Good News: Rockies Do Not Have Any Of The Worst Contracts In Baseball

Over at Grantland Jonah Keri rounded up his list of the 15 worst contracts in Major League Baseball. The National League West was well represented, which is not a surprise given the recent activity from the Los Angeles Dodgers and the fact that Barry Zito still plays baseball professionally for the San Francisco Giants.

Uribe, a former Rockies great. Image: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Here is the list, in descending order (follow the link for the full article):

15. Albert Pujols

14. Adrian Gonzalez

13. Brandon League

12. Adam Dunn

11. John Danks

10. Johan Santana

9. Brian Roberts

8. Juan Uribe

7. John Lackey

6. Barry Zito

5. Vernon Wells

4. Jayson Werth

3. Ryan Howard

2. Carl Crawford

1. Alex Rodriguez

Count them: four members of the Dodgers. With their new ownership and ability to throw money around, they can absorb some bad contracts. Not infinite bad contracts, though. So it is one thing to take on the already bad deals of one-time stars like Gonzalez and Crawford, but entirely another to voluntarily pay Brandon League what they did this off-season (3 years, $22.5 million). And the fact that Juan Uribe will make $8 million this season is offensive. Not a figure of speech…that actually offends me. Even Zito’s contract bugs me less than that.

The lack of Rockies on this type of list is a good thing. Of course it is only one man’s opinion, but if the Rockies had to replenish their talent pool under the dark cloud of an awful contract, it would make things even more difficult than they already are (Mike Hampton, anybody?). It’s not like the Rockies aren’t paying some guys, either. Troy Tulowitzki, Carlos Gonzalez, Jorge De La Rosa, Michael Cuddyer, and Todd Helton all pull in some big bucks. For now the contracts aren’t disastrously bad, but another awful and injury-ridden season from any of those guys not named Helton and they might be in the conversation for these types of lists before too long.