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Guest O.J. Hart

Worst Free Agent Signings EVER

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Guest O.J. Hart

Being a Pirates fan, I can discuss many terrible signings over the last few years.

 

The list

1. Derek Bell- You pay the many $2 million to hit .172 through 46 games, then you nearly let him have his way in "Operation Shutdown" until the manager cuts him!

 

2. Pat Meares- Sign an average shortstop to a huge 1 year deal for around $4 million, and you already have an All-Star guy to play shortstop(Tony Womack) who gets traded for nothing because of this. Then the new shortstop gets hurt an breaks his wrist in spring training, and before he even plays a game, you sign him to a new 4 year deal worth about $30 million. He only plays 21 games the first year, a full, yet terrible, year the next year, and a pitiful injury plagues season the next year, and you still have him for two more years on the DL. JUST TERRIBLE

 

Those are the only two terrible signings right on the top of my head, give me a few more.

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Guest FrigidSoul

Manny Ramirez because he isn't worth $20mill per. I hope I don't need to go into all of his antics either

 

Kevin Brown's deal with the Dodgers. He's been healthy for about 2 years of that giant contract

 

Scott Erickson by the Orioles. He injured himself in the first year, had Tommy John surgery and was never the same.

 

Griffey Jr. by the Reds. Once again, he's been completely injured.

 

Greg Vaughn, Jose Canseco, Wilson Alverez,and Vinny Castilla by the Devil Rays. They were all overpaid, slightly injured and never produced. Fred McGriff at least came cheap because he wanted to play at home and he also was a good veteran pressense for that club.

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Pay-Rod.

 

Argue all ya want about how he is the best all around players in the game, he still doesn't deserve THAT much money. Doesn't deserve the MVP either.

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Guest FrigidSoul

While it was a bad signing A-Rod has stated that he'll restructure his contract if it means bringing in big time pitchers. Tom Hicks would like him to restructure his contract now and then still cut payroll.

 

I guarentee you if they went up to A-Rod and said "Can we cut off $5mill this year, and $6mill the next 2 years to go towards getting Bartolo Colon/Kevin Millwood/Andy Pettite?" A-Rod would say sure. He told his agent "restructure if they're bringing in a good pitcher"

 

Chan Ho Park, Juan Gone, and Rusty Greer killed them more than A-Rod

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Mo Vaughn. What the fuck were the Mets thinking?! I'm a Mets fan but seriously, they deserved to lose every cent on that deal just for being so damn counterproductive. Nearly everyone could see he was past his prime and horribly out of shape, yet they still paid him an obscene amount of money. Terrible.

 

I would also get into the David-Cone-as-a-starter fiasco this year as well, but eh.....

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Guest FrigidSoul
Mo Vaughn. What the fuck were the Mets thinking?! I'm a Mets fan but seriously, they deserved to lose every cent on that deal just for being so damn counterproductive. Nearly everyone could see he was past his prime and horribly out of shape, yet they still paid him an obscene amount of money. Terrible.

 

I would also get into the David-Cone-as-a-starter fiasco this year as well, but eh.....

Actually the Mets traded Kevin Appier to the Angels for Mo. Ted Williams told Mo in his contract year "Fenway was built for a guy like you, to leave would be foolish"...well Teddy Ballgame was right. Now we see a guy like David Ortiz who is quite similiar to Mo come into Fenway and put up career numbers.

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Mo Vaughn. What the fuck were the Mets thinking?! I'm a Mets fan but seriously, they deserved to lose every cent on that deal just for being so damn counterproductive. Nearly everyone could see he was past his prime and horribly out of shape, yet they still paid him an obscene amount of money. Terrible.

 

I would also get into the David-Cone-as-a-starter fiasco this year as well, but eh.....

Also Roberto Alomar, Mike Stanton and Tom Glavine.

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Here's a good question...when has joining the Mets ever been a good career move? Any veteran who goes there seems to struggle.

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Mo Vaughn. What the fuck were the Mets thinking?! I'm a Mets fan but seriously, they deserved to lose every cent on that deal just for being so damn counterproductive. Nearly everyone could see he was past his prime and horribly out of shape, yet they still paid him an obscene amount of money. Terrible.

 

I would also get into the David-Cone-as-a-starter fiasco this year as well, but eh.....

Also Roberto Alomar, Mike Stanton and Tom Glavine.

Well:

 

Alomar was a trade, and not a terrible one at that. I can't blame Steve Phillips for making the trade, because I thought it was awesome when it was done.

 

Stanton - agreed.

 

Glavine - eh.....the QuesTec system has really thrown him off this season. I didn't appreciate his constant bitching about the system, but I can accept his excuse for his off-base pitches not being counted as strikes throwing him off. But if he continues to whine this year, and still be lackluster on the mound, then yeah - we have another bust.

 

Joining the Mets being a good career move: Piazza (though his stats have declined a little), Leiter, Olerud, Hampton, Ventura..........for now, that's about it off the top of my head. They do seem to have bad luck when it comes to bringing players in, but they aren't always unsuccessful. I mean, hell, they DID make it to the World Series three years ago. It's not like nothing ever works out for them. But yeah, they do have an ugly streak when it comes to picking up players and making trades.

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Mo Vaughn. What the fuck were the Mets thinking?! I'm a Mets fan but seriously, they deserved to lose every cent on that deal just for being so damn counterproductive. Nearly everyone could see he was past his prime and horribly out of shape, yet they still paid him an obscene amount of money. Terrible.

 

I would also get into the David-Cone-as-a-starter fiasco this year as well, but eh.....

Actually the Mets traded Kevin Appier to the Angels for Mo. Ted Williams told Mo in his contract year "Fenway was built for a guy like you, to leave would be foolish"...well Teddy Ballgame was right. Now we see a guy like David Ortiz who is quite similiar to Mo come into Fenway and put up career numbers.

Right. My mistake. Still.......what a dumb, fucking trade that was.

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Darryl Strawberry by the Dodgers in the early 90s.

 

Bobby Bonilla by the Mets in the early 90s.

 

Anyone signed by the Orioles since Peter Angelos bought the franchise.

 

Juan Gonzales by the Tigers in the late 90s (Juan Gone is good, but Detroit spent too much on him then took a bath when trading him soon afterwards)

 

Alex Rodriguez by the Rangers (They spent WAY too much on him, despite him being great)

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The Mets signings have more to do with the Mets signing players after their primes. Most of the free agent busts have been well past 30.

 

Chan Ho Park is an easy pick. A $65 Million contract for two lackluster years.

 

Another pick: Albert Belle. A five year deal and he didn't play the last three.

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Juan Gonzales by the Tigers in the late 90s (Juan Gone is good, but Detroit spent too much on him then took a bath when trading him soon afterwards)

 

The Tigers didn't trade him, he left via free agency. I wouldn't say the Tigers' signing was too bad. It was one year, $7.5 Million. That won't kill a club.

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Mo Vaughn. What the fuck were the Mets thinking?! I'm a Mets fan but seriously, they deserved to lose every cent on that deal just for being so damn counterproductive. Nearly everyone could see he was past his prime and horribly out of shape, yet they still paid him an obscene amount of money. Terrible.

 

I would also get into the David-Cone-as-a-starter fiasco this year as well, but eh.....

Also Roberto Alomar, Mike Stanton and Tom Glavine.

Well:

 

Alomar was a trade, and not a terrible one at that. I can't blame Steve Phillips for making the trade, because I thought it was awesome when it was done.

 

Stanton - agreed.

 

Glavine - eh.....the QuesTec system has really thrown him off this season. I didn't appreciate his constant bitching about the system, but I can accept his excuse for his off-base pitches not being counted as strikes throwing him off. But if he continues to whine this year, and still be lackluster on the mound, then yeah - we have another bust.

 

Joining the Mets being a good career move: Piazza (though his stats have declined a little), Leiter, Olerud, Hampton, Ventura..........for now, that's about it off the top of my head. They do seem to have bad luck when it comes to bringing players in, but they aren't always unsuccessful. I mean, hell, they DID make it to the World Series three years ago. It's not like nothing ever works out for them. But yeah, they do have an ugly streak when it comes to picking up players and making trades.

Also Traschel has been better with the Mets than the other teams he was with. Especially after that stint in the minors in 2001. He still pitches as slow as molasses, though ("throw the ball" is one of the best chants in the majors recently).

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I would throw Darren Dreifort in here too. He has so much potential according to people, puts it together for a season, and get 5yr/55mil out of it.

 

And good lord, who would want Glavine at the money the Mets gave him. I mean for a club to pursue Tom Glavine like that is just silly.

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I know someone briefly mentioned this earlier, but the Mets signing Bobby Bonilla in the early 90s was a huge bust. It was such a big deal and amounted to nothing. Of course, I remember Bonilla for hitting a homerun to get the Marlins back into Game 7 of the 1997 world series, but that's another story. :)

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The Red Sox always have found ways to waste money, here's a few off the top of my head..

 

Andre Dawson, Frank Viola, Rob Deer, Tom Brunansky(technically a trade, but they kept him too long), Jose Offerman, Ricky Henderson, John Burkett, Tony Clark, Carlos Baerga, David Cone, Hideo Nomo(promising at first, but on the whole a bust), Ed Sprague, Dante Bichette and on and on....

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Offerman was solid in his first year for the Sox in 99(.294 BA, .391 OBP) but then just bombed after that. Bichette was also solid(if unspectacular) in his 2 seasons with the Sox. He hit .289 in 30 games his 1st season(2000) and hit .286 in 107 games in 2001.

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Guest MikeSC

How about Albert Belle to the White Sox?

 

Then again, it did a lot to end the strike.

-=Mike

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