There has been roughly $3.6 billion spent this offseason and an MLB-record 2.94 years of length per contract. There have been multiple contracts exceeding $275 million — Xander Bogaerts ($280 million), Carlos Correa ($315 million) and Trea Turner ($300 million) — and a multitude of contracts exceeding $10 million per season.
The cause of the market prices surging is unclear. Perhaps it’s a slow trade market with teams being hesitant to part with young, cheap and controllable prospects. Either way, we have never seen a free agency like this in baseball history, and with surging prices, it’s bound to lead to overpays.
Here are five of the worst contracts from the offseason.
Third-worst: Josh Bell, Cleveland Guardians
Contract: 2 years, $33 million that includes an opt-out after the first season.
There is no such thing as a bad one-year deal. I’ve heard that exact phrase too many times to count in my almost 10 years in baseball.
But I was not a fan of this contract when it was made and I’m not a fan of it now. At the Winter Meetings, there was buzz that Bell’s poor performance with the San Diego Padres — .192/.316/.271 with three home runs and 14 RBI in 53 games — may hinder his free-agent market.
Then the Guardians signed Bell to a two-year contract. Perhaps the Guardians’ aggressiveness toward Bell stemmed from missing on Jose Abreu, who was among their top targets in free agency, and their desire to leave this offseason with one of the best bats on the market.
If Bell plays close to what he did with the Washington Nationals, where he hit .301/.384/.493 with 14 home runs and 57 RBI in 103 games, he’s a lock to opt out of his contract following the 2023 season. If he doesn’t, and performs close to what he did in San Diego, he’s a lock to opt into the last year of his contract and count $16.5 million toward the Guardians’ payroll in 2024.