Within a span of 37 days back in the 2015-16 offseason, the Cubs granted $184 million to Jason Heyward and the Orioles committed $161 million to Chris Davis. Four seasons in, these have become two of the worst free agent contracts in recent memory. MLBTR’s Jeff Todd breaks down how the players were perceived at the time and what’s gone wrong, in today’s video.
Don’t forget about the Ellsbury contract with the Yankees
Why? Ellsbury played well for the Yankees when he was healthy. And when he was injured, the Yankees didn’t pay his salary, the insurance company did.
OPS+ of 111, 83, 88 and 97 falls well short of fulfilling expectations in New York. In fact there’s an argument he did not play well for the Yankees.
LOL
Good one Stanfeild.
Ellsbury put up a combined 9.7WAR for 150+mill. Just because they didn’t mention it, doesn’t mean it wasn’t awful. They didn’t mention Pujols, Hamilton, Sandoval, Crawford or Vernon Wells either. It doesn’t mean they weren’t awful contracts that handcuffed their organizations.
Heyward and Davis aren’t even in the same conversation of bad deal. This is pretty ridiculous.
At least Heyward brings some value to the Cubs, even if it’s only 1-2 WAR and not the 5-7 they expected.
Davis hasn’t had a positive WAR since 2016. He is unplayable.
You’re missing the point, Hayward’s production could have been gotten for.. 3M? 5m? A year…
The cubs haven’t upgraded in 2 seasons because of money. Welp, saving 20+M a year from your mediocre RF and losing no production would help…
I think they understand the point of the article. But their point is that the deals are done and the Orioles have a player they cannot even put in the lineup. Heyward is an actual option for the Cubs regardless of his salary.
Well, Davis still gets a good amount of playing time simply because the Orioles don’t have any significantly better options to replace him, and it’s not like they expect to fight for a playoff spot where every win matters.
The Os have 2-3 1b/dh options that have produced better than davis. Mancini is a 1b but playing lf due to roster crunch. Nunez would be at 1b. Last year they could have promoted a kid mountcastle from AAA that was tearing the cover off the ball but he’s basically a DH/1b type.
Most anyone on the team could have hit better than davis last two years, no better options is highly misinformed.
This is correct. Davis is blocking Mancini, Nunez (to a lesser extent) and probably most importantly Ryan Mountcastle (the IL MVP in AAA last year) from more time at 1B/DH. Even a guy like Rio Ruiz could play some first if Davis wasn’t constantly penciled in there. Once (if) the season gets going if he doesnt start out well, I think his days are numbered.
3M? 5M? For 2 WAR per season, which is what Heyward’s been giving the Cubs?
Some news for you: on average, 1 WAR point costs about $9M on the free agent market.
Good point. One quick note – $6M/1 War Point is the actual number for all the free agents who signed during this offseason. The data is at this link:
spotrac.com/mlb/free-agents/
Commonsense has common sense here. Not sure how or why anyone would bother disagreeing with an obvious statement.
Acuna is Heyward v2.
No
I disagree. Heyward was always a “smoke and mirrors” player that looked much better on WAR than he delivered on the field. Compared to center fielders, he was still great, but not head and shoulders above the rest. But since since he was compared to right fielders, he looked so much better than he was.
It’s kind of like seeing a decent looking woman in a job surrounded by men. You usually think she is gorgeous just because of the surroundings. But put her around a lot of women and you would barely even notice her.
That’s a tough way of looking at it, though some “smoke and mirrors” type of comparison is at least somewhat apt.
Jason Heyward is, or was (?), one of the purest examples of a well-rounded do-it-all contributor of a player who coincidentally became a free agent at 26 years old. You can argue his true value from year to year before then, you can say he’s a defense only player with a lucky bat, you can say the Braves sucked and he only looked good because he was surrounded by clowns in uniforms, etc. but it’s important to reference back to that age he was at free agency and when most, if not all professional baseball players, reach their prime.
I totally hear your argument and that he might’ve been a bit deceptive in his value, but the thing with WAR is that it accumulates as long as the player is productive, it’s not just some number that randomly spits out high/low scores. If Heyward’s prime showed itself in that lone year atop St. Louis’s lineup, you know it wasn’t just the Cubs who noticed. If I recall correctly he turned down even more money (from the Nats?) so he could play with a younger core. Shoot, he was my pipe dream Mariners signing of that offseason too.
I guess what I’m getting at is that the Cubs are stuck with a hilariously awful contract for a player that they probably contributed to ruining offensively, but their utter refusal to make up for that lack of production with additional signings and trades over the past couple seasons is going to make this now-bad thing into an even worse thing.
He was never the same after getting hit in the face and breaking his jaw.
He was never the same after hurting his wrist in 2010. Look at his swing then vs. now. Had he been fortunate to have the right hitting instructors and a little better luck with the injury bug, he could’ve easily been a 20-20 guy based on talent alone. Never happened.
He got that contract because the Cubs (and other teams) felt they’d be paying for 4-5 prime years. If I remember correctly, Atlanta originally approached him with a contract in the range of Freeman’s 8/135 when Frank Wren was seemingly locking up the Braves’ core. Heyward balked, they agreed to buy out his arb years. He was gone a year later.
Well, the problem with the “just entering his prime” analysis is that prime production is more dependent on service time rather than age when a guy is still in his 20’s. Most guys who have 6+ years of service time have already reached their prime, and Heyward proved to be no exception to that. Only rarely do you see guys like Jose Bautista breakout after several big league seasons no matter their age..
I recall the issue being with his shoulder, no? After he hit 27 homers that one season.
@Lanldrac
‘…prime production is more dependent on service time rather than age when a guy is still in his 20’s…’
Yeah I disagree with that. Prime is generally considered to be 27-28 years of age. That’s highly correlated with prime production.
So does anyone think that the wrong player won rookie of the year in 2010? Posey vs Hayward?
I do. JHey shoulda been RoY
Agreed. He was always one of those analytics type guys favorite, which shows why they are not to be trusted to take over the game, that is going by nothing but figures and numbers. There has to be people who know about the game itself and can WATCH with their own eyes and see the flaws of a talent like Heyward, JBJ, BJ Upton and so many others.
You know what’s crazy? There are people who can do both! Interpret data… AND! watch the game and have opinions. I know. crazy.
Yeah, but a lot of the analytics guys don’t do both or clearly don’t understand what they are watching, so they go to the spreadsheet and database. And even there, they select which stats support their opinions as they ignore traditional stats that often reveal flaws as well. Hence, the mistakes they make with liking a guy solely because of analytics…like Heyward, Juan Lagares, Ricky Nolasco, and many others who made a bunch of money because of something seen in analytics that argued against what eyeball test guys were saying when they said these guys suck.
If by Heyward V2 they both started out with the Braves then I wholeheartedly agree
Um, the only thing Heyward and Acuna have in common is starting their careers with the Braves.
Acuna has shown he will deserve his big contract. Heyward can thank every SABR dimwit for his contract.
Well, Acuña will still have to prove that he’s for real. There are plenty of examples of Rookies of the Year who went on to have disappointing careers.
However, he does look like a much surer bet at this point simply because the numbers he’s put up these last two years are much better than anything Heyward has ever done.
There are examples of Rookies of the Year that went on to have good to great careers.
He is just a Braves troll, nothing to see here..
So, I’m complimenting Acuna and am posting in other topics that the Braves are the class of the NL East, but I’m a “Braves Troll” because I point out a fact about Heyward, who the Braves were smart enough to trade away?
I think he was referring to the comment before yours… the Fish are making some fine moves, the whole NL East will be the best in baseball this season, if it ever happens…
Okay, that was confusing. They need to format things a little differently here for clarity.
Your usual obligatory Acuna sucks comment!! are you not bored with that yet? Lol.
The Cubs won a WS.
Baltimore….not so much.
I think the point of the article is that they probably would have won with or without Heyward and his major money.
I don’t like the Heyward contract at all, but that’s not guaranteed at all.
Heyward was a below average hitter and a non-factor overall. They literally could have left him out of the lineup and still won in 2016. Why is this so difficult for Cubs fans to admit?
ChiSoxCity I’m not saying Jhey wasn’t a hole in the lineup in 2016 but I will argue up and down with anyone who doesn’t think his glove played a key role in their defense that season. People way undervalue that. I do believe he got a gold glove that year. Again, not saying that his contract is right but for us a championship was worth it. Let’s see if the ChiSox will do the same
They couldn’t have “literally” left him out of the lineup and won. Because every hitter would just hit the ball to right field and start running. They would have lost every game by double digits.
Stop using literally, when it is completely wrong.
An average Right Fielder would have given the Cubs more value than Jason Heyward, Gold Glove or not. There’s nothing worse than an everyday position player who’s a black hole in your lineup. Nothing.
He, um, kinda sucked that year, regular and postseason. But sure dude
You’re literally a dbag. Literally
Sure buddy. Why are ‘t you a GM? Ir dies the dollar store pay more?
Could not some other player have played RF that series?
A great defensive catcher is allowed to be a black hole in your lineup, but otherwise I agree.
Agreed. Most catchers and middle infielders are horrible at the plate. But no position player should be making nine figures with Heyward’s profile.
I literally laughed out loud..haha
Wrong again chi sux. As usual.
Prince Fielder in Detroit for a hot minute
They only paid him for two years. One where he protected Cabrera on his way to a triple crown. Then sent $12m to the Rangers with him for later years.
And a huge portion of that contract was covered by insurance and not paid by the teams. So it’s not even close to being in this discussion.
How will these contracts be affected if the entire season is cancelled? I assume the player still gets paid so the contract is not extended another year?
Any baseball fan with a little bit of knowledge knew that Heyward contract was terrible. He’s been living off of his minor league hype for his entire career. Like one day he’s just going to wake up and all of sudden be a 30/30 player.
But he hit a HR in his first AB.
Good question!
Nobody thought Heyward was worth his contract when he signed. Nobody.
The Cardinals offered $200 million and he took less. So yes somebody did. Nobody cares about the White Sox. Nobody.
Heyward had all the talent in the world, and the ball just sounded different off his bat.
Even Hank Aaron thought J-Hey would be a special player and hitter.
The problem was after pitchers adjusted to Heyward, he struggled to make adjustments.
Due to his long arms, he could not consistently find a bat path that allowed him to rediscover his once so promising blend of power and hard contact..
You would have been hard pressed to find any GM that wouldn’t have offered J-Hey over 150M if they had it in their budget. It is incredibly easy to say it was such an overpay now, but back then he was one of the most promising free agents to hot the market in quite some time..
There are worse contracts than Heywards
Cabrera – $30 million
Cespedes – $29.5 million
Pujols – $29 million
Stanton – $26 million
Heyward – $23 million
What’s wrong with this picture, non-Cubs fans?
Hint: One of these is not like the other.
We get it. You hate the Cubs. Move along
He might hate the Cubs, no doubt about that, but he’s not wrong. You’ve got MVPs on that list and Cespedes who could have been MVP his first Mets year had he been in the NL longer. Then you have Heyward who played good defense in an offensive first position.
No, I don’t hate the Cubs. I hate dumb fans. I’d a diehard Chicago sports fan who believes teams should be run the right way, and held accountable by their fans when they’re not.
Whatever you hate the Cubs and get off on talking smack because no one cares enough about the Sox
When was the last time the white sox had a walk off.grand slam 2014ish
Heyward had one 2018. Off a lefty no less. Not that its relevant but who cares. You crap all over it anyway.
White Sox wont even win an average of 80 games with the minuscule window of winning
“I hate dumb fans”. You absolutely hate yourself then. You’re about as dumb as it gets. Congrats on that.
I’m telling the truth, and it casts doubt on your team. I get that. You need me to hate the Cubs so you don’t have to acknowledge an inconvenient truth about your favorite baseball team. The dissonance must be driving you crazy.
I don’t “need” you to hate the Cubs at all. You and the other few White Sox fans out there all you do is hate on the Cubs. The Cubs have been flawed and made mistakes the last few years. I openly admit that. I sure as heck don’t need a stinking White Sox fan to remind me of those mistakes. Especially when it comes off as excitement to see the Cubs struggle rather than an honest opinion. Keep to your own we don’t need your opinion or care to hear from you. The White Sox need supporters and worry about them.
No one is as “crazy” as you, pal. You need help.
LMAO
You’ve got MVPs on that list
—————————————
It makes -0- difference if a guy use to be an MVP. Their contracts are bad contracts. No one in NY is saying ‘I am so happy with Stanton, because he was once an MVP’.
Ummm….Cespedes??
You’ve trolled enough, move along, and try to avoid looking any more like a complete idiot with nothing better to do than hate on another team..
Just because Stanton was injured most of last season doesn’t mean his contract suddenly became as bad as the others on that list. It will hurt on the back end, but right now Stanton is still a great player deserving of his AAV.
Hey ward’s Game 7 rain delay speech made his contract worth every last cent (as a Cubs fan that’s probably about to get blasted on this site).
Ridiculous comment
Cubs homers think the Cubs are perfect. They never make mistakes.
No Cub fans don’t think the Cubs are perfect at all. They’ve made a ton of mistakes lately. Your comment is such a typical Cub hater comment, and you’re clueless. Most true Cub fans are very upset with what’s been going on there lately, and the Heyward speech may have had some positive value. No one knows, but the Series was so close anything positive like that could’ve been the difference. Obviously it’s a terrible deal though.
You can get a really good public speaker for like half a mil.
As expected! LOL.
OMG. Your freaking speech is worth $187MM? Enough with this nonsense, through your web device in the trash and shelter-in place in-silence.
Here come the “rain delay speech” people. Same people that believe in a curse from a farm animal.
OBVIOUSLY Heyward isn’t worth the money he’s owed. I know it’s White Sox fans goal in life to destroy anything they can Cubs, but Cubs fans know it’s a bad deal. Just because very few people care about the White Sox their fans only can make fun of the Cubs. Which is mind blowing to me considering the last 5 years. But the Cubs Blah Blah Blah. Typical White Sox fan who are cool with sucking balls yr after yr but make fun of the Cubs as soon as they have a bad deal.
Just admit it and stop whining then.
Cubs fans have been cool with “sucking balls” for generations. Pot meet kettle.
There you go make sure to bring up how the Cubs did During WW1 because that’s completely relevant. Typical White Sox fan. I just want to reiterate how few people care about the White Sox. It’s actually pretty impressive they haven’t folded with just the lack of anyone caring about that team. Just so irrelevant.
Admit what? The White Sox are irrelevant? Yes I’ll admit that. The White Sox are irrelevant and the least cared about team in baseball. Congrats for following a team nobody else cares about.
$200M spent this offseason says you’re wrong. Howboutdat?
When was the last time the white Sox made the playoffs? Or are you too young to know that?
So what? They over spent for every guy because no one wants to go there unless they get overpaid.
Just because you’re team improved slightly doesnt mean anything.
Zing !
2008 lol, but they should’ve made it in 2012 considering they led the AL Central for 117 days, I think, but of course they decided to fade and choke at a bad time.
Ian Desmonds’ contract with the Rockies is a bad one. Wait, let’s make it 4 bad contracts. Wade Davis, Jake McGee and Bryan Shaw in addition to the Desmond contract.
Oh yeah Desmonds is really bad. I would rank it as one of the worst in a long time. It isn’t as big a dollar amount but it was just so mind blowingly stupid of a plan. Here is a guy with little offensive skill, whose entire value comes from defense. Hey let’s put him at first base!
Hey let’s put him at first base!
—————————————-
That was a thing in BB for a couple of years. Zobrist was signed specifically to play a lot of positions. It worked for one year, they won a WS, and some other dumb-a$$ GMs thought they needed the same thing.
And I get that. But who the heck signs a SS, when the only open position was 1B?
The Rox had to give up the 11th pick of the draft which is the highest pick ever given up to sign a free agent. I think because of that the Desmond deal May be the worst.
Yeah, the Desmond deal was terrible.
All 4 of those bad Rockies contracts still don’t come close to adding up to Hayward’s contract.
Heywards deal is awful but it’s not in the same Universe of Chris Davis. Obviously Heyward is way overpaid but he brings positive value at least. Davis is the worst player in baseball.
Have you SEEN Daniel Descalso play?
He reminds me of what the White Sox have been running out there at every position the last 5 years
At this point Daniel Descalso’s contract is worse than davis and heyward. At least heyward has a decent BA. Descalso was so far under the Bob Uecker line it’s not even worth mentioning him
Imagine if the cubs had 20Million dollars more per offseason the last 3 years?
Yeah nothing would be different. Wow
Technically they did have twice that plus 15 mil. But the Ricketts are extremely cheap could care less if the Cubs lost 100+ games the next 5 seasons.
They quadrupled the Cubs value in less than 10 years.
Wouldn’t put it passed them to sell the cubs within the next 5 years. They refuse to give their best players extensions
On this, we agree.
The Ricketts family has focused primarily on rapidly increasing cash flows from current operations, increasing expected growth, and managing non-operating assets of the Cubs organization better. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say they were positioning themselves to sale for a massive return, or perhaps leveraging residuals towards philanthropic or political endeavors. I’m sure the latter would make every Cubs fan proud, considering the patriarch’s ardent support of the current administration.
There’s nothing worse than a quasi-intellectual wind bag, blathering his opinion like it’s gold. Your comments, just like a has-been artist, just certified double plywood. Go away.
Aw, you need a hug little buddy?
Heyward plays excellent right field defense, More importantly, he made the famous rain delay speech that helped win the World Series! So I’m not complaining, even though I wish he would hit more.
A lot of guys play “excellent defense”. None of them make $187MM! That is the point.
Well, Trout does, but he’s also the best offensive player in the game in addition to his excellent defense.
Cobbs contract with the Orioles is the worst
Salaries are going to fall through the floor on the other side of this thing.
Guys will still get paid. Teams are just getting smarter about who should/shouldn’t get the most lucrative contracts.
In 4 years the Yankees will regret Gerrit Cole and they’ll be stuck with him for all 9 years. There’s not a single pitchers contract over 5 years that has panned out without issues. From CC to James Sheilds, David Price, Kevin Brown the list is extremely long.
Some guy named Max Scherzer’s on the phone for you.
Well, there could technically still be issues near the end of Scherzer’s contract, but overall, yes, his is an example of a good long term free agent pitching contract even if his pitching arm falls off tomorrow.
Pedro Martinez (6yr 75mil), Darvish, Tanaka, Lester, Hamels, Verlander, Scherzer, Kershaw, King Felix (5yr 78mil deal), Mussina (6yr 90mil)
Technically you said over 5 years, so I listed a couple 6 year deals, but either way point stands..
The correct statement would be, MOST long-term contracts for starting pitchers end up not working out for various reasons…
I would say that most of the big money FA contracts turn out to be disappointing for the fans and the clubs. Giving out that kind of guaranteed money creates a disincentive to produce. It’s just human nature.
Only if you’re stupid enough to give it to a guy till he’s 38 or 39
But most big money deals? That’s a mighty big umbrella there bud
Correct, alot of player’s first “big money deals or extensions” end up working out very nicely for both the player and their team.
It is the players that try to get a second or re-structured third big contract, and older players that enter free agency for the first time later on, those are the long-term, high AAV deals that end up being bad deals..
However, we aren’t seeing it as often now, because teams are re-signing players earlier on than before. Which, in my opinion, is the best solution for both parties.
It’s also never a good idea to backload the deals. If anything, teams should be trying to make more frontloaded free agent deals.
Why? From a cash flow perspective, you are better off giving the player money later, rather than earlier.
From a trade perspective, there might be some advantage to having a backloaded contract, since the AAV to the receiving team is lower than his real payment.
Because the White Sox do everything perfectly. They’ve been so dominant recently they have the right to bash other teams. Nobody cares about your stupid White Sox team. Nobody. They’re irrelevant which is why they have to overpay to get players to go there. It’s been written about many times how Heyward took less to play with the Cubs. He had over $200 million buck offers. If it was the White Sox he wouldn’t have signed because nobody takes less to play for that irrelevant team. Nobody.
Triggered much? Lmfao
“Blah-blah-blah, yackety-schmakety…”.
White Sox are IRRELEVANT. They always have been. Nobody cares.
32 of your 35 comments on this thread have mentioned “White Sox”. Tell me again how “nobody cares” rotfl
No Cub fans don’t think the Cubs are perfect at all. They’ve made a ton of mistakes lately. Your comment is such a typical Cub hater comment.
You typed this yet here you are making a “typical White Sox hater” comment. You’re a fool Bush1.
I would never comment on that worthless team no one follows but I hit a breaking point. I’ve seen way too many comments from White Sox haters over time and couldn’t take it anymore. Then I realized that they do it because no one cares about their team. It was a long time coming and yes they are completely still irrelevant, but it became too much for me to handle with all of the over top haters from that worthless franchise.
You’re the fool, I was being honest about the Cubs. They’re far from perfect, genius.
No, you’re being a hypocrite. Quit sipping that cubbie Kool aid, not good for you.
Lol you’re so mad, I’m having a great laugh at your expense.
I’m really not mad at all. I’m laughing at you for laughing at something that’s not even true. Lol. You’re a moron. It’s so funny to me. I’m going to go and laugh a ton about it. Hysterical.
I do think your conclusion is valid, Jeff. They could have gotten that production for 3-5M a year Hindsight is great of course, but they wanted to win the offseason! Sometimes that’s not so good…
It works if you sign good players with a proven track record.
Heyward Contract isnt even that bad. I never got all the hate for it. Chris Davis and Jacoby Ellsbury are far worse.
Prince Fielder was even worse. Only.difference was Detroit was off the hook for over 85mil when he was forced to retire.
Heyward (6’5”, 240 lbs RF) hit 7 HRs thru 530 ABs in 2016. He followed that up with 11 and 8 HRs in successive years. He’s only hit more than 20 HRs twice in 10 years in the big leagues. His contract is a crime against humanity.
And the 21 in 2019. He’s improved every year.
3 Gold Gloves just with the cubs. And he was snubbed for 2019. As was Baez at SS. That’s another arguement.
Hitting is far more important.
Gold Gloves are irrelevant if you can’t hit. It’s a feather in your cap, but it doesn’t get you paid.
Cardinals deal with Dexter Fowler.
Yeah, he’s definitely overpaid, the first year of the deal was rocked by injuries, while he was terrible the second year, but if Fowler can play the last 2 years at a similar level to what he did last year, the deal won’t look that bad overall.
How did Heyward’s contract become one of the worst?
Answer: Sabermetrics and analytics instead of the eyeball test. Guys like Heyward, Juan Lagares, Ricky Nolasco, and several others can thank all of the guys that look at the Excel spreadsheet more than the actual game on the field for the amount of money they suckered teams into paying them. The guys that actually use the eyeball test to make decisions did not sign any of them to those dimwitted contracts like the Excel spreadsheet guys did (Theo Epstein, Sandy Alderson, etc.).
Whose next? Zach Wheeler. It’s laughable he got so much more money than MadBum, when they’re about the same age, and MadBum has achieved so much more and very likely will continue to be better because he has the one…I mean…another thing that analytics can’t measure – mental ability to succeed.
MadBum has way more innings on that arm than Wheeler.
Yeah, but you don’t pay a guy more based on that, especially the reason for that is due to injury history and ineffectiveness.
What would be a fascinating exercise is if you tried to be TB or OAK on steroids (pun). That is, you would only sign your own guys to pre-FA friendly deals, and if not you would let your guys go at FA, and you would sign NO long term FA deals with other guys. And then only build from within.
Would you at least be able to keep your guys all the way through their arbitration years?
Defense and baserunning are overrated by WAR. Even if Heyward’s offense had remained steady compared to his 2015 season, he’d still be significantly overpaid.
So is pitch framing which isnt even a stat. And never was or will be but for some reason people think because realmuto is a great pitch framer hed the best catcher in baseball.
Yeah, while pitch framing is an important aspect of catcher’s defense, people seem to forget that blocking and throwing are just as, if not more, important aspects.
Although, Realmuto is one of the best catchers in baseball (although probably not THE best), because he’s also a great hitter.
Uh, pitch framing is not a stat. It’s a skill.
That lead-based paint took a toll on you, huh?
Heyward will go down in baseball history as the largest singles hitter (not a very good one) to ever play the game.
The Heyward signing was bad because although he was still young when he signed his contract, he didn’t have a track record of being an impact bat. He was signed with the hope he’d develop into one and hasn’t.
I didn’t read all of ChiSoxCity’s comments, and I know there are a few Sox based names on here who troll about the Cubs, and I didn’t see that with him (or her).
They even said that they don’t hate the Cubs… you know how I know that they are telling the truth? People who hate the Cubs are NOT shy about that.
As a die hard Cubs fan, I side with ChiSoxCity in his hatred for dumb fans.
That said, I “like” Heyward. I don’t think he’s great, I don’t think he’s terrible, but I do think he gives it 100% everyday. The guy has had a lot of success here… that can’t be argued (gold gloves, World Series, other memorable moments), but yes… he hasn’t lived up to expectations.
I wouldn’t outright call him a bust, like Adam Dunn was for your Sox. Or Todd Hundley was for the Cubs.
Thanks Joe, you get it.
In regards to Heyward, I think he’s a great guy and teammate. He’s the type of player you root for, regardless of affiliation.
However, the level of anger and delusion displayed by Cubs fans when people state the obvious truth is just absurd. You’ll never hear a fan of any other team try to defend a guy making nine figures who struggles to hit their weight in batting average, or more than 7 HRs a season. WAR is a convenient stat for some, but you have to drill down to more conventional stats in order to truly understand a player’s performance. And those stats indicate Heyward’s contract is a disaster.
They were both really stupid contracts but Heyward is still useful and Davis is by far the worst player in baseball. When Davis was signed he was one year removed from a .196 batting average. Heyward was a WAR darling but far from an elite player. The Cubs bet on upside and lost. That said, there’s a few teams that could use Heyward. If I were the Giants I’d take him and a little cash for Samardzjia and Longoria.
How about Heyward and Darvish plus cash to the Giants for Shark, Longo and a a decent prospect? The Cubs get out of their 2 biggest contracts for one year of Shark and 3 years of Longo and his very low AAV. The Giants get a solid RF who could potentially lead off plus a solid 2/3 starter. The Cubbies clear a lot of payroll.
Why are you putting them in the same category?
Heyward’s been a 2 WAR/season player, Overpaid, sure, but a useful player for a rich club that can afford the $10M/year or so that they’re over-paying him by.
Meanwhile, Chris Davis is whaay below replacement level, and signed by an organization which would struggle to justify his share of their payroll even if he was hitting 50 bombs a season.
What a ridiculous comparison! Davis would be a terrible contract if he was being paid the league minimum.. Heyward is a league average player
The Josh Hamilton contract was also a disaster.
Idiotic to compare Heyward’s contract to Davis’. Defense matters, leadership matters and a World Series ring matters.
Thank you Cubbies for our bidding the Cardinals for Jason Heyeard!! And——Thank you Jason Heyward for choosing the Cubs over the Cardinals!!! Otherwise it would have been another Mozeliak blunder contract.
For out bidding
I know Chris Davis really tumbled off a cliff after the league curtailed his taking Adderall. But my question is where does one draw the line between using it to treat a psychological condition vs using it for performance purposes? Wouldn’t the league and the union want to keep its players healthy (both mentally and physically)? Or is it more trying to be equal across the board by declaring amphetamine use, regardless of its medicinal merit given one’s circumstances, still qualifies as a PED?
Heyward may still be the most physically gifted player in baseball. He has become a head case as a hitter. Dude should have just stayed off the plate and utilized his long arms. Would have been a HOF hitting 30-40 HR a year with 10 Gold Gloves.
With Heyward, he might not be as good as they thought he was. he had a .735 OPS in 2014, his penultimate walk year. Then he had a .797 in his walk year.
IRT Davis, I’d bet real money it was steroids. He wasn’t a bad player with Texas, but still had a 94 OPS+.. Then he has a 168 and 147 prior to free agency?
The second thing is that he was starting his contract at age 30. It’s not like the last three years weren’t going to be bad years anyway.
But the fun part is, from what I’ve heard, is that Boras negotiated directly with Angelos Sr., when the rumors were that his faculties were already on the decline.
OTOH, SD managed to give Hosmer a similarly overpriced package, and their GM still had most of his faculties.
Machados deal might be one we’ll be talking about in short-order. He put up similar numbers to Kyle Seager last season, which isn’t a knock on Seager, but certainly not what was expected.. Only a few points separated them in OPS, wRC+, and they had identical K%.
Manny is young and certainly capable of doing much better, but that signing is off to a terrible start and he’s not the only Padre on a large deal that has been terrible.
Hosmer is under contract for 6 more years; Myers for four. That’s a team that has just one home-grown player in their lineup right now, two if Hedges starts. They’re inability to develop fielders has led to a dependency on free agency which has arguably handcuffed the team before they’ve even come out of their rebuild.
Point is, they don’t have the worst contract in baseball in their books. But they have one of the worst collection of contracts on their books for a team that hasn’t accomplished anything yet and that may very well cost Preller his job before too long.
San Diego is a team (and fan base) that I empathize with. Seattle as well, though their rebuild just entered year two and appear to be developing at a much faster pace.
Cue the misunderstandings.
Miguel Cabrera Ian Desmond dexter Fowler Albert Pujols, cespedes , all hitters who had worse contracts than heyward . Ozzie smith was same boat with defense in early career . Like heyward if they don’t make amazing play with bases loaded and two out and 2 runs score and next guy hits a bomb by saving all those runs isn’t it the same as hitting a grand slam ? Heyward made amazing plays in game 4 of nlcs and game 5 hanging onto the bricks when pitcher popped out to him . What if alou did they against bartman ?
If you’re going to go back to Vernon Wells you might as well go all the way back to Wayne Garland for the Indians.