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Friday, May 23, 2008

The Five largest Free Agent Busts Of The Last Ten Years

It's that time of year once more known insurance quote online adverse credit remortgages off-season in pro baseball and as always free agency was one of the hottest topics at the GM meetings that past week (November 5-8, 2007). The other two were instant replay and trying to approve the wearing of batting helmets for first and third base coaches. The helmet issue arose due to the death of Rockies Minor League manager, Mike Coolbaugh, who died after being struck in the head by a line drive while coaching first base.

Looking back in retrospect, free agency was born out of 70 years of player frustration at the hands of baseball owners who held a choke hold on player's rights. The Brotherhood Strike (1890) was the first try by the ball players to Paxil - 30 pills @ 20mg each here the owners grip on player mobility as they organized the National Brotherhood of Ball Players. But it failed miserably and the owners kept their death grip on the game until 1966.

That year, the players enlisted the services of Marvin Miller, labor union activist, and formed the Major League Ball Players Association (MLBPA). The final nail in the coffin of the owner's reserve clause binding players to one team happened when both Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax refused to re-sign their contracts. In 1970, Curt Flood, St. Louis Cards outfielder, as wellk the leagues to court to officially challenge the clause by negotiating a player trade citing the 13th Amendment and Antitrust legislation as grounds for the law suit.

He lost the case in 1972 in the Supreme Court by a 5-3 vote, but due in part to large-scale public sympathy, the damage had been done. In 1975, Dave McNally and Andy Messersmith played without contracts and then declared themselves free agents. The owners, whose grip on the ball players was weakened by concessions that came out of the Flood case, had no choice but to accept the Collective Bargaining Agreement put forth by the MLBPA, effectively ending once and for all the reserve clause's effectiveness.

I've come up with a list of the five largest free agent busts of the last ten years by putting in some due diligence and doing some research. Hopefully, you'll see my Purposeing behind choosing the five ball players that are on that list. I arranged the list from lowest annual contract salary to the highest, and oddly enough three of the five are pitchers.

largest Bust #5 car insurances quote Albert Belle (LF/RF - Orioles) - 5 years, $65 million ($13m/yr.)

Albert "Joey" Belle played for three teams in his injury shortened 12 year career --- the Indians (1989-96), the White Sox (1997-98), and the Orioles (1999-2000). He was called "Joey" (his childhood nickname) while in the minors, but his temperament and excessive drinking habits labeled him a high risk draft prospect in college, and it was during his counseling for alcohol abuse that he started going by his proper name of Albert.

Even though his career was ended in 2000 due to a severe hip injury, Belle's career was continually clouded by his questionable behavior both on and off the field. He was suspended in the 1986 college World Series when he went into the stands after a fan had been shouting racial slurs at him. In 1990, he threw a baseball into the stands, hitting a person that was taunting him about his alcohol rehab. He also ran into a Halloween vandal with his car after catching him in the act of throwing eggs at his house.

In 1994, a corked bat got him suspended. He was fined in 1996 for colliding with Fernando Vina on a play at second base. And in 1995, Hannah Storm of NBC Sports was the target of a profane outburst during the 1995 World Series when she approached him for an interview. It was also reported that the Indians billed him $10,000 a year for damages done to opposing team's clubhouses during road games.

At the end of the 1999 season, Belle invoked a clause in his contract that would guarantee that he would remain one of the three highest paid players in baseball, and when the White Sox refused to give him a raise, he immediately became a free agent. The Orioles, desperate to get back into a pennant chase, jumped at the opportunity and signed Belle to a five year contract worth $65 million. But Belle's career would end after only two of the five seasons on the contract when he was diagnosed with degenerative osteoarthritis of the hip. He was only 34 years old.

Brown would make an try at returning in 2005, but would fail miserably being plagued with back dilemmas and other injuries throughout the season. His 4-7 record and 6.50 ERA was enough, and in February of 2006, he announced his retirement. For Yankee fans it was as well long in the making. For me, it was the end of a foolish waste of money.

largest Bust #1 - Mike Hampton (P - Rockies) - 8 years, $121 million ($15.1m/ yr.)

Hampton was drafted by the Mariners in 1990 and made his major league debut in 1993. Besides Seattle (1993), he has been with the Astros (1994-99), the Mets (2000), the Rockies (2001-02), and the Braves (2003-present). Hampton would get off to a disappointing start in Seattle and get shipped off to Houston after only one season. The best year of his career came in 1999 with the Astros when he posted a 22-4 record and a 2.90 ERA as well.

Hampton was also revered as one of the better hitting pitchers in the league and would win five Silver Slugger Awards in a row. In 2001 while with the Rockies he batted .291 and hit 7 home runs. But coupled with his hitting prowess that year was a disappointing 14-13 won/loss record and a dismal 5.12 ERA. Adding insult to injury, he developed control dilemmas. In 2002, things just got worse. His ERA swelled to 6.15 and he posted a miserable 7-15 record.

As a result, in November of '02, Hampton was South Carolina Lemon Laws to the Marlins then immediately to Atlanta. He won 14 games in 2003 and in 2004 he helped get the Braves into the post season. Limited by injuries in 2005, he posted a 5-3 record, only to have his season end with an elbow injury that August. He would undergo Tommy John surgery and missed the entire 2006 season while in rehab, and 2007 would prove to be no better. In March, he tore an oblique muscle; in April, a bullpen start was shut down due to recurring elbow pain; and after having another elbow procedure done shortly thereafter, the Braves announced that he would miss the entire 2007 season with a torn flexor tendon in his pitching elbow.

As of the date of that article, there is no news about Hampton or his future. For me, that contract was more ridiculous than A-Rod's $25.2 million per year only because the Yankees got some good out of A-Rod. A creator for Sports Illustrated said it best --- "that deal, signed in the wild winter before the '01 season, was doomed from the start. The lefty Hampton was so bad -- 21-28, 5.75 ERA -- that the Rocks paid Florida (and then the Braves) to take him. The Braves still owe Hampton -- who missed all of '06 and '07 -- $15 million for '08." Now that is a "bust" if ever there was one.

As always, if you have any comments or questions, e-mail me at no1nyyfan55@yahoo.com and I will respond to you as quickly as I can. Until next time, here's hoping your free agent isn't a bust.

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