Baltimore Orioles: Ten Most Haunting Contracts In Franchise History

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FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – FEBRUARY 23: Danys Baez #28 of the Baltimore Orioles poses during photo day at the Orioles spring training complex on February 23, 2009 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. (Photo by Marc Serota/Getty Images) /

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.

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