San Francisco Giants: Top 5 worst contracts heading into this offseason
2. Evan Longoria (6 years, $100 million)
When the Tampa Bay Rays signed Evan Longoria to a $100 million extension, it was meant to be a move that solidified his stay with the Rays for the remainder of career. But that was 2012.
Fast forward half a decade and the Rays didn’t think twice about unloading that contract on the San Francisco Giants, who were eager to build the best 2012 squad possible in 2018.
The Giants stared right at this contract and all the dangers that it presented and took it on anyways, welcoming a then-32-year-old third baseman who had seen better days. It wasn’t a question of if the Giants would regret taking on the contract, but a matter of when.
“When” came relatively quick.
While it’s only fair to say that Longoria has had a slightly better season this year than he did in his first year of being a Giant, things aren’t looking up for his longevity. We’ve seen a drop to his power numbers. We’ve seen a drop in his walk rate.
We’ve even seen a drop in his defensive game.
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The Evan Longoria that played in St. Petersburg was never going to be the one suiting up for the orange and black. But it was the Giants’ hope that they’d be getting a serviceable third baseman to play every day at the hot corner. At least for a couple more seasons.
That bet is looking to be tougher and tougher to swallow. Longoria will be making between $15 million and $20 million for the next three seasons, plus a $13 million option in 2023 with a buyout.
This contract is the classic case of jumping the gun on a move for a player who has already seen his prime. Longoria can wind up being a Giant until he’s 38-years-old. There’s no silver lining to that.
In truth, the Rays were more than happy to move on from this contract. It goes against their M.O. to invest that much money on anybody, and they chose to rip off the band-aid at a point in time that their fans understood what they were doing.
The Giants, meanwhile, got caught up in gut-reaction moves that netted them Evan Longoria and Andrew McCutchen for some reason. It was as if the front office decided to tune up their PlayStation and let the sim engine dictate their moves for the year.
The good news is that the Giants will only have to pay $3 million for the buyout on that final year.
The bad news is that there isn’t going to be any team that wants to take on Evan Longoria and his contract unless they’re duped in the same way that the Giants were.