Baltimore Orioles: Ten Most Haunting Contracts In Franchise History

Alex Cobb- 4 year/$57 million

If you’re like me, you often forget that Alex Cobb is still on the Orioles roster. It’s easy to forget about him when he missed essentially all of 2019 with multiple injuries. He’s expected to be healthy for spring training 2020, but that’s still TBD.

Cobb spent the first six seasons of his career with Tampa Bay, going 48-35 with 3.50 ERA and recording double-digit wins in four of those seasons. Prior to the 2018 season, Cobb signed a four-year deal worth $57 million to shore up the Orioles pitching staff and help lead the organization back to the playoffs, somewhere they hadn’t been since 2016.

His first year with the Orioles was one to forget. Cobb went 5-15 with a 4.90 ERA and the lowest strikeout rate of his career. Blisters hampered him by the end of the year as fans were left with a highly paid, struggling free agent acquisition and the selling of Manny Machado, Kevin Gausman, Jonathan Schoop, and Darren O’Day.

Cobb’s second season in Baltimore lasted just 12 innings (10.95 ERA, 9 HR allowed) due to a groin injury, a lumbar strain, and ultimately hip surgery that shut him down for the rest of the year.

There’s still time to salvage some value out of this contract, but Cobb has a long way to go after undergoing major surgery, the second such surgery in his career (Tommy John in 2016).

Albert Belle- 5 year/$65 million

Twelve major league seasons, five All-Star appearances, five Silver Slugger awards, 381 career home runs, 389 doubles, and a career slash line of .295/.369/.564 aren’t typically numbers that would describe someone appearing on a list of haunting contracts. Unfortunately, for Albert Belle, a degenerative hip condition cut short a possible Hall of Fame career and left the Orioles without their $65 million man just two years into a five-year deal.

Belle played in 161 games in his first season in Baltimore, hitting .297 with a .400 OBP and 37 home runs. The Orioles wanted a powerful bat in the heart of their lineup and Belle wasted no time in delivering.

The following season, a 33-year-old Belle would play in his final 141 major league games, hitting .281 with 23 home runs and 103 RBI. It was the fewest number of home runs in a single season for Belle and his 0.6 bWAR was a significant drop from his 3.4 bWAR the previous season and 7.1 bWAR in 1998. He was forced to call it a career after the 2000 season.

There’s a lot to discuss and unpack when talking about Belle’s personality and off the field actions, but there’s no denying the value he provided in a major league lineup.

Scott Erickson- 5 year/$32 million

Originally a fourth-round pick of the Minnesota Twins back in the 1989 draft, Scott Erickson quickly made a name for himself after leading the league with 20 wins and finishing second in Cy Young voting in just his second year in the majors (1991). Unfortunately, Erickson saw his numbers decline over the next three and a half seasons until he was traded to the Baltimore Orioles during the 1995 season.

The change of scenery worked well for Erickson, who finished the rest of the season with a 9-4 record with a 3.89 ERA and a 5.1 K/9 IP rate, one of the highest marks of his career.

He was rewarded with a five-year/$32 million extension during the 1998 season, this coming off a 16-7 and 3.89 ERA season the year before, his best season in the majors since that impressive ’91 campaign.

After signing his new, hefty contract, Erickson would make 78 more starts in an Orioles uniform, missing all of 2001 and 2003 with injuries. He went 15-12 with a 4.81 ERA in the first year of his deal, but managed a miserable 10-20 record and an ERA well north of 6.00 between 2000-2002. $32 million for 20 wins and 221 strikeouts.

He returned from injury in 2004, playing for four different teams over the next three seasons before calling it a career. He won just two games during that span.

Sidney Ponson- 3 year/$22.5 million

Former Orioles manager Mike Hargrove compared Sidney Ponson to Bartolo Colon and believed he would develop into an ace for the Baltimore Orioles. Instead, Ponson is more remebered for his problems with alcoholism, punching a judge back home in Aruba, and failing to perform on the mound. There was also his banishment from international competition after testing positive for a banned substance.

Ponson pitched for parts of six seasons with the Orioles to begin his major league career, winning 55 games and finishing fifth in Rooke of the Year voting back in 1998. Baltimore capitalized on his 14-6 record and 3.77 ERA in 2013 and traded him to San Francisco where he finished the season out west before electing free agency.

He returned to Baltimore in the offseason, signing a three-year/$22.5 million deal to come back to the Charm City. Ponson was released after two seasons, going 18-26 with a 5.64 ERA. He allowed 442 hits across 346 innings, walked nearly 3/9 IP and struck out well under 5/9 IP.

Ponson would be signed and released on six more occasions over the next four years, making his final major league appearance inn 2009 with the Kansas City Royals.

Danys Baez- 3 year/$19 million

There were a lot of issues with the 2006 Baltimore Orioles roster, which won just 70 games, but with a 33-year-old LaTroy Hawkins and 35-year-old Todd Williams carrying the bulk of the load, the Orioles decided to throw more than $40 million into the bullpen, a disastrous decision that resulted in not only three haunting contracts, but resulted in more eerily bad pitching out of the pen.

Jamie Walker was given $12 million, Chad Bradford pocketed more than $10 million, while Danys Baez received the largest paycheck at more than $19 million. All three contracts were ill-advised, but nearly $20 million for a 29-year-old reliever who was coming off the worst season of his career (-0.2 bWAR with Atlanta and Los Angeles)?

Baez logged 53 games in the first year of his deal, going 0-6 with 6.44 ERA and just as many walks (29) as strikeouts (29). He missed all of 2018 with an elbow injury.

Baez wasn’t terrible in the final year of his deal, going 4-6 with a 4.02 ERA and 1.13 WHIP across 71.2 innings in 2009 (0.8 bWAR), but it wasn’t enough to salvage any value out his daunting contract.

Per Fangraphs, the Orioles saw just $3 million of value out of approximately $41 million worth of contracts dished out between the trio.

Ubaldo Jimenez- 4 year/$50 million

This one continues to haunt Orioles fans a little bit more, largely due to that emotional 2016 Wild Card game in Toronto. Jimenez should not have been in the game in the first place, but the $50 million man was given the ball and ultimately crumbled.

Jimenez was a fantastic pitcher in his six seasons with the Colorado Rockies, going 56-45 with a 3.66 ERA and allowing just 55 home runs in 851 innings. Impressive for calling the launching pad of Coors Field home.

Jimenez would be traded to Cleveland during the 2011 season, where he struggled to keep the ball in the yard, saw his walk rate take a significant jump, and worked an ERA over 5.00 through his first 42 starts. Looking to impress in a contract season, Jimenez went 13-9 with a 3.30 ERA and a career-high 9.6 K/9 IP mark in 2013, catching the eye of the Baltimore Orioles.

Despite turning 30 and finding it difficult to replicate his success from his time in Colorado, the Orioles dished out $50 million over four years to the righty out of the Dominican Republic. He would go 32-42 with a 5.22 ERA and 1.50 WHIP as an Oriole. According to Baseball Reference, Jimenez was worth a minuscule 0.5 WAR through four seasons.

He’s been out of professional baseball in the US since 2017 and is now pitching in the Dominican winter league at 35 years of age.

Mark Trumbo- 3 year/$37.5 million

At the time of the signing, you could make a case for giving Mark Trumbo a three-year/$37.5 million extension, unfortunately, a devasting and possibly career-ending knee injury limited Trumbo to just 248 games over the life of the contract.

Trumbo originally came to Baltimore in a 2015 trade with Seattle for the low price of Steve Clevenger. That next season, the 30-year-old slugger led the majors with 47 home runs, earned a trip to his second All-Star game, and won a Silver Slugger award. He may have been on the wrong side of 30, but the Orioles were expecting to tweak the roster and get back to the playoffs in 2017, with Trumbo serving as a powerful cog in the middle of the lineup.

After signing his new deal, Trumbo slashed .234/.289/.397 with 23 home runs and 65 RBI in his first full season before appearing in just 90 games in 2018 due to his knee injury.

After repeated comeback attempts and rehab stints in the minor leagues, Trumbo played 12 games in 2019, going 5-29 in what could be his final action as a major league hitter. He’s the lone Orioles free agent in 2019. We’ll see if there’s an American League team willing to take a chance on him or if he decides to hang up the cleats.

Brian Roberts- 4 year/$40 million

A fantastic baseball player and now an insightful broadcaster for the Orioles on MASN, Roberts’ four-year/$40 million extension at age 32 proved to be another unfortunate financial decision in Birdland.

Through his first nine seasons in Baltimore, Roberts was an on-base machine, recording 50+ doubles three different times, double-digit home runs four times, and swiping 249 bags, including a league-leading 50 in 2007. He was a fan-favorite at Camden Yards with his electric play on the field and beaming personality. Personally, he was someone I studied and looked up to during my high school days as I debated whether or not to continue playing the game.

Sadly, injuries decimated Roberts’ career after his extension, appearing in just 59 games in 2010, 39 in 2011, 17 in 2012, and 77 in 2013. To his credit, Roberts always came back and tried to contribute, but the human body can only take so much.

Roberts gave it one last go in 2014, signing with the Yankees for $2 million. He hit .237 with 25 extra-base hits and 21 RBI in 91 games before calling it a career. Don’t worry, Brian, there’s no hard feelings for trying to give it a go in New York.

Yovani Gallardo- 2 year/$22 million

Another free agent pitching signing that didn’t pan out for the Baltimore Orioles. Gallardo and the O’s had originally agreed to a three-year deal worth $35 million,  but eventually agreed to a two-year deal worth $22 million and an option for a third year at $13 million after his physical raised some concerns.

Gallardo won 89 games in eight seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers, logging more than 180 innings in all but two seasons and was coming off a respectable season with the Texas Rangers that saw him go 13-11 with a 3.42 ERA and one of the lowest home run rates of his career (0.7/9 IP).

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Expected to help solidify a rotation consisting of Chris Tillman, Kevin Gausman, Ubaldo Jimenez, and Miguel Gonzalez and fill in the hole left by the departure of Wei-Yin Chen, Gallardo struggled his way to a 6-8 record, 5.72 ERA, and the highest walk rate of his career (4.7/9 IP).

He was traded after the first year of his deal to Seattle for outfielder Seth Smith. After pitching for Seattle, Cincinnati, and Texas over the next two seasons, Gallardo remained unsigned in 2019. Now approaching 34, it seems unlikely we see Gallardo back in the major leagues.

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