When people talk about the worst baseball contracts they mention Adam Eaton (3 years, $24M), and Barry Zito (7 years, $126M), and if they're savvy, maybe Vernon Wells (7 years, $126M... maybe teams should stop giving out 7 year, $126M contracts, eh?), or Luis Castillo (4 years, $25M). The point is, there are many to choose from. But here's one you almost never hear mentioned: Dontrelle Willis.
Willis was a very exciting and popular pitcher with the Florida Marlins who was traded along with Miguel Cabrera to Detroit, whereupon Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski lavished Willis with a three year, $29M contract. As popular as Willis was, and as effective as he was on the mound, a simple look at Willis' stats could have told you this deal was likely to end badly. Sadly for Willis and Detroit it not only will end badly but it started badly too.
Willis' career has been derailed to some extent by a social anxiety disorder, which has caused him problems during his last two years in Detroit. Last season he pitched 24 innings, gave up 25 runs while walking 35(!). Generally pitchers look to have a strikeout-to-walk ratio of about 2:1. 3:1 is good and some of the best pitchers have 4:1 or more. This year Roy Halladay is over 7:1. Last year, Dontrelle Willis' strikeout-to-walk ratio was 1:2. For that Willis was paid $7M. This year he's 'improved' to 1:1.6, and for this horrendous performance he's earning $10M. Next year the Tigers will owe him $12M.
Hopefully he can overcome the disorder, but whether he can or not, his time as an elite pitcher ended years ago. Even if he returns to the mound fully cured, Willis' contract will be one the Tigers regret. It's not the worst contract out there, but it's on the list.
1 comments:
Sadly, Willis has been put back on the DL with an anxiety disorder. Hopefully dude can get his life back together and pitch again.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090618&content_id=5400414&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
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