{"id":45737,"date":"2018-03-15T21:45:38","date_gmt":"2018-03-16T01:45:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/totfc.net\/?p=45737"},"modified":"2020-08-05T21:45:53","modified_gmt":"2020-08-06T01:45:53","slug":"can-david-wright-surpass-ryan-howard-for-worst-mlb-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/?p=45737","title":{"rendered":"Can David Wright surpass Ryan Howard for worst MLB contract?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I was skimming baseball news recently, when I came across this article<\/a> about how the Mets\u2019 third baseman, and the Face of Major League Baseball<\/a>™<\/em>, David Wright has suffered some physical setbacks, and has been shut down for eight weeks, thus missing out on Opening Day and likely all of April.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the record, David Wright has had a laundry list of physical ailments throughout the last few years, such as spinal cord stenosis, a hernia in his neck, rotator cuff surgery, and another undisclosed back injury.\u00a0 Over the span of the last three seasons, Wright has played in a grand total of 75 games, with a big fat zero in 2017.\u00a0 Needless to say, it\u2019s been particularly challenging for Wright to stay healthy, and I can only imagine the frustration of a guy who makes his living playing baseball, being so physically incapable of actually playing it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the thing though: baseball contracts are guaranteed, unlike in the NFL.\u00a0 If your contract states you make X over Y number of years, you get exactly that much money, regardless of if you play or not.\u00a0 David Wright signed an eight-year contract back in 2012 that dictated that between the years of 2013-2020, he would be paid $138 million dollars.<\/span><\/p>\n

Considering the fact that he\u2019s played in 15% of games over the last three years, you might be able to see why this is a problem for the Mets, and a legitimate question to whether or not his contract just might be the worst contract in baseball history.<\/span><\/p>\n

Among baseball nerds, the debate is endless on who really is the worst contract in baseball history.\u00a0 But for the sake of ease, and the fact that I dislike the Phillies, we\u2019re just going to go with one of the more popular options, as the de facto current worst contract in MLB history: Ryan Howard\u2019s five-year, $125 million dollar contract he signed with the Phillies in 2010.<\/span><\/p>\n

How does David Wright\u2019s current, and still active deal stack up to The Big Piece\u2019s albatross that hamstrung the Phillies for five years?\u00a0 Let us compare.<\/span><\/p>\n

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As stated, Ryan Howard\u2019s deal was five years, $125 million dollars, and spanned across 2012-2016.\u00a0 What makes this easy is that this is a fulfilled contract, and the numbers involved are no longer variable, compared to David Wright\u2019s still active deal.\u00a0 Regardless, now is as good of a time to compare the two considering Wright has completed five years of his eight-year deal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are the highlights of Ryan Howard\u2019s career while he was getting paid $25 million dollars a year:<\/span><\/p>\n