5 Largest Contracts in the last 5 Years

[EchoesIE]

Since the MBBA turns 5 today, I've decided to recap the 5 largest contracts handed out by teams to players, and how the players did both before and after getting that hefty check.

5) 1B Hector Fernandez - $70,800,000. Fernandez is the most recent player to receive the big paycheck. Fernandez got his prior to the 2000 season, so its hard to say how it's panned out so far. But prior to the 2000 season, Fernandez hit a career .279, Fernandez's banner year so far has been the 1998 season where he knocked 30 Homers and 108 RBI while producing an other-worldly .915 OPS. Here's another situation will only time will tell if the Moonshiner's first baseman's big salary will be worth it.

4) SP Jan Starr - $74,902,400. Starr might be the most on-again/off-again player in this list. He signed the contract prior to the 1999 season, then turned around a produced a less-than-stellar 7-11 record with a whopping 4.68 ERA. Starr has had flashes of brilliance in his career before 1999, highlighted by a 14-4 1997 campaign, where he turned in a 2.34 ERA with 157 IP. Starr is a player who has averaged a 41.5 VORP before 1999, and he looks to make his paycheck reflect his skills prior to the 1999 season.

3) P Eddie Harris - $77,855,000. Harris was given this contract at the tail-end of the 1998 season, insuring he'd stay in a Kernels uniform through 2004. With a 4-year ERA that hovered around 3.5, along with a combined 56-32 record and a WHIP that never dropped below 1.18...Harris is the constant starter that all teams need. In the single-season in which he's played since his contract, Harris had a 19-10 record, posted an ERA of 3.52 in 265 IP, striking out 255. Harris looks to keep justifying that large check through the next 5 seasons.

2) SP Sammy Bodeen - $107,700,000. Bodeen might become the newest poster child for giving an expensive salary to a player who shows flashes of being an absolutely game-changer, but he's only played in 11 games in the last 2 seasons: Bodeen missed all of 1998 with a torn back muscle, then missed all but 9 games in 1999 with a Torn Labrum. Bodeen wasn't too shabby in his previous 3 seasons however, posting a combined 45-28 record, with a combined ERA of 2.65 and an earth shattering 877 strikeouts. If Bodeen is healthy, he's the best pitcher in the game, if always being the key word.

1) 1B Brock Lee - $115,800,000. Lee recieved this absolutely bank-melting contract early in 1998. In his 2 seasons since receiving that contract, Lee has hit just .272, with 57 Homeruns, 221 RBI, and an average VORP of 17.2. Compared to before his contract, Lee has averaged 5 more homeruns per season, and 17 more RBI. However, his average has dropped considerably (.313 in '97, .279 in '98, .266 in '99), he's had 100+ strikeouts in both seasons (including a career high 110 in 1998), and also posted career high's in errors. His Lee worth his annual $23 million salary? Its hard to say.

[KCCardinalFan]

If Bodeen is healthy, he's the best pitcher in the game, if always being the key word.

He probably cracks the top ten, but I think he has been surpassed by several pitchers the past two years.

[LambeauLeap]

Izatt (and perhaps MItrani) > Bodeen.

[scottsdale_joe]

Brock Lee isn't worth the salary. That's simple.
But he was needed to legitimize the Mounties. (I offered him what it took to sign him.)
Which he did.
He figured to hit less homers in a tough home run park.
And he knocked in more runs in both the last two years than in any previous years.
I have no complaints.

[LambeauLeap]

Sammy Bodeen reminds me of the TEddy Higuera debacle with the Brewers.

From the interwebs: "In 1991 the franchise gave Higuera 13-million dollars for four years convinced he would be the future star of the roster. Higuera tore his rotator cuff in 1991, missed the 1992 season and eventually retired in 1995 after the Brewers refused to offer him a contract in 1995." He only pitched 115 more innings and had close to a 6+ ERA.

[recte44]

Jay Lee is the best pitcher in the MBBA, and that's that.

[lynchy34]

Jay Lee is the best pitcher in the MBBA, and that's that.

Ding! Ding! DIng! Lee is other-worldly.

[aaronweiner]

Lee's special. So's Izatt.

Incidentally, I will miss Hector Fernandez' bat, but I'll welcome the draft picks, especially in what might be a down year.