Baseball fans are witnessing a couple of contract humdingers as Opening Day approaches, with both the Mets and Yankees once again looking precarious thanks to some pricey contracts they handed out.
For the Yankees, the culprit is of course Alex Rodriguez, who will make $29 million — more than the Houston Astros’ entire payroll — this season. That’s bad enough, but there’s also the fact that Rodriguez may not play at all as he works his way back from hip surgery. He is expected to be out until at least August, but even non-pessimists think he may take a rain check on all of 2013.
For the Mets, Johan Santana has once again provided as much heartbreak as hope. While Mets fans could hope throughout each of the six years of his $137.5 million deal that he would post at least one lights-out season worth his pay, Santana’s chance to show New York what he can do officially ended Thursday. The team has announced that he will likely miss the entire season — and perhaps be done playing for good — after wrecking his left shoulder again. That leaves New York without its ace and on the hook for $31 million. (The Mets, however, did get that no-hitter out of Santana.)
New York doesn’t have the corner on the market on bad contracts, though, and even Santana and Rodriguez’s letdowns may not be the worst in Major League Baseball. Take a look to see which teams are carrying albatrosses into this season, and see who comes out worst.
