter]

This list is going to have alot of Boras clients.

 

[Barsuk]

Darren Dreifort thinks your list is too short.

Carl Pavano agrees.

 

[writing irish]

Steve Howe, for grimly obvious reasons, is unavailable for comment.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Hampton has had a lot of injuries; it's not like he has suddenly imploded. Why is he here?

Consider Zito's career W-L by month:

   [u][b]Split          G   GS  GF  W   L   S   CG SHO   IP     ERA    H    R   ER   HR  BB  IBB  SO  HBP[/b][/u]
   April/March    44  44   0  13  24   0   1   1  258.1   5.16  259  165  148  32  113   1  194  18 
   May            38  38   0  14   9   0   1   0  245.1   3.23  201   91   88  27   98   2  190  10 
   June           41  41   0  16  12   0   0   0  257.1   3.99  244  127  114  31   98   1  179  10 
   July           43  43   0  22  11   0   1   0  271.1   3.91  245  124  118  30  115   7  199  17 
   August         48  47   0  24  15   0   4   2  317     2.73  243  117   96  26  109   3  238   7 
   Sept/Oct       48  48   0  24  11   0   2   1  306.1   3.61  259  131  123  30  125   5  238   7

Perhaps we (and Bochy) should wait a few weeks.

A_QB is correct to invoke Dreifort. I expected to see him in the poll. As is, poll fails.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

Uh, Eric Gagne?

 

[Ben_Hecht]

Long-term contracts for pitchers . . . sheer genius.

Genius, I tell you.

 

[OnTheRiver]

Jason Schmidt's about ready to join the crowd, too.

 

[derwood]

Chan Ho Park

 

[OnTheRiver]

Also, he's far from the worst, but the Rockies paid Denny Neagle $32 million to go 19-23 with an ERA up over 6.

 

[D-Backs Hack]

Russ Ortiz's five wins for the Diamondbacks cost them more than $6 million each.

And they are still paying him, to the tune of $8.5 million this year.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Pete Harnisch had an unbelievably ****ty contract when the Astros finally released him. I think it cost them $5 million just to get rid of him.

 

[hondo]

Len Barker

End of argument.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Pete Harnisch had an unbelievably ****ty contract when the Astros finally released him. I think it cost them $5 million just to get rid of him.

If you're Pete Harnisch, that's not a ****ty contract.

Len Barker

End of argument.

Barker to the Braves was a trade, not free agency.

Worst Braves trade ever, too.

 

[Rumpleforeskin]

Ryan Franklin to Philadelphia.

 

[Batman]

Also, he's far from the worst, but the Rockies paid Denny Neagle $32 million to go 19-23 with an ERA up over 6.

You think, when he pulls the car up to talk to a prostitute, he does the train whistle to get their attention?

Not in the same class as some of these debacles, but the $24 million over three years (the deal is in year two) the Phillies are paying Adam Eaton to stink it up as a No. 5 starter is pretty bad.

 

[Michael Echan]

I included just these two players because of how long and how expensive the contracts were. Neither team has gotten much on returns from either -- even though Zito is in just his second year of the deal. If Dreifort's deal was $100 million, then he'd be in the convo.

 

[Chi City 81]

Ever think of crediting Jayson Stark for the idea, since he had this exact debate on ESPN.com yesterday?

 

[Flying Headbutt]

Ryan Franklin to Philadelphia.

Oh stop it, fanboy. No one could tell you **** about his contract with the Phils. He compares to most of these other pitchers the way Spam compares to a filet mignon.