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San Francisco Giants: Top 5 worst contracts heading into this offseason

By James Carroll

LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 19: Buster Posey #28 of the San Francisco Giants sits in the dugout in the fifth inning of the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on June 19, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 19: Buster Posey #28 of the San Francisco Giants sits in the dugout in the fifth inning of the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on June 19, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /
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DENVER, CO – JULY 15: Jeff Samardzija #29 of the San Francisco Giants reacts after allowing a homer to Raimel Tapia #15 of the Colorado Rockies in the sixth inning during game one of a doubleheader at Coors Field on July 15, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. San Francisco Giants (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)
DENVER, CO – JULY 15: Jeff Samardzija #29 of the San Francisco Giants reacts after allowing a homer to Raimel Tapia #15 of the Colorado Rockies in the sixth inning during game one of a doubleheader at Coors Field on July 15, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. San Francisco Giants (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images) /

Honorable Mention: Jeff Samardzija (5 years, $90 million)

At first glance, you’d figure that Jeff Samardzija would make this list solely by the fact that he was one of the names on that daunting list of pitchers who would be making $20 million a year when they had no business doing so.

As soon as the Giants signed this deal with Samardzija back in 2015, this felt like the odds-on favorite to be the worst contract in the next couple of years. The Shark was coming off of a season with the Chicago White Sox where he led the league in hits, earned runs, and home runs allowed.

It was almost as though the Giants looked right past that year and only saw his time with the Cubs and his two-plus months with the Oakland Athletics. Maybe they figured that the marine layer would keep those balls in play.

They didn’t, really.

All in all, Samardzija’s contract has had “bad” written all over it for some time. He’s been a workhorse, but other than his first year with the Giants which was okay, he really hasn’t turned in any great years.

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    • But Samardzija has been having a bounce-back season of sorts in 2019.

    He’s posted a 3.64 ERA with 131 strikeouts in 163 innings pitched. His WHIP is also down to 1.104, the best it’s been since his all-star season split between Oakland and Chicago in 2014.

    The good news for the Giants — and the reason why Samardzija isn’t officially making this list — is that he’s “peaking” at the right time. He’s entering the final year of his contract, where he’ll be making the last of his $18 million.

    It won’t be the easiest task selling a 35-year-old making $18 million, but it’s conceivably something that fringe playoff teams might want to consider if they can’t land one of the big free-agent fish.

    Samardzija should have been a candidate to be moved this past trade deadline season. It’s tough to tell if the market for him was nonexistent or the Giants didn’t like the offers, but there should be more inquiries coming in the winter.

    Giants fans shouldn’t expect to get a boatload back for a player like Samardzija, but his value might almost offset his last year of a bad contract. If the Giants could even land a waiver claim on him and ship him off somewhere, it’d be a huge lift for the team.

    And even if a suitor isn’t found, having a pitcher that turns in around 200 innings can’t be the worst thing to have on the staff, right?

    Let’s hope that a team like the Phillies or Red Sox take a shot at Jeff Samardzija so the Giants don’t have to.

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