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We rank 'em. You react. That's how the Daily List rolls.3/04/2008 01:41:00 PM Worst Free Agent Signings of All Time
By Lang Whitaker, SI.com
Carl Pavano has had this look on his face for most of his Yankees tenure.Al Bello/Getty Images
The NFL free agency period has been a whirlwind of mediocre players, massive contracts and sportscasters and writers clucking in disbelief. Hey, it's not just a football thing -- average athletes can get overpaid in every sport! Here's our top-five worst free-agent signings of all time.
1. Larry Brown to the Oakland Raiders: OK, so he was coming off a Superbowl MVP award and a visit to Late Night with Conan O'Brien, but the 5-year, $12.5 million deal the Raiders signed Brown to seemed a bit excessive. Two seasons later, the Raiders agreed with everyone else and let Brown go.
2. Jon Koncak to the Atlanta Hawks: Koncak was already a Hawk, a reserve center with limited skills. The Pistons signed Koncak to a huge offer, which the Hawks trumped with a 6-year, $13 million deal, making him one of the highest paid players in the NBA. He didn't earn much sympathy in Atlanta by posing for Sports Illustrated with money raining around him.
3. Carl Pavano to the Yankees: After impressing as a young pitcher with Montreal and Florida, Pavano signed a 4-year, $40 million contract with the Yankees before the 2005 season. You might think that by now Yankees fans wouldn't mind wasting $40 million, but you'd be wrong. Since inking with the Yanks, Pavano has recorded all of four wins and suffered more strange injuries than...
5. Grant Hill to the Orlando Magic: After drawing rave reviews early in his career with Detroit, Hill agreed to a 7-year, $93 million deal with the Magic. He brought with him a foot injury that he couldn't kick, and he ended up playing in only 200 games over 7 seasons.
5. Jeff Garcia to the Browns: After working his way up through the CFL to the NFL, eventually guiding the 49ers to the playoffs, Garcia cashed in with a 4-year, $25 million contact with the Browns. His spent his first year in Cleveland criticizing the coaching staff and throwing nearly as many interceptions and touchdowns. Less than a year after they signed him, the Browns waived Garcia.
What's the worst free agent signing of all time? Let us know below...
Lang Whitaker is the executive editor of SLAM magazine and writes daily at SLAMonline.composted by SI.com | View comments |
Comments:
How can you leave Juwan Howard's $100 million dollar contract off this list. He was a waste of money. As a whole, the NBA signed more terrible free agents to huge contracts than any other professional league.What about the deal Raef LaFrentz signed with Dallas!You forgot Jim McIlvane of Seattle Sonics and Shawn Kemp of the Cleveland Cavaliers.New York Knicks. Allen Houston. nuff said.Eddie Robinson by the Bulls 4yrs 36 milJuan Gonzelez with the tigers. Not only did he not produce on the field, but he was considered a cancer in the clubhouse and criticized the Tigers and the city of Detroit in to media. He also spent significant time on the D.L.Here are a few others:
Carolina Panthers & David Carr
Washington Redskins & Adam Archuleta
Colorado Rockies & Mike HamptonHow about Mark Davis winning the cy young and going to KC royals for a total of 7 saves in two years for 4 year 13 million contract!Juan and the Tigers was a trade. So as god awful as it was, it's for another list.I'm just going to end it.
Jerome JamesBobby Bonilla a whole lot of hot air flapping out of those gumsBill Caudill to the Blue Jays, mid 80s. Scott Boras' first big money free agent deal.The Knicks signed Jerome James to a 5 year, 30 million contract after he was SCHOOLED in the second round of the playoffs as a member of the Supersonics by Tim Duncan, who was on his way to his third NBA Championship and third NBA Finals MVP award.
What were the Knicks thinking?
Never mind, I already know the answer: They weren't!
The really sad part is this is just one of many free agent mistakes the Knicks have made.Allan Houston and Rashard Lewis. You can nearly add all NBA big men and the FA signed by Isiah Thomas.Mo Vaughn to the mets is one, but Allen Houston easily wins.Nick Esasky and the Braves (not his fault he developed vertigo)
Danny Tartabull and the Phillies (gave the Phillies 7 at-bats before fouling a ball of is toe and retiring - he went 0-7)Come to think of it the Phillies are full of them: Lance Parrish, Gregg Jeffries, Adam Eaton, Andy Ashby, etc.Two words: MO VAUGHNhow about barry zito?BOBBY BONILLAany list of "worst free agent signings of all time" that doesn't include 121 million bucks to mike hampton is incomplete at best and totally absurd at worst.
how about bobby bonilla to the mets?
garcia to the browns was bad, but to put it in the top 5 is nuts.How about when Los Mets signed Mo Vaughn. What a waste!!how can you forget Denny Neagle and Mike Hampton for the Rockies? Neagle did capped his astronmical salary by hitting up prosititutes.Darrell Porter, St. Louis Cardinals. Darrell Porter had three good weeks the entire time he was with the Cardinals. Fortunately, that was during the playoffs and World Series in 1982. They invested way to much money for three weeks.HELLO...VIN BAKER ANYONE???Orioles Pitcher Wayne Garland signed by the Indians for 20 years at $20 million.....IN 1976. Two years later he was out after injuries and the Tribe kept on being mediocre for another 15 yearsMike Hampton getting $15 mil/year to pitch in Colorado deserves mention. Actually, any pitcher free agent signing by the Rockies deserves mention. (Denny Neagle, anyone?)Jose Canseco by the Yankees. Not only do you get an overpaid cancer, but he brought the pharmacy with him, hurting the rest of the players. Other signings just wasted money; Canseco hurt teams on an entirely different level.David Carr to anybody.What about Albert Belle? 5 years, $65 million with the Orioles? The guy had one solid season in '99, a sub-par season in 2000 then was forced into retirement.. he was a disease in the clubhouse. Before Belle, the Orioles were a stud team in the AL .. he drove their stars out of town and ultimately made the organization into the laughing stock they are right nowHow could you not include the MN T'Wolves signing Joe Smith to an under the table deal costing them several first round draft picks, and banning them from signing him for a year, he plays a year with the Pistons, then they sign him again....he was terrible.....darren f*ing dreifortChan Ho .... hosed the Texas Rangerswhat about kevin brown, leaving the padres for the dodgers and 100 mil. seemed to me that he wasnt that special to get that much money, plus how many more cy youngs did he win during the contract?Mike Hampton, Denny Neagle, et al any pitcher signed by Colorado a few years ago during the spending spree in MLBAlbert Belle, Sammy Sosa, numerous bad pitchers....let's just say the Baltimore Orioles from 1997 to present.How about Jerome James to the Knicks. One of the many mistakes by Isaiah. 5 years, $30 million and he averages less than 5 minutes a game if he plays at all. Good work if you can get itUm..Jerome James with the Knicks! The toughest decision JJ has to make each date is what tie goes with what shirt.Mike Hampton. He hasnt pitched in the last 2.5 years and made about 30 million in that timeLet's see....Vin Baker comes to mind immediately.Vince Coleman by The Mets in the early 90s!!How about the Royals signing of Mark Davis or the Trailblazers signing of Chris Dudley?scott mitchell.Alexei Yashin to the Islander... $90 mil wastedSome thoughts on the subject...
Vin (hic!) Baker
The Rays are about to do it if they sign Barry Bonds
Milwaukee signing Eric Gagne
Eagles signing Assante (can't catch the most important interception of my life) SamuelJD Drew for $14 million/year by the Sox.Freddie Garcia to the Phillies. $10 million for one win last year. Thanks!Matt GeigerJuwan Howard stole moley from the NBA from the moment he was drafted... he signed that $105 million contract with the Heat and never even sneezed at mediocre... He was traded for Obinna Ekezie! How good was he??what about Roger Clemons for 2007, 25 million for 6 winsHow about LeCharles Bentley to the Browns?? The man was an All-Pro center, signs the richest contract ever for a center, and then has a career threatening injury the first day of training camp. Still hasn't played in a game.How about LeCharles Bentley to the Browns?? The man signs the richest contract ever by a center, and then suffers a potentially career ending injury the first day of training camp. Still hasn't played in a game.Tariq Abdul-Wahad!
Denver re-signed him before the 00-01 season. Fortunately for them, they traded him to Dallas the next season (along with Raef, etc). In that 7 year deal, he earned approx. $33,750,000 and averaged 2.62 minutes per game. (he never even suited up after 02-03).Juan Gonzalez - 2005 Indians
$600,000.... 1 at bat.You can't leave bronson arroyo, mike hampton, and jason schmidt off this list.Come on...Doesnt anyone remember "Operation Shutdown"? Derek Bell's response after finding out that he had to compete for a starting job with the Pirates!Don't forget George Foster!!!A trio by the Mets: George "They might have to change the flight paths at LGA" Foster, Bobby (I'll show you the Bronx" Bonilla and Vince "Clorox-Spraying" Coleman.A trio by the Mets: George "They might have to change the flight paths at LGA" Foster, Bobby "I'll show you the Bronx" Bonilla and Vince "Clorox-Spraying" Coleman.Ed Whitson by the Yankees. He got in a fight with Billy Martin, was heckled by fans at home games and basically he was scared to death of being in NY. A real winner!Neon Deion with Redskins, who way overpaid him when no one else wanted him.Ken Griffey Jr. to the Reds? Can you say injury proneLawrence Phillips to the 49ers didn't break the bank, it just broke Steve Young. I still have nightmares about watching Phillips miss that block on Aeneas Williams, followed by Young laying motionless on the ground. Any signing that costs your football team its franchise, hall of fame quarterback has got to make the list.Eric MiltonDerek "Operation Shutdown" Bell to the PiratesLindros!I have two...and they're both by Dan Snyder and his sycophant, Vinny Cerrato and they both occured in 2006. First was Adam Archuleta who they made the highest paid safety in the league (to team up with the BEST safety in the league, God rest his soul) and the other was for Brandon Lloyd who had all of 25 receptions and no TD's and was paid a $10 million bonus on top of annual salaries for 2006 and 2007. Can it get any worse?What about 98% of FA signings by the Washington Redskins in the Dan Snyder era?
Adam Archuleta & Brandon LloydHampton/Neagle by the Rox.
Dale Carter by the Broncos.
Yashin by the Islanders.
Pretty much anyone by the recent Knicks.Any Pirates signing during the Cam Bonifay and David Littlefield eras. See Derek Bell, Tony Armas Jr. and Jeromy BurnitzIt's already been said but how could you leave Jim McIlvaine off the list???Bobby Bonilla with the NY Mets, with Mo Vaugn a close second.MICHAEL JORDANKevin Brown with the LA Dodgers. The on-call jet service put this over the top.any deal ever signed by Erik DampierBrian Mccbae with the LeafsDavid Wells and Bartolo Colon by the White Sox.... what a complete wasteI completely agree with the posters citing the Mike Hampton contract, which is a travesty by any standard.I almost said Eli Manning.....Just for the record: Wayne Garland's contact was 10 years 2million plus not 20 million.Adonal Foyal. Also, how about David Beckham, 250 million?????Chan "Hopeless" Park by the Texas Rangers.How could this list not include the Mets signing of Bobby Bonilla in 1991. It was a 5-year, $29 million dollar deal that at the time, made him the highest-paid player in team sports.Mo Vaughn was a trade for Kevin Appier, so while it also was terrible for the Mets, it's for another list.are you kidding...wayne garland doesn't only deserve to be on the list...he deserves top spot...How about when Roger Clemens traded his career for Brian McNamee.Wayne Garland to Cleveland was 10 years, $2.3 million. Too bad he only came with 1 working rotator cuff, and it wasn't in his pitching shoulder!Two of my favorites are from the same off-season: Brian Cardinal for 45 mil and Adonal Foyle for 42 mil. Classic moves by Mephis and Golden State, respectively.whoever signs KWAME BROWN next.what about the cubs signings of dave smith and danny jackson or of mel rojasI knew cleveland would make the list, but a worse cleveland signing was Wayne Garland in the 1970s, 10 years, millions of dollars, and 1 blown shoulder later the Indians were saddled with a contract that kept them under .500 into the 1980s.Wayne Gretzky as a coach....MIKE HAMPTON/ATLANTA BRAVESMIKE VICK,ATLANTA FALCONSLeaving out the mentally ill basketball contracts in the 90s, and football contracts (because you can cut your losses) how can you not put any former Pirates (Derek "operation shutdown" Bell 2yr/11M, Pat Meares 6M/year, Kevin "thanks roids for the 6y/36M contract we won't be needing ya anymore" Young and a way over the hill Joe Randa.Wayne Garland of the Indians was the first bad free agent signing.Matt Clement after a ball off the noggin.Philadelphia has its own list:
Danny Tartable; Jeff Ruland; Freddy Garcia; Jevon Kearse; Doug Peterson. That is just a few off the top of my head......Chan Ho Park by the Rangers for 6 yrs and $66 million or something like that.
A-Rod by the Rangers. Still Paying that one off 8 yrs later even after trade to the Yankees.I sawy someone put Michael Jordan? Six championships. At any point in his career (even the Wizards) he was the biggest draw in sports. He was the only reason the Wizards had season ticket holders. How about that white guy from the Pacers who had 2 good games and got a 50 somehting million dollar contract....Austin Croshere. Oh yeah he was Isiah's favorite player and that's why he was re-signed. Enough said.Not exactly a free agent deal, but about the $100M+ the Falcons blew on Mike Vick?Vin Baker to the CelticsPat Swilling to the Detroit Lions. They un-retired HofF linebacker Joe Schmidt's #56 so Pat could embarass himself.There are 3 things that make a free agent signing really bad.
1) Overpaid
2) Underperformance
3) Tying up cap money
So while Pavano, Garcia and Brown were bad moves, they really didn't come close to #3 because Pavano doesn't affect the Yanks spending and Garcia and Brown were waived so they didn't have to pay them the full amounts(depending on what was guaranteed).
That being said the Knicks are still feeling the affect of Allan Houston, and that contract was 7 yrs ago. Any list without him in the top 5 is a joke.Forget the players the free agent signing of Issiah Thomas himself has to rank up there. Not only is he overpaid but he in turn makes horrible signingsThe Knicks!!!The NBA is full of awful contracts that trump all other sports. Heck, Billy King of the 76ers should get his own list.Mo Vaughn, Anaheim Angelsbritt burns didnt throw one pitch for the yankeesAnyone signed by the Toronto Maple Leafs (Mats Sundin aside)Mo Vaughn to the Mets!!!...what a disaterAlvin HarperLarry Csonka...nuff said?Baltimore Orioles and Albert Belle, the team is still feeling pain from this one.OPERATION SHUT DOWN'S OWN - DEREK BELL!!!Albert Belle, Baltimore Oriolesanywhere Isiah Thomas has been as a coach. how does he do it?Deion Sanders to the Redskins
Keith Hernandez to the IndiansChris Webber
University of MichiganAnyone the Rangers sign from here on out... They have to overpay to have pitching!I have to agree with the one person who mentioned the Phillies. Year after year they find these stiffs, and last year was nothing new. Freddy Garcia, Adam Eaton. Come on people! I think the Phillies need a new scout in charge of talent, because they are not winning anything right now.DARIUS MILES. RICHIE SEXSON. BARRY ZITO. TOMMY KELLY. RAEF LAFRENTZ. SHAWN KEMP. DANNY FORTSON. KYLE BOLLER.Michaelle Hampton signing with the rockies for 15mil per year for 8yearsDan Gadzuric, Milwaukee Bucks
$36 million bench warming stiffAny signing by the Minnesota Timberwolves. I would go into specifics but there are so man failures with this team its not even funny. The only good thing they did was drafting KGNew York Mets... Kevin Appier, Mo Vaughn, Roberto Alomar... Trading away Scott Kazmir for Zambrano... Yeah not Carlos...Trading Tom Seaver for Doug Flynn et al., Kaz Matsui... I'm done venting. Let's go Mets!Adam Foote by the Columbus Blue Jackets for over 4M/yr...he was given the captaincy immediately, stunk his first 2 years there, and forced a trade back to Colorado (and ONLY Colorado) while the CBJ were still in the playoff race. A captain bailing on a team like that is pathetic...Let's not forget the Redskins signing of Super Bowl winning/Pro Bowler/MVP QB Jeff George. Wait, he didn't win a Super Bowl? How about an MVP award? Well, he's at least been to the Pro Bowl right? No? Geez, he was a bad signing.Juan g. was a trade----a very bad trade...buckeyeAny move by the Pittsburgh Pirates since 1992Hideki IrabuI can't believe no one has mentioned this, probably because they're still trying to forget (or maybe they already have) or maybe they're still amazed by his most recent one (10 yrs, $275 million), but remember Alex Rodriguez's contract with the Texas Rangers?
It was 10 years, 252 million dollars and worth than the stadium he'd play in! It didn't really pay off as Rodriguez would win just one AL MVP and the Rangers would not win a playoff series, winning a grand total of one game in three divisional series.Hard to see how Garcia to the Browns was a bad signing... he's succeeded everywhere else, included with the Bucs this year... that one's on the Browns for not knowing hot to use him.Bruce Sutter/ Atlanta BravesAndruw Jones 36 mil for two years makes Juan Pierre at 9 mil look like a bargain.Recent Posts
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