That 2001 Dbacks team was really a dream team for the ages. Bunch of old vets who knew it was their last chance for a ring, as well as thirsty young rookie talent. I believe the docu "Destiny in the Desert" is on youtube now and it's pretty well done.
Found it funny in one of my Moneyball videos, someone commented that the A's could never win with their roster construction because "a team could never win it all with a gimmick sidearm pitcher."
@@BaseballsNotDead I mean, the D-backs almost didn't. BHK blew back to back save opportunities in games 4&5 and was not seen again for the rest of the series. In fairness, in game 6 they beat the shit out of the Yankees pitching 15-2, but in game 7 the D-backs went with Bautista and Randy in relief.
It's insane that megadeals signed by shortstops today are still barely above Arod's contract AAV 23 years ago. And he actually lived upto it (steroids aside). People must have lost their minds looking at that much money back then.
I remember him signing that and thinking he might actually be worth it, but not for Texas who had NO pitching at the time. Kevin Brown's contract was the most obvious overpay in that era, because he was like 35 yrs old and got 7 years.
This actually is wild and something I’ve never thought about before. In terms of current active short stop contracts there are only six guys who earn an AAV of $25.2M or more. There are only three dudes making more than his later $27.5M. It’s fucking wild to realize that A-Rods deal in 2001 would still be near the top of the short stop market this many years later considering how much salaries as a whole in the league have gone up since that time. A-Rod got $252M while the same year Jeter got $189M. Kinda wild to see how much more his deal was in comparison to a dude who was probably seen as the other top guy for his position. Also interesting that the dude making way more went to the Rangers versus the high spending Yankees. Alex performed up to his deal but it wasn’t able to be worth it for the Rangers. He performed at the level for it but the Rangers were too bad to win even with how elite he was playing. But at the same time it was obvious the deal was that amount because that was the only one to get him to willingly go somewhere he knew he wasn’t going to win games. They had to pay a steep premium to compensate for the fact that he was going to a team that wasn’t going to win games. And that amount had to be enough above what he would’ve made elsewhere to be worth accepting you’re going to lose games. Also a bit ironic of course because the size of the deal locked in that the team wouldn’t be competitive because they had so much locked up to Alex they couldn’t afford to build a team around him. It’s also an example of Alexs douchey personality through the years. Later on when Alex opted out of this deal when controversy arose Alex dumped a bunch of shit on his agent. Boras of course announced Alex opting out during the World Series which was a douchey move, without ever even meeting with the Yankees before they did it. Once everyone was pissed about it Alex basically dumped it all on Boras and ended up working out his new deal without him. And he blamed Boras for why he went to Texas and said that Boras talked him out of going to the Mets and then went on basically saying if he let Boras handle his business that he’d be forced to go somewhere for the most money even if he didn’t want to be on that team. And then acted like he took a big discount by signing his new deal with the Yankees which was another ten year commitment and paid him more money, albeit not a big raise above what he was already making. But obviously was still the biggest deal so it was laughable when he positioned himself as making sacrifices to stay with the team after opting out to earn more money. Alex played to elite levels for a lot of years and is one of the best ever but he was such a douche over the years. Honestly don’t even care that he gave up winning for more money but can’t help but think it’s a goofball move to try and blame it on your agent as if you aren’t the one who can tell him no and to get a deal done with a team you want to play for. A-Rod has always fallen miles short of taking accountability for various things he’s done wrong during his playing days. Will give him credit that he seems to own up to things more now than he did back then. Dude made $455M in salary in his career. Not bad at all but only did get the one ring.
They did. I'm a Rangers fan and remember the anger fans had towards him- as his contract played a significant role in the Rangers nearing bankruptcy in the late 2000's. Add in his cocky personality, it is quick to see why so many hated A-Rod. That said, probably one of the greatest SS/3B to ever play the game.
You’re awesome dude. I’ve loved baseball all my life and people like you and Foolish have helped me during a tough time stay interested one of my 3 big interests (baseball). You do rad work, editing, great topics, delivery, humor balance with analysis. I hope your channel grows like crazy dude you clearly deserve it
I thought about this and then did a bit of digging. in December 1988, Nolan Ryan signed a 1 year $2 million contract with the texas rangers. He would play 5 years for the Rangers in total before retiring during the 1993 season (notably, during a game his elbow "popped" and he immediately walked away, about as boss as the rest of his career). His adjusted salaries (using your chart) totalled $76.5 million over that 5 year period and he put up 15.2 WAR over that period, at a rate of just over $5 million per WAR, which would have sat 15th on your list had it qualified (which it didn't notably because in none of his final 5 years did he have a multi-year contract). What amazes me about that is that he was already 42 years old when he signed with the Rangers, roughly 3 years older than the manager of the team Bobby Valentine. I remember vividly seeing Ryan, Bobby Valentine, and the equally aged Charlie Hough sitting together like a bunch of old men watching the kids play (other than Ryan and Hough it was a very young team in 1989). Ryan was older than the Manager Valentine, older than the Pitching coach Tom House, and than two other coaches Toby Harrah and Dave Oliver).
Super esoteric content like this is why I love RUclips. This channel is awesome. You answer questions no one asked, yet it is incredibly interesting and gives amazing insight into a game I still love a lot. The spreadsheet is icing on the cake. Thanks for making stuff like this.
Great to see Adrian Beltre on the list twice. I figured his 2011 contract would rank highly, but it's easy to forget how strong his Mariners years were. And no surprise the Big Unit would be number one, but it's shocking how far he was on the ranking metric.
Oh man after Randy Johnson's 1st year with the diamondbacks my dad & his business partner went in on a 1/4 season ticket package. So approx 10.5 games a piece. My dad never went to one so on avg I probably got all the tickets to 12 or 13 of the 21 each year. And probably at least 2 of 4 tickets 20 of 21 games. and it seemed like they almost always fell on randy Johnson or curt schilling starts. It was amazing. 2nd row up from the field on the 1st base sideline right where the opponent dugout ended which is right around first base. The first 4 seats off the isle, easy in easy out. That was amazing and because it was a construction company they were always too tired to drive to Phoenix and Stay out iate when they had to be up at 4am. I made sure the tickets didn't ever go to waste but admittedly gave a bunch of the ones I was sitting in away to strangers.
Ppl always give me a weird look when i tell them i love baseball, its ppl like you that make me appreciate the sport that much more, your insight and delivery is next level, 1 million subs easy !!
The amount of research you have done (excellent job explaining your rationale btw), the editing, etc. A big BIG thank you to you sir. New sub on your channel and rooting for it to grow Love your work!
I really like how you script and present your videos, you're great to listen to! It's also really nice to see you shouting out other creators, I think you're really good for the online baseball community. Great work!
Love that man. Will always be my favorite and have gotten to chat with him a few times. I feel that man some how went so underappreciated. IDK how he didn't make more AS games.
Nice video. Quick note about the ARod contract, the Braves were absolutely convinced that they had him locked up at 7 years and $140+ million before the Rangers smashed that amount.
What's crazy is Bonds only won 1 MVP during the contract that was #2 and only 3 in the 90s. I think he won 7 silver sluggers in the 90s (best hitter at his position), 8 gold gloves (best defender at his position) and averaged a 30-30. He almost averaged a 30-30 for his career (162 game average, 28 stolen bases and 41 home runs). From 1990 until he retired he had an OPS over 1 or lead MLB in OPS 17 of 18 years and the year he missed it he was 40 and had an ops of .999. Only player in the 400-400 or 500-500 club. HOF is such a joke without him
What I got from this is that the Mariners and Rangers owe Beltre more money, and that Bonds belongs in the HOF regardless if he used PEDs in his later years to compete with everyone else using PEDs (which was most)
yeah, bonds is the best hitter of all time, and there's zero question about it, and if you think there's a magic pill that makes you a better baseball player, then you probably shouldn't have a hall of fame vote
Both objectively correct statements. If Bud Selig who knew about, condoned and profited off steroid usage gets to waltz into the HOF (he did) Then every PED user who put up the numbers during Seligs era should too. Either he gets punished and they do or he walks and they do too. It was the Wild West and that saved baseball from the strike. It’s dirty and nobody loves it but it saved baseball after the strike. So why do the players take the fall and Selig gets the Hall? Gotta have consistency.
I don’t know how you don’t have more of a following man. I watch guys with half a million subs with less interest than how I watch your content. Keep going, I just don’t see how this type of content doesn’t not eventually blow up.
Pujols's 100 mil contract with the Cards is definitely the best ever. He signed a very team friendly deal, so they could sign free agents and this occurred during his peak years. He put up over 60% of his WAR during this span over 7 years, which amounted to about 1.7 million per WAR. There will never be large contract like that ever again.
One more punch line about that A-Rod contract; the Rangers actually got better the year after dealing A-Rod, improving from 71 to 89 wins, in a sort of turnaround that would probably never happen in the other major sports.
It actually does happen somewhat frequently across other sports! Bill Simmons coined it as the “Ewing effect” where a team gives up their star player and improves. Though it is unusual for it to happen when said player is young and ended up being great for another team.
I mean, those Rangers teams had a really good lineup. Rafael Palmeiro, Ivan Rodriguez, Michael Young, Hank Blalock, and Gary Matthews Jr. Their pitching, on the other hand, was awful
The Rangers had a garbage pitching staff in '03, that's why the Rangers were so bad. The staff was a lot better in '04. Had little to do with A-Roid being there or not.
Beltre was a 5 year deal… i didn’t even have to look it up; I’m a dominican Red Sox fan and hurt a lot to see him leave Fenway (6th year was an team option). Great stuff btw; liked video
Yeah, Pedro (not Beltre) was 7. I mistook the Red Sox confirming his 7th year option after year 5 as a two year contract extension. Re-doing the math, it still rates the exact same spot in the rankings.
I'm really surprised Scherzer isn't top 3 at least. He may go down as the best real mega deal ever. People were horrified they were giving a 30 yo pitcher that kind of money, but he simply couldn't have given them anymore. A playoff beast, cy youngs or finalists every year, a WS, eats up innings. Johnson performed as well or better, but given the difference in the eras/pitching doctrines its hard to compare
As a Pirates fan who was 8 in 92 I've always hated Bonds for ditching us. The fact he's not in the HOF is disgusting. He was goin in without PEDs. You can't say that about those other guys.
Not unlike G Cole, Verlander saw his spin rate increase significantly higher once he arrived in Houston suggesting the usage of spider tac was most likely involved but that being said he returned from TJ surgery and still performed at an elite level in 2022 in his age 39 season and as a result he justifiably also won the AL Cy Young. He is most definitely a huge asset at any amount of salary.
A little surprised yadi and wainwright didn’t make it. The original extensions looked great. If you see this, just know that you do great work and you’ll get noticed very soon.
i really enjoy that a lot of these relatively small baseball channels are like one big happy family where everyone says to go watch this video or that video from another guys channel.
Watching this got me thinking, looking at all the money being thrown around, an analysis of how these latest free agents need to perform in order to be considered "worth it" would be a great topic for a video
I would love to see an analysis of money per WAR per year, where you take the take the money/year and divide it by the WAR/year, and handle the comparison that way. This was good, I think that might be a more useful way to evaluate long term contracts.
One thing to keep in mind about those contracts is they aren't in 2022 dollars... there will be a sort of reverse inflation since 2023+ dollars will continuously get less valuable. So if you take Turner's contract and extrapolate out an inflation estimate, it's closer to a $230 million dollar deal on this list than the stated $300 million. Because of that, if he puts up 23 WAR in those 11 years, which is doable for him, it's going to be better than $10 million per WAR. To crack the top 15 on this list, he would have to put up close to 46 WAR in 11 years, which is a little more questionable with an aging curve and him putting up 29.7 WAR in his fist 7 years and only having one season over 5 (2021). So Turner grading out as a respectable contract with decent value, very doable, which if the Phillies aren't hamstrung on adding other talent during that time will, in the end, make them a better team during that contract. Turner grading out as a top 15 contract of all-time, probably not.
Me too. I quit really following closely around 2008. The amount of fun we had back then and my god the talent. Tom Brady thinks the NFL is lacking big time, shit come look at baseball. I get a lot of flack for this, but when people are screaming that Mike Trout is the best player in ball then something is wrong. I was looking at his stats the other day and I just do not see it. Especially since covid. Not just talent, but players were bigger than life back then too. It felt like we had so many different personalities and larger than life players and now it is just generic baseball guy on 62,63,64,65. Personally that is why when Trevor Bauer was cleared of everything, I was hoping someone would swoop in and take him. I get that he is abrasive and polarizing, but he was like the players back in the day. He is his own person and brings excitement to the game. Nothing generic about him, from the way he warms up to his obsession with numbers, to his sword shit. When he chunked that damn ball over center field I followed him immediately. Baseball needs guys like him or this sport will continue to die off.
In the spreadsheet the negative war values by cost are a bit off because a lower negative value is better than a higher negative value. Not sure there is an easy way to fix it, but there is probably some math trick to make it relative.
ARod: he’s incredible! He’s great! Perfect contract! (Failed numerous PED tests, doctor ordained cheating with testosterone, used PEDs as far back as high school) Bonds: wellllll ermmmmm I’m not going to get into whyyyy he was good (never failed a drug test, won 3 MVPs before alleged use, best batter eye in baseball history)
Very informative video…just one misspeak you missed…you said the Rangers lost to the Yankees in the NLDS during the Pudge Rodriguez contract…love ur content sir
To factor in arbitration years, you could take the average arbitration value during that season (or seasons that were bought out) and subtract it from the total value of the contract. This would give you a new contract length and value starting at a new season, which you could adjust for inflation.
Because of the animal abuse? There's an artistic purpose for it, it's not just so this guy can get his rocks off son!! IF you were a real man you'd apologize but, we both know better don't we son?
Like most people, I agree that Bonds absolutely took PEDs and they are why he was such a ridiculously op homerun guy and that his record should have an asterisk...unlike most of those same people I still think Barry Bonds should have been inducted into the HoF unanimously, just based on how crazy good he was BEFORE the juice. He arguably had two careers and BOTH had the numbers to easily get into the hall, with his previous play before juice honestly being more impressive for its sustained carnage year in and out. He was clearly the best overall player in the league with only Griffey Jr having an argument during that stretch. In my mind his records should have an asterisk, but hes an easy choice for the Hall. He was simply too good for too long before the roids to justify excluding him...yet they did it anyway. Itd be like Mike Trout, whos been the best player on the planet since he got to the MLB (yes even his rookie season you could already see the guy was just different), getting injured the last year he plays and using some sort of PED to recover quicker and then being denied the Hall because of THAT. Despite his sustained greatness and place atop the baseball pecking order, although now i think Shohei has taken over the mantle quite securely with Trout being the second best player. Its stupid and tunneled thinking, its exactly how fucked up decisions get made on a daily basis in the world. People who try to sum up the entirety of a human being in one act, an act that wasnt even all that bad in comparison. PED use during those years wasnt the SAME as someone using NOW, back then tons of players used the shit and to compete at their typical levels guys had to follow suit, not every guy juiced to the gills LOOKED the part, (McGwire, Sosa, Canseco, Bonds, Clemens, etc all looked the part) i.e. A Rod didnt look like those guys at all, he looked relatively normal yet that dude was so full of juice he could have smashed through a brick wall holding some icecubes. Its just stupid to exclude the guys who were unarguably best of the best from the Hall over some nonsense in their last few years when they played straight and great for 15 years prior.
Ok can someone explain to avarage european guy, how can season in this league consists of this many games, and how goes who are playing this game are not handicapped after the season or two of playing it at the highest level? Is it about load management or what?
I love all your Videos but please do video on what the states like war really mean the in’s and out Also doing a Stat Description video that’s big on Baseball terms in Football and Basketball
Just a question, why is arods 286 / 7 when he didn't get payed all 286 (inflation adjusted). I believe he only got payed 7/10 of that amount because he played 7 of the 10 years. That really doesn't make sense if you were to do all 10 years because that just lowers his spot on the list
Great video but why is Scherzer's inflated salary less? League average salary has gone up a lot in the last 7 years. Also I was too young then to remember but it says Verlander signed a 7/180 extension in 2013. Still loved seeing these get broken down good job
It actually hasn't gone up in those 7 years. League average salary in 2016 was almost the same as 2022, and it was lower in 2017, 2018, and 2020. It's why the lockout happened when it did. Also factor in pro-rated pay in 2020 as well as the contract deferrals (I factored in deferred money as happening in that season and without the interest) and it comes in well under the $210 million announced at signing.
Havnt watched yet - Barry Bonds did more than his numbers show. He also filled up the stadium every game, boosted ratings, etc. As a bay area Giants fan, Barry Bonds did soo much more than hit home runs and take steroids. His contract was worth every penny for the giants, regardless of how he places in this video (havnt watched it yet!)
Imagine Greg Maddux on the Yanks ! Thats scary. Randy Johnson was a sight to behold. I doubt you EVER see a pitcher come around again like Johnson, or Maddux for that matter. Remember young folks, Maddux pitched a 72 pitch complete game. 72 pitches !!!!!.
Id like to know what the formula is for the baseball inflation, I want to make sure I have it right. Here's an example of how I understand it now: ARods 252 million dollar contract in 2000 (all numbers inflation adj to 2021 unless otherwise noted): - Inflation adj total value: $396m - $39.6 mil/year - League avg salary 2000: $3.15m - League avg salary in 2021: 4.5 mil. -Avg of avg salaries, '01-'10: $4.62m So salaries are 1.45 times higher than in 2000, 396 million/1.45 = 275 mil (Im assuming there are other sources I couldn't find or you adjusted to a different years $ or something so our values are a little different). Do I have it right? EDIT: Wait in that spreadsheet your league average salaries actually aren't inflation adjusted? Can I ask what the reasoning for that is?
I think you're misunderstanding what I'm doing. Need to calculate it based on every year, not all in the year 2000 (A-Rod was paid $0 in 2000). So A-Rods contract, since he opted out of the last 3 years, was 7 years, $158,389,252.00. Breaking the real spending out by year... 2001: $22,000,000*2.057= $45,256,992.39 2002: $22,000,000*1.917=$42,166,724.97 2003: $22,000,000*1.845=$40,806,192.09 2004: $22,000,000*1.902=$41,840,732.90 2005: $26,000,000*1.777=$46,190,700.57 2006: $21,680,727*1.630=$35,340,822.26 2007: $22,708,525*1.558=$35,372,147.85 Add all those up and you get 7 years $286,974,312.02. "Wait in that spreadsheet your league average salaries actually aren't inflation adjusted? Can I ask what the reasoning for that is?" Since it's based on real spending, inflation is already baked into the adjustment. Like, if a gallon of milk cost $2 in 2000 and $4 now, the inflation factor for milk would be 200%. Using that, I can say if I paid $3 for a gallon of milk in 2000, it would be the equivalent of paying $6 today... in other words I'm paying 50% more for milk than I should be. I wouldn't have to mess with real inflation to figure that out. That would just add an unnecessary step.
I loved this Reddit post. I love these videos. I got four video ideas. Best and worst one year deals by dollars per war. And best and worst 10 year+ signings by dollars per war.
The reason why Bonds contract was so low relatively speaking is... no one wanted him and the Giants were the only team who was still willing to take a chance on him, but it wasn't because of him being a questionable talent (he was the most dominant player in baseball during that time and maybe even ever)... he wasn't a team player and everyone including his teammates hated the guy. And on top of everything he came bundled with his steroid controversy. He was fortunate just to have received any denomination of contract.
@@Chris-xt8io sadly, no. Trae will make 27.7 mil each year of the contract with No Opt outs for either the team or him. There is also a full no trade clause. Only different aspect of the deal is He gets incentives for MVPs, All Star game, etc.
That 2001 Dbacks team was really a dream team for the ages. Bunch of old vets who knew it was their last chance for a ring, as well as thirsty young rookie talent. I believe the docu "Destiny in the Desert" is on youtube now and it's pretty well done.
Byung Hyun Kim might be the luckiest champion in professional sports thanks to their poise.
Found it funny in one of my Moneyball videos, someone commented that the A's could never win with their roster construction because "a team could never win it all with a gimmick sidearm pitcher."
That team was crazy. They got super lucky in Game 6 of the WS though. I really thought the Yankees had em.
Do you think that Randy Johnson would have been an easy fit for the 2004 Olympic team?
@@BaseballsNotDead I mean, the D-backs almost didn't. BHK blew back to back save opportunities in games 4&5 and was not seen again for the rest of the series. In fairness, in game 6 they beat the shit out of the Yankees pitching 15-2, but in game 7 the D-backs went with Bautista and Randy in relief.
It's insane that megadeals signed by shortstops today are still barely above Arod's contract AAV 23 years ago. And he actually lived upto it (steroids aside). People must have lost their minds looking at that much money back then.
I remember him signing that and thinking he might actually be worth it, but not for Texas who had NO pitching at the time. Kevin Brown's contract was the most obvious overpay in that era, because he was like 35 yrs old and got 7 years.
This actually is wild and something I’ve never thought about before. In terms of current active short stop contracts there are only six guys who earn an AAV of $25.2M or more. There are only three dudes making more than his later $27.5M. It’s fucking wild to realize that A-Rods deal in 2001 would still be near the top of the short stop market this many years later considering how much salaries as a whole in the league have gone up since that time. A-Rod got $252M while the same year Jeter got $189M. Kinda wild to see how much more his deal was in comparison to a dude who was probably seen as the other top guy for his position. Also interesting that the dude making way more went to the Rangers versus the high spending Yankees.
Alex performed up to his deal but it wasn’t able to be worth it for the Rangers. He performed at the level for it but the Rangers were too bad to win even with how elite he was playing. But at the same time it was obvious the deal was that amount because that was the only one to get him to willingly go somewhere he knew he wasn’t going to win games. They had to pay a steep premium to compensate for the fact that he was going to a team that wasn’t going to win games. And that amount had to be enough above what he would’ve made elsewhere to be worth accepting you’re going to lose games. Also a bit ironic of course because the size of the deal locked in that the team wouldn’t be competitive because they had so much locked up to Alex they couldn’t afford to build a team around him. It’s also an example of Alexs douchey personality through the years.
Later on when Alex opted out of this deal when controversy arose Alex dumped a bunch of shit on his agent. Boras of course announced Alex opting out during the World Series which was a douchey move, without ever even meeting with the Yankees before they did it. Once everyone was pissed about it Alex basically dumped it all on Boras and ended up working out his new deal without him. And he blamed Boras for why he went to Texas and said that Boras talked him out of going to the Mets and then went on basically saying if he let Boras handle his business that he’d be forced to go somewhere for the most money even if he didn’t want to be on that team. And then acted like he took a big discount by signing his new deal with the Yankees which was another ten year commitment and paid him more money, albeit not a big raise above what he was already making. But obviously was still the biggest deal so it was laughable when he positioned himself as making sacrifices to stay with the team after opting out to earn more money.
Alex played to elite levels for a lot of years and is one of the best ever but he was such a douche over the years. Honestly don’t even care that he gave up winning for more money but can’t help but think it’s a goofball move to try and blame it on your agent as if you aren’t the one who can tell him no and to get a deal done with a team you want to play for. A-Rod has always fallen miles short of taking accountability for various things he’s done wrong during his playing days. Will give him credit that he seems to own up to things more now than he did back then. Dude made $455M in salary in his career. Not bad at all but only did get the one ring.
They did. I'm a Rangers fan and remember the anger fans had towards him- as his contract played a significant role in the Rangers nearing bankruptcy in the late 2000's. Add in his cocky personality, it is quick to see why so many hated A-Rod. That said, probably one of the greatest SS/3B to ever play the game.
@@timb4248I'm gay too buddy lol
@@N_g_er bro wtf lol
You’re awesome dude.
I’ve loved baseball all my life and people like you and Foolish have helped me during a tough time stay interested one of my 3 big interests (baseball).
You do rad work, editing, great topics, delivery, humor balance with analysis.
I hope your channel grows like crazy dude you clearly deserve it
I appreciate that
Also check out baseball doesn’t exist for more great baseball content
I thought about this and then did a bit of digging. in December 1988, Nolan Ryan signed a 1 year $2 million contract with the texas rangers. He would play 5 years for the Rangers in total before retiring during the 1993 season (notably, during a game his elbow "popped" and he immediately walked away, about as boss as the rest of his career). His adjusted salaries (using your chart) totalled $76.5 million over that 5 year period and he put up 15.2 WAR over that period, at a rate of just over $5 million per WAR, which would have sat 15th on your list had it qualified (which it didn't notably because in none of his final 5 years did he have a multi-year contract).
What amazes me about that is that he was already 42 years old when he signed with the Rangers, roughly 3 years older than the manager of the team Bobby Valentine. I remember vividly seeing Ryan, Bobby Valentine, and the equally aged Charlie Hough sitting together like a bunch of old men watching the kids play (other than Ryan and Hough it was a very young team in 1989). Ryan was older than the Manager Valentine, older than the Pitching coach Tom House, and than two other coaches Toby Harrah and Dave Oliver).
Super esoteric content like this is why I love RUclips. This channel is awesome. You answer questions no one asked, yet it is incredibly interesting and gives amazing insight into a game I still love a lot. The spreadsheet is icing on the cake. Thanks for making stuff like this.
Wow, thank you!
Great to see Adrian Beltre on the list twice. I figured his 2011 contract would rank highly, but it's easy to forget how strong his Mariners years were. And no surprise the Big Unit would be number one, but it's shocking how far he was on the ranking metric.
Beltre was ok in Seattle. He had 3 good seasons 06-08 sandwiched by two pretty awful ones in 05 and 09.
Oh man after Randy Johnson's 1st year with the diamondbacks my dad & his business partner went in on a 1/4 season ticket package. So approx 10.5 games a piece. My dad never went to one so on avg I probably got all the tickets to 12 or 13 of the 21 each year. And probably at least 2 of 4 tickets 20 of 21 games. and it seemed like they almost always fell on randy Johnson or curt schilling starts. It was amazing. 2nd row up from the field on the 1st base sideline right where the opponent dugout ended which is right around first base. The first 4 seats off the isle, easy in easy out. That was amazing and because it was a construction company they were always too tired to drive to Phoenix and Stay out iate when they had to be up at 4am. I made sure the tickets didn't ever go to waste but admittedly gave a bunch of the ones I was sitting in away to strangers.
Ppl always give me a weird look when i tell them i love baseball, its ppl like you that make me appreciate the sport that much more, your insight and delivery is next level, 1 million subs easy !!
Thanks!
Been watching since the Moneyball videos love these
Beltre on here twice, shows how underrated he was.
I loved him when he played for the Red Sox, to me hes one of the most underrated players of all time
He was ok in Seattle. He had 3 solid seasons and two bad ones. The WAR stat is misleading.
@@plantex625 stop it
The amount of research you have done (excellent job explaining your rationale btw), the editing, etc. A big BIG thank you to you sir. New sub on your channel and rooting for it to grow
Love your work!
These two videos were awesome..the amount of work put in is impressive, keep it up
Thanks a ton!
I really like how you script and present your videos, you're great to listen to! It's also really nice to see you shouting out other creators, I think you're really good for the online baseball community. Great work!
Really glad you’re back in the lab making videos, man!
Appreciate it!
I fell in love with statistics and baseball growing up, so I really appreciate videos like this that are based on data
Thanks!
Chipper man what a legend and a team guy
Love that man. Will always be my favorite and have gotten to chat with him a few times. I feel that man some how went so underappreciated. IDK how he didn't make more AS games.
Thank you for the research, quality narrating and ability to take complex numbers and simplify it for us!
Glad you enjoyed it!
baseball youtube has single handedly renewed my love for baseball, and you are a huge part of that. thank you
Nice video. Quick note about the ARod contract, the Braves were absolutely convinced that they had him locked up at 7 years and $140+ million before the Rangers smashed that amount.
There was also a sexual angle to it.
What's crazy is Bonds only won 1 MVP during the contract that was #2 and only 3 in the 90s. I think he won 7 silver sluggers in the 90s (best hitter at his position), 8 gold gloves (best defender at his position) and averaged a 30-30. He almost averaged a 30-30 for his career (162 game average, 28 stolen bases and 41 home runs). From 1990 until he retired he had an OPS over 1 or lead MLB in OPS 17 of 18 years and the year he missed it he was 40 and had an ops of .999. Only player in the 400-400 or 500-500 club. HOF is such a joke without him
This is the best baseball channel on YT. Keep up the GREAT work!
What I got from this is that the Mariners and Rangers owe Beltre more money, and that Bonds belongs in the HOF regardless if he used PEDs in his later years to compete with everyone else using PEDs (which was most)
yeah, bonds is the best hitter of all time, and there's zero question about it, and if you think there's a magic pill that makes you a better baseball player, then you probably shouldn't have a hall of fame vote
@@MichaelKolesarKoleslaw best hitter all time? Lol ok
@@jbj7599 I mean who would you say ? Just curious
Both objectively correct statements.
If Bud Selig who knew about, condoned and profited off steroid usage gets to waltz into the HOF (he did)
Then every PED user who put up the numbers during Seligs era should too.
Either he gets punished and they do or he walks and they do too.
It was the Wild West and that saved baseball from the strike. It’s dirty and nobody loves it but it saved baseball after the strike.
So why do the players take the fall and Selig gets the Hall? Gotta have consistency.
@@MichaelKolesarKoleslaw
Deadass.
Anabolic steroids don’t give you the ability to hit .360-.370
I don’t know how you don’t have more of a following man. I watch guys with half a million subs with less interest than how I watch your content. Keep going, I just don’t see how this type of content doesn’t not eventually blow up.
I appreciate that!
Great video. Footage, information, and speaking was phenomenal.
Much appreciated!
Pujols's 100 mil contract with the Cards is definitely the best ever. He signed a very team friendly deal, so they could sign free agents and this occurred during his peak years. He put up over 60% of his WAR during this span over 7 years, which amounted to about 1.7 million per WAR. There will never be large contract like that ever again.
It is great, but it included pre-arbitration years so ineligible for the list.
One more punch line about that A-Rod contract; the Rangers actually got better the year after dealing A-Rod, improving from 71 to 89 wins, in a sort of turnaround that would probably never happen in the other major sports.
Arod was a cancer, great player but a cancer never liked him
Yea he was great but seemed to be a net negative honestly was a horrid deal for rangers
It actually does happen somewhat frequently across other sports! Bill Simmons coined it as the “Ewing effect” where a team gives up their star player and improves.
Though it is unusual for it to happen when said player is young and ended up being great for another team.
I mean, those Rangers teams had a really good lineup. Rafael Palmeiro, Ivan Rodriguez, Michael Young, Hank Blalock, and Gary Matthews Jr.
Their pitching, on the other hand, was awful
The Rangers had a garbage pitching staff in '03, that's why the Rangers were so bad. The staff was a lot better in '04. Had little to do with A-Roid being there or not.
The Mariners front office really dropped the bag in the late 90s and early 2000s. Biggest mistake they made was not extending Randy.
Beltre was a 5 year deal… i didn’t even have to look it up; I’m a dominican Red Sox fan and hurt a lot to see him leave Fenway (6th year was an team option). Great stuff btw; liked video
Yeah, Pedro (not Beltre) was 7. I mistook the Red Sox confirming his 7th year option after year 5 as a two year contract extension. Re-doing the math, it still rates the exact same spot in the rankings.
Adrián Beltré on the Sox was one of my favourite times to watch baseball
I love how a 4 war is a huge decline for Barry Bonds 😭😭
4 WAR with absolutely no defense too, he did that all with the bat
16:15 the irony of Scott Rolen is that if he had stayed in Philly he could’ve been apart of an all time great infield with Howard Chase and Rollins
The irony is that Scatt Rulen is the only black on this list son. I think the author is races.
Great video as usual. Super underrated channel. When are you gonna finish the Sim series?
Not sure yet
@@BaseballsNotDead thanks for the response, I'll be looking forward too it. Huge fan 🙂👍
It seems so rare that huge deals work out. Good vid.
I'm really surprised Scherzer isn't top 3 at least. He may go down as the best real mega deal ever. People were horrified they were giving a 30 yo pitcher that kind of money, but he simply couldn't have given them anymore. A playoff beast, cy youngs or finalists every year, a WS, eats up innings. Johnson performed as well or better, but given the difference in the eras/pitching doctrines its hard to compare
The Big Unit was so much better than Max.
Just found this channel and loving it you're doing a great job
Your channel is basically me and my buddies at the bar arguing love it
As a Pirates fan who was 8 in 92 I've always hated Bonds for ditching us. The fact he's not in the HOF is disgusting. He was goin in without PEDs. You can't say that about those other guys.
Not unlike G Cole, Verlander saw his spin rate increase significantly higher once he arrived in Houston suggesting the usage of spider tac was most likely involved but that being said he returned from TJ surgery and still performed at an elite level in 2022 in his age 39 season and as a result he justifiably also won the AL Cy Young. He is most definitely a huge asset at any amount of salary.
His animal abuse rate also significantly increased. I have a couple videos under my mattress of him working over a cocker spaniel named Rudy.
love the opening, appreciate your content and presentation, thank you!
Glad you enjoy it!
What's the name of the song/beat that starts playing around thev25 second mark?
A little surprised yadi and wainwright didn’t make it. The original extensions looked great. If you see this, just know that you do great work and you’ll get noticed very soon.
Yadi never signed a $100M extension, which is what the basis of this video is on 🤦♂️
@@josephbaker9974 I meant adjusted , like what would Molina’s 5 year, 75 million dollars extension be worth when adjusted?
it doesn't matter. It is 100 million at the time. They weren't.@@sirfallsalot2000
i really enjoy that a lot of these relatively small baseball channels are like one big happy family where everyone says to go watch this video or that video from another guys channel.
Great stuff as always!
Thanks again!
Really good video this also shows how good Beltre really was
Thanks!
Exactly the video I was looking for, I dont know why you dont have 100k+ subscribers
Two of my favorite players ever, Chipper Jones and Greg Maddux on this list. Its a good list.
your intro literally gives me so much joy lmao
Absolutely love this type of content and the theme song *chefs kiss*
Watching this got me thinking, looking at all the money being thrown around, an analysis of how these latest free agents need to perform in order to be considered "worth it" would be a great topic for a video
It's tough to analyze because I would have to project inflation of MLB salaries to do a similar analysis to what I did here.
Enjoy your videos all the time
You enjoy ALLLLL the videos? I don't if you've seen ALLLLL the videos Amanda.
I would love to see an analysis of money per WAR per year, where you take the take the money/year and divide it by the WAR/year, and handle the comparison that way. This was good, I think that might be a more useful way to evaluate long term contracts.
Scott Rolen was a beast. Was a privilege to watch him growing up.
It seems these contracts only work if you're really good like top 50 ever good.
So what do you think about the Xander or Trea Turner contracts?
One thing to keep in mind about those contracts is they aren't in 2022 dollars... there will be a sort of reverse inflation since 2023+ dollars will continuously get less valuable. So if you take Turner's contract and extrapolate out an inflation estimate, it's closer to a $230 million dollar deal on this list than the stated $300 million.
Because of that, if he puts up 23 WAR in those 11 years, which is doable for him, it's going to be better than $10 million per WAR.
To crack the top 15 on this list, he would have to put up close to 46 WAR in 11 years, which is a little more questionable with an aging curve and him putting up 29.7 WAR in his fist 7 years and only having one season over 5 (2021).
So Turner grading out as a respectable contract with decent value, very doable, which if the Phillies aren't hamstrung on adding other talent during that time will, in the end, make them a better team during that contract. Turner grading out as a top 15 contract of all-time, probably not.
@@BaseballsNotDead Thanks for answering loved the video found your channel and watched all your videos Really high quality.
Ah Miggy, if only we had pitching when we had him. Ah well. Thanks for the video!
Great video, nice job
Thanks!
Dude, that intro is a BANGER
Love your videos!
Thank you!
Is the Google doc going to be updated in the future?
No idea why I enjoy that intro so much everytime
Pudge Rodriguez was something else. Wish baseball can go back to the 90's early 2000's
Me too. I quit really following closely around 2008. The amount of fun we had back then and my god the talent. Tom Brady thinks the NFL is lacking big time, shit come look at baseball. I get a lot of flack for this, but when people are screaming that Mike Trout is the best player in ball then something is wrong. I was looking at his stats the other day and I just do not see it. Especially since covid. Not just talent, but players were bigger than life back then too. It felt like we had so many different personalities and larger than life players and now it is just generic baseball guy on 62,63,64,65. Personally that is why when Trevor Bauer was cleared of everything, I was hoping someone would swoop in and take him. I get that he is abrasive and polarizing, but he was like the players back in the day. He is his own person and brings excitement to the game. Nothing generic about him, from the way he warms up to his obsession with numbers, to his sword shit. When he chunked that damn ball over center field I followed him immediately. Baseball needs guys like him or this sport will continue to die off.
The difference between the Rangers contracts and the Angels contracts are stunning! Go Rangers!
In the spreadsheet the negative war values by cost are a bit off because a lower negative value is better than a higher negative value. Not sure there is an easy way to fix it, but there is probably some math trick to make it relative.
Bonds & ichiro the best two hitters of all time
Love the intro very cool seeing the logo getting smacked like that 👌😂
ARod: he’s incredible! He’s great! Perfect contract! (Failed numerous PED tests, doctor ordained cheating with testosterone, used PEDs as far back as high school)
Bonds: wellllll ermmmmm I’m not going to get into whyyyy he was good (never failed a drug test, won 3 MVPs before alleged use, best batter eye in baseball history)
Barry Bonds balled, and others used steroids and just hit .270 and home runs. Barry didn’t land on Plymouth Rock, Plymouth Rock landed on him.
They turned him from a great player and HOFer to a literal baseball god.
11:10 Did you just say “Illunstration”?
Is there anyway that intro gets released on its own? That bass is just so good
Very informative video…just one misspeak you missed…you said the Rangers lost to the Yankees in the NLDS during the Pudge Rodriguez contract…love ur content sir
ALDS*
How did Max S inflation adjusted contract get lower from $210 mill to $195 million? Outside of covid 2021, average salary trend up slightly.
To factor in arbitration years, you could take the average arbitration value during that season (or seasons that were bought out) and subtract it from the total value of the contract.
This would give you a new contract length and value starting at a new season, which you could adjust for inflation.
Love the videos, have to say it gives me a little Zeitgeist vibe tho 😅
Because of the animal abuse? There's an artistic purpose for it, it's not just so this guy can get his rocks off son!! IF you were a real man you'd apologize but, we both know better don't we son?
Are you gonna finish that devo dysktra gambit series?
Commenting for engagement
Do the best $100 million+ contracts for the White Sox, Royals, and A's. Now that would be a fun video
Interesting information. Love this and the worst video. Keep it up!
Thanks, will do!
How far off the list was manny Ramirez in Boston? That was SUCH a good deal.
How is Zito not at the bottom of the spreadsheet?
Like most people, I agree that Bonds absolutely took PEDs and they are why he was such a ridiculously op homerun guy and that his record should have an asterisk...unlike most of those same people I still think Barry Bonds should have been inducted into the HoF unanimously, just based on how crazy good he was BEFORE the juice. He arguably had two careers and BOTH had the numbers to easily get into the hall, with his previous play before juice honestly being more impressive for its sustained carnage year in and out. He was clearly the best overall player in the league with only Griffey Jr having an argument during that stretch. In my mind his records should have an asterisk, but hes an easy choice for the Hall. He was simply too good for too long before the roids to justify excluding him...yet they did it anyway.
Itd be like Mike Trout, whos been the best player on the planet since he got to the MLB (yes even his rookie season you could already see the guy was just different), getting injured the last year he plays and using some sort of PED to recover quicker and then being denied the Hall because of THAT. Despite his sustained greatness and place atop the baseball pecking order, although now i think Shohei has taken over the mantle quite securely with Trout being the second best player. Its stupid and tunneled thinking, its exactly how fucked up decisions get made on a daily basis in the world. People who try to sum up the entirety of a human being in one act, an act that wasnt even all that bad in comparison. PED use during those years wasnt the SAME as someone using NOW, back then tons of players used the shit and to compete at their typical levels guys had to follow suit, not every guy juiced to the gills LOOKED the part, (McGwire, Sosa, Canseco, Bonds, Clemens, etc all looked the part) i.e. A Rod didnt look like those guys at all, he looked relatively normal yet that dude was so full of juice he could have smashed through a brick wall holding some icecubes. Its just stupid to exclude the guys who were unarguably best of the best from the Hall over some nonsense in their last few years when they played straight and great for 15 years prior.
Insane what players are being paid and how much teams are willing to spend on players
Does anyone know the name of the intro music song?
Ok can someone explain to avarage european guy, how can season in this league consists of this many games, and how goes who are playing this game are not handicapped after the season or two of playing it at the highest level? Is it about load management or what?
Can someone explain to the average American how a cricket match can last 5 days?
@@BaseballsNotDead well definitely not regular European.
I love all your Videos but please do video on what the states like war really mean the in’s and out
Also doing a Stat Description video that’s big on Baseball terms in Football and Basketball
Just a question, why is arods 286 / 7 when he didn't get payed all 286 (inflation adjusted). I believe he only got payed 7/10 of that amount because he played 7 of the 10 years. That really doesn't make sense if you were to do all 10 years because that just lowers his spot on the list
His contract was 10/252. In his first 7 years he got paid ~160. 160, inflation adjusted, comes to 286.
Damn this channel is badass
Life as a mariners fan sucks. Just the sheer number of dudes in this list hurts.
I get the a rod pick but does it really count if he only played for the team who gave em it for 3 years?
How many world series did these contracts get?
Not one black.... wonder why? This dude is totes races son!!
Awesome video!
Thanks!
Great video but why is Scherzer's inflated salary less? League average salary has gone up a lot in the last 7 years. Also I was too young then to remember but it says Verlander signed a 7/180 extension in 2013. Still loved seeing these get broken down good job
It actually hasn't gone up in those 7 years. League average salary in 2016 was almost the same as 2022, and it was lower in 2017, 2018, and 2020. It's why the lockout happened when it did.
Also factor in pro-rated pay in 2020 as well as the contract deferrals (I factored in deferred money as happening in that season and without the interest) and it comes in well under the $210 million announced at signing.
Havnt watched yet - Barry Bonds did more than his numbers show. He also filled up the stadium every game, boosted ratings, etc. As a bay area Giants fan, Barry Bonds did soo much more than hit home runs and take steroids. His contract was worth every penny for the giants, regardless of how he places in this video (havnt watched it yet!)
Imagine Greg Maddux on the Yanks ! Thats scary. Randy Johnson was a sight to behold. I doubt you EVER see a pitcher come around again like Johnson, or Maddux for that matter. Remember young folks, Maddux pitched a 72 pitch complete game. 72 pitches !!!!!.
Id like to know what the formula is for the baseball inflation, I want to make sure I have it right. Here's an example of how I understand it now:
ARods 252 million dollar contract in 2000 (all numbers inflation adj to 2021 unless otherwise noted):
- Inflation adj total value: $396m
- $39.6 mil/year
- League avg salary 2000: $3.15m
- League avg salary in 2021: 4.5 mil.
-Avg of avg salaries, '01-'10: $4.62m
So salaries are 1.45 times higher than in 2000, 396 million/1.45 = 275 mil
(Im assuming there are other sources I couldn't find or you adjusted to a different years $ or something so our values are a little different). Do I have it right?
EDIT: Wait in that spreadsheet your league average salaries actually aren't inflation adjusted? Can I ask what the reasoning for that is?
I think you're misunderstanding what I'm doing. Need to calculate it based on every year, not all in the year 2000 (A-Rod was paid $0 in 2000).
So A-Rods contract, since he opted out of the last 3 years, was 7 years, $158,389,252.00. Breaking the real spending out by year...
2001: $22,000,000*2.057= $45,256,992.39
2002: $22,000,000*1.917=$42,166,724.97
2003: $22,000,000*1.845=$40,806,192.09
2004: $22,000,000*1.902=$41,840,732.90
2005: $26,000,000*1.777=$46,190,700.57
2006: $21,680,727*1.630=$35,340,822.26
2007: $22,708,525*1.558=$35,372,147.85
Add all those up and you get 7 years $286,974,312.02.
"Wait in that spreadsheet your league average salaries actually aren't inflation adjusted? Can I ask what the reasoning for that is?"
Since it's based on real spending, inflation is already baked into the adjustment. Like, if a gallon of milk cost $2 in 2000 and $4 now, the inflation factor for milk would be 200%. Using that, I can say if I paid $3 for a gallon of milk in 2000, it would be the equivalent of paying $6 today... in other words I'm paying 50% more for milk than I should be.
I wouldn't have to mess with real inflation to figure that out. That would just add an unnecessary step.
I was and wasn’t surprised how many pitchers were on this list.
The Rangers having 3 of the top 15 and all 3 being different players is pretty impressive
And they are still a loser franchise full of races and joo haters.
I loved this Reddit post. I love these videos. I got four video ideas. Best and worst one year deals by dollars per war. And best and worst 10 year+ signings by dollars per war.
Johnson the GOAT
You should do the best contracts ever, maybe top 5 so you can spend a lot of time on each player
Excellent 🙏🤌
Thank you 🙌
The reason why Bonds contract was so low relatively speaking is... no one wanted him and the Giants were the only team who was still willing to take a chance on him, but it wasn't because of him being a questionable talent (he was the most dominant player in baseball during that time and maybe even ever)... he wasn't a team player and everyone including his teammates hated the guy. And on top of everything he came bundled with his steroid controversy. He was fortunate just to have received any denomination of contract.
I kinda love the intro tho, gotta admit.
How is the 12 million dollar Mike Schmidt contract worth over 100 million dollars today?!? 🤯
League average salary today is 18.2x higher than 1982 so his $1.5 million salary that year is the equivalent of $27 million today.
Love your videos. But hate Baseball contracts. 11 years, 13 years, Beyond stupid!! Especially for players that are 29-30 years old.
Unless he's a knuckleball pitcher or DH.
I think Trea’s has deferred money or an opt out
@@Chris-xt8io sadly, no. Trae will make 27.7 mil each year of the contract with No Opt outs for either the team or him. There is also a full no trade clause. Only different aspect of the deal is He gets incentives for MVPs, All Star game, etc.