After the Chicago White Sox signed Yasmani Grandal for a franchise biggest (yet fairly paltry 4 year/$73 million dollar deal), I wanted to examine some of the bigger contracts in baseball history. I was in high school when A-Rod shocked the world with his 10 year 250 million deal with Texas, and that was nearly 20 years ago now. How could the White Sox (who do play in Chicago, a big market) not have a single 100 million dollar man?
I wanted to research. So here's a list of biggest contracts in terms of overall dollars, as well as runners up. Credit due to Spotrac, Wikipedia, and Cot's Baseball Contracts for helping me generate this list.
Angels: Mike Trout - 12 years, $426MM signed 3/19/19 (runner up Albert Pujols – 10 years, $240MM)
Astros: Jose Altuve – 5 years, $151MM. Signed 3-20-18 (Carlos Lee 6 years/$100)
Athletics: Eric Chavez – 6 years, $66MM. Signed 3-18-04 (Kris Davis 2 years/$33.5)
Blue Jays: Vernon Wells – 7 years, $126MM. Signed 12-18-06 (Russell martin 5 years/$82)
Braves: Freddie Freeman – 8 years, $135MM. Signed 2-4-14 (Acuna 8 years/100)
Brewers: Ryan Braun – 5 years, $105MM. Signed 4-21-11 (Lorenzo Cain 5 years/$80)
Cardinals: Paul Goldschmidt - 5 years, $130MM signed 3/21/2019 (Matt Holliday – 7 years, $120MM in 2010)
Cubs: Jason Heyward – 8 years, $184MM. Signed 12-15-15 (Jon Lester 6 years/$155)
Diamondbacks: Zack Greinke – 6 years, $206.5MM. Signed 12-8-15 (Yasmani Tomas 6 years/$68.5)
Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw – 7 years, $215MM. Signed 1-17-14 (Matt Kemp 8 years/$160)
Giants: Buster Posey – 8 years, $159MM. Signed 3-29-13 (Johnny Cueto 6 years/$130)
Indians: Edwin Encarnacion – 3 years, $60MM. Signed 1-7-17 (Travis Hafner 4 years/$57)
Mariners: Robinson Cano – 10 years, $240MM. Signed 12-12-13 (Felix Hernandez 7 years/$175)
Marlins: Giancarlo Stanton – 13 years, $325MM. Signed 11-18-14 (Christian Yellich 7 years/$49.5)
Mets: David Wright – 8 years, $138MM. Signed 12-4-12 (Two way tie for deGrom 5 years and Santana 6 years at $137.5)
Nationals: Max Scherzer – 7 years, $210MM. Signed 1-21-15 (Stephen Stratsburg 7 years/$175)
Orioles: Chris Davis – 7 years, $161MM. Signed 1-21-16 (Adam Jones 6 years/$85.5)
Padres: Manny Machado – 10 years, $300MM. Signed 2-19-19 (Eric Hosmer 7 years/144)
Phillies: Bryce Harper – 13 years, $330MM. Signed 2-28-19 (Cole Hamels 6 years/$144)
Pirates: Jason Kendall – 6 years, $60MM. Signed 11-18-00 (Starling Marte 7 years/$41.5)
Rangers: Alex Rodriguez – 10 years, $252MM. Signed 12-12-00 (Shin-Soo Choo 7 years/$130)
Rays: Evan Longoria – 6 years, $100MM Signed 11-26-12 (Kevin Kiermaier 6 years/$53)
Red Sox: David Price – 7 years, $217MM. Signed 12-4-15 (Manny Ramirez 8 years/$160)
Reds: Joey Votto – 10 years, $225MM. Signed 4-2-12 (Ken Griffey Jr. 9 years/$116.5)
Rockies: Nolan Arenado – 7 years, $234MM. Signed 2-26-19 (Troy Tulowitzki 10 years/$157)
Royals: Alex Gordon – 4 years, $72MM. Signed 1-6-16 (2 way tie for Gil Meche and Mike Sweeney 5 years/$55)
Tigers: Miguel Cabrera – 8 years, $248MM. Signed 3-31-14 (Prince Fielder 9 years/$214)
Twins: Joe Mauer – 8 years, $184MM. Signed 3-21-10 (Justin Morneau 6 years/$80)
White Sox: Yasmani Grandal – 4 years, $73MM. Signed 11/21/19 (Jose Abreu 6 years/$68)
Yankees: Alex Rodriguez – 10 years, $275MM. Signed 12-13-07 (Derek Jeter 10 years/$189
There's a lot to highlight and learn from this list.
I'm surprised to see how cheap the Pirates and Indians are. $60 million are their biggest contracts? Most teams have doubled that! I've never really considered the Indians to be a small market team either. After that big streak of 455 sellouts in the late '90s and sheer amount of star power that's gone through Cleveland, I never would have guessed their biggest contract was Edwin Encarnacion. For Pittsburgh, that kind of makes sense, but I'm still surprised that their biggest deal was nearly 20 years ago.
In terms of $100 million dollar deals, these five teams have never taken the plunge: White Sox, Pirates, Indians, Athletics, and Royals. Even the Rays and Marlins have jumped in. The CHICAGO White Sox play in a big market. Lots of surprises!
Looking at team's 2nd biggest deals, you'll find that these franchises have had only ONE $100 million dollar player: Twins, Rays, Orioles, Marlins, Brewers, Blue Jays, and Diamondbacks. Combining the list of no 100s, there are 12 teams with one- 100 million dollar player or less. Seven $100 million dollar contracts overall among these 12 teams.
Now to compare that to some of the bigger market teams: The Yankees have inked 7 deals worth $120MM or more. Dodgers: 3. Red Sox: 4. Tigers: 4 (2 for Miggy). Cubs: 3. Mets: 4. Total between all these top tier teams: 25. Almost quadruple my above list of seven contracts for the twelve lower market teams.
The "small market" St. Louis Cardinals top two deals tally up to $250. The number of teams below that $250? 9. Below such true market teams like The Marlins and Twins. Not that big deals are #1 when it comes to sorting out payroll, but just an interesting note.
Yes, Oakland is that cheap. Their second biggest deal is a paltry 2 years 33 million. Looking at year over year payroll, their biggest contract typically was between 6 and 8 million. Again, this list is free agents and extensions, doesn't count trades they've made. But if you look at the salaries they've brought on via trade, it's similar. Going through the last decade, they've signed a few players to 2 year / $20-$25 deals. It's shocking to see.
There's a lot to unpack here. Looking at the list, what trends or fun facts do you notice?