Sports

Gilbert Arenas and the Worst Current Contracts

By December 9, 2011June 18th, 2018No Comments

Gilbert Arenas (and the $62 million that he had left on his contract) just got waived by the Magic. The Magic trading for him and taking on that contract was about as successful as Steely McBeam. As a sports fan, if you had to take one of these current contracts and have that player on your favorite team, which would you choose?

  1. Adam Dunn – 3 more years, $44 million. Last year he reset the bar for the Mendoza line as he had by far the worst year in the history of baseball (.159 avg, 11 HR, 42 RBI). Last year he struck out 177 times which is about par for the course for Dunn. However, this time he did it in only 122 games. Usually it takes him a full season to reach that number. He has struck out 164 times in a season eight straight years. To put this into perspective, Rob Deer, who was a strikeout machine, only struck out 164 times four times in his eleven seasons.  Dunn is 32 years old.
  2. Vernon Wells – 3 more years, $63 million. He is coming off the worst season of his career (.218, 25 HR, 66 RBI, .248 on base %, walked only 20 times vs 86 K’s). Sometimes Wells is good (he is a three time All Star) but this isn’t the first time that he’s hit under .250 (in 07’ he hit .245). In his last five seasons he has only hit 30+ HR’s once and three times he hit 20 or less. He is about as inconsistent as they come and the pressure of this contract can’t help things. He is 33 years old.
  3. Rashard Lewis  – 2 more years, over $40 million. Since signing a monster contract with the Magic in 07′ his numbers have gone down every season (how very Albert Haynesworth of him). Excluding his first two seasons in which he played sparingly, his numbers hit a career low last year (11 ppg, 5 boards, 1.6 dimes, 43% from the field, 32 minutes per game) as he only played in 52 games. Typically NBA players don’t get rejuvenated when they are in their mid 30’s. He is 32 years old.
  4. Alfonso Soriano – 3 more years, $57 million. Apparently $18 million a year just doesn’t buy what it used to. Last year Soriano’s average dipped to .244, which is 30 points below his career mark. He used to steal bases (before he signed with the Cubs he stole 30+ bases in five of six seasons and had 40+ in three of those) but last year only had 2. He did hit 26 HR’s and 88 RBI’s but this is now the third straight season in which he hasn’t hit more than 26 HR’s. He had hit 28+ in the previous seven. His defense is awful at best and has an arm that couldn’t throw out Sid Bream. He is 35 years old.
  5. John Lackey – 3 more years, over $47.8 million. Since 07’ his ERA has increased every year. Last year he was nothing short of horrendous as he went 12-12 with a 6.41 ERA, 1.61 WHIP, and hit 19 batters (a career high). How he even got 12 wins with those numbers I have no clue. This is following up his previous worst year ever as he had a 4.40 ERA and 1.41 WHIP.  Lackey is also divorcing his wife while she is battling breast cancer. What a piece of work he is. He is 33 years old.

Others receiving votes:

Aaron Rowand – 1 more year, $13.6 million. He will be the fourth highest paid player on the Giants next year. Unfortunately the Giants cut him last August. That’s right, the Giants would rather eat almost $14 million than have Rowand actually take the field for them. Last year he hit .233 with only 4 HR’s and 21 RBI’s. This was his second consecutive season hitting .233 or less. He is 34 years old. He couldn’t be included because he only has one more year left and that’s too easy.

 

Rob Cressy

Rob Cressy

Sports loving free throw specialist and yinzer living in Chicago who is awesome most of the time, has run with the bulls in Spain, and is a graduate of Second City's Improv program.