Best and Worst Contracts of the 2023 MLB Season
With the 2023 MLB postseason in full swing, the book has essentially been written on player value.
We have seen more than enough to know which teams got the bang for their buck, or the ones who were short-changed by players overpaid and underperforming.
Oftentimes, you get a player for a bargain. Take Astros right fielder Kyle Tucker, for example. He asked for $7.5 million this offseason in his arbitration case, but he lost and was awarded just $5 million.
Not bad for a top-three right fielder in baseball. He won't be making $5 million for much longer.
Then, there is the other end of the bargaining spectrum, where a player makes far more than his production indicates he should. Think Patrick Corbin's $23.3 million salary, or Lance Lynn's $19 million.
Here, we nail down who provided the best and worst values of the 2023 MLB season.
It's a judgment call about the return on investment for this single season. Pre-arbitration players were excluded since they could easily fill out the list.
Catchers
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Best Value: Will Smith, Los Angeles Dodgers
Salary: $5.25 million
The Dodgers avoided arbitration with Smith before this season by signing him to a one-year deal worth $5.25 million.
Smith was already considered one of the top hitting and run-producing catchers in baseball and the Dodgers were rewarded with him maintaining that standard this season as one of just four catchers with a fWAR of 4.0 or more.
Signing J.D. Martinez as the full-time designated hitter narrowed his role almost exclusively to catcher, and he's continued to produce for a World Series-caliber team. All for just $5.25 million.
Smith will become a unrestricted free agent in 2026.
Worst Value: Yasmani Grandal, Chicago White Sox
Salary: $18.25 million
Ask the White Sox how valuable Smith is when you compare his deal with paying more than $18 million for the former Dodgers catcher.
Yasmani Grandal signed a four-year, $73 million free-agent deal with the White Sox after the 2019 season. The last two years have been the worst stretch of his career, and though this season was slightly better than 2022, it isn't saying much.
The White Sox are paying him all of that money to slash .236/.312/.343 for a measly .655 OPS. Grandal used to be a lock to hit at least 20 home runs in a season, but he's hit a total of 13 the last two seasons.
First Basemen
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Best Value: Matt Olson, Atlanta
Salary: $21 million
It is fitting that the two best value contracts for first basemen would be Matt Olson and Freddie Freeman, who Olson replaced in Atlanta.
The idea was to trade for a younger version of Freeman, and the Oakland Athletics had exactly what Atlanta was looking for in the midst of their fire sale.
Why pay Freeman $27 million per year when Olson is five years younger and can play for $21 million? Talk about a series of events that happened to work out for everyone. Everyone except the A's.
Worst Value: Jose Abreu, Houston Astros
Salary: $19.5 million
There were warning signs about Abreu's decline before the Astros signed him.
The power had dipped in his final season with the Chicago White Sox, and there was a reason he was the odd-man out in their first base-left field logjam at the time.
Yet Houston made him an offseason priority, ditching fan favorite Yuli Gurriel after his own down year for the World Series champions.
Gurriel is with the Marlins now, and it turns out neither of the two first basemen's contracts are considered high value.
Abreu's is just worse because it is so much money for a player with a negative fWAR.
Second Basemen
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Best Value: Ozzie Albies, Atlanta
Salary: $7 million
In 2019, Albies signed a seven-year, $35 million deal with Atlanta. Four years later, it can be considered highway robbery.
Atlanta is considered the best team in baseball by far. Its 104-58 record indicates as much. It's a team set up to compete for a second World Series title in three seasons, in part because it has an elite second baseman playing for an ideal price.
Worst Value: Jeff McNeil, New York Mets
Salary: $6.25 million
Every dollar the Mets spent this year felt like bad money. That's how Max Scherzer ended up with the Texas Rangers by the trade deadline and Justin Verlander back with the Houston Astros for another shot at a World Series run.
A less notable but still relevant contract Mets owner Steve Cohen handed out was the four-year, $50 million extension to Jeff McNeil, who just had one of his worst MLB seasons.
Re-signing McNeil made sense at the time, considering the Mets were coming off a 100-win season and went all-in on winning a championship.
The 31-year-old won the NL batting title last year with a .326 average, but he followed it up this year by hitting .270. He was closer to his career lows from 2021, suggesting 2022 may have been an outlier.
To make matters worse, he ended the season on the injured list with a partially torn UCL.
Third Basemen
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Best Value: Austin Riley, Atlanta
Salary: $15 million
Six third basemen made more money than Riley, but none were better this season. He was tied with José Ramírez for first among the position in fWAR, but he hit 13 more home runs and knocked in 17 more runs.
At $15 million, Atlanta got its money's worth and more, having the best player at the position on the best team in the sport.
Riley's 127 wRC+ ranks second among third basemen behind only Isaac Paredes, who played 16 fewer games.
Worst Value: Eduardo Escobar, Los Angeles Angels
Salary: $9.5 million
Escobar was another part of the Mets' fire sale ahead of the trade deadline when it became clear they were headed nowhere of significance.
The 34-year-old lost his starting job in April after getting off to a slow start. That he could make more than $9 million with a negative fWAR is the epitome of bad value, but good work if you can get it.
Escobar is respected for his experience, competitiveness and professionalism. But that doesn't translate to the $9.5 million he made playing poorly for losing teams. The Angels will likely decline his 2024 club option and pay the $500,000 buyout, making him an unrestricted free agent.
Shortstops
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Best Value: Corey Seager, Texas Rangers
Salary: $35 million
Here is the one player who made the most money at his position and truly deserved it.
Seager has been worth every penny of his $35 million salary. The Rangers were not competing for the AL West title without him.
Even though they fell short and settled for a wild-card spot, the race went down to the final day of the regular season in large part because he is their best player.
Seager led shortstops in fWAR (6.1) and wRC+ (169). He was seventh in fWAR among all players despite missing 43 games.
Worst Value: Brandon Crawford, San Francisco Giants
Salary: $16 million
No money was good money in the Bay Area this year. After whiffing on top free-agent targets like Aaron Judge and Carlos Correa, the Giants added insult to injury by employing the worst value shortstop in Brandon Crawford.
For $16 million, the Giants paid for 94 games of Crawford slashing .194/.273/.314 in 283 at-bats. It was by far his worst season of what's been a stellar career for the 36-year-old.
All signs point to retirement for the two-time World Series champion, three-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner.
Outfielders
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Best Value: Ronald Acuña Jr., Atlanta
Salary: $17 million
Not a bad price for the NL MVP. Last year's made more (Paul Goldschmidt, $22 million) and was not the same dominant force as Acuña, who leads all players with a 8.3 fWAR.
Only Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge have a higher wRC+, but both played far fewer games because of injury.
With Atlanta a heavy favorite to win the World Series and Acuña being the most obvious reason why, the price of doing business is pretty good. He's probably worth double the amount and more based on what he did this season.
Worst Value: Giancarlo Stanton
Salary: $32 million
It's been the same story for a while with Stanton: He hits the ball as hard as anyone, but he doesn't hit it nearly often enough.
The sum of $32 million provided the Yankees with a whiff percentage in the bottom 8 percentile and an expected batting average in the bottom 9 percentile.
Most of Stanton's numbers were down in 2023, which says a lot considering he didn't exactly set the world on fire in 2022. He made almost double Acuña's salary.
It's worth mentioning Stanton is more of a designated hitter than outfielder, but putting him as DH would let other designated hitters off the hook.
Designated Hitter
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Best Value: J.D. Martinez, Los Angeles Dodgers
Salary: $10 million
Martinez became the Dodgers' primary DH after spending the previous five seasons with the Boston Red Sox.
And $10 million is a reasonable price to pay for 33 home runs and 103 RBI, the most for Martinez since 2019.
Inserting him into the lineup meant fewer DH at-bats to go around, but it was well worth it.
Martinez led the DH position in RBI. Only Shohei Ohtani, Marcell Ozuna and Jorge Soler had more home runs.
Worst Value: Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers
Salary: $32 million
Cabrera makes another appearance on this list and the same logic applies.
This has been one of the worst contracts in baseball for years, even as the baseball community celebrated him joining the 3,000-hit club.
The Tigers allowed the 40-year-old to play first base in his final MLB game, but they paid $32 million for 96 mostly forgettable appearances as DH.
Cabrera hit just four homers with 34 RBI and a .675 OPS.
Starting Pitchers
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Best Value: Logan Webb, San Francisco Giants
Salary: $4.6 million
The Giants may have wasted $16 million on an aging shortstop, but you could argue they got it back in the clearance-tag price they are paying for one of the best pitchers in the game.
It does not matter what kind of stats you like, advanced or traditional. Webb posted the second-best xFIP and was top 10 in ERA.
He's been underrated for a few years and has yet to be named an All-Star, but he certainly pitches like one. In April, he inked a five-year extension worth $90 million, which keeps him in San Francisco through the 2028 season.
Worst Value: Stephen Strasburg, Washington Nationals
Salary: $35 million
Injuries derailed the career of a really talented pitcher in Strasburg, who has not pitched since June 2022 and announced his retirement this year.
Last month, the Nationals released a statement acknowledging private settlement negotiations with Strasburg. They also nixed plans for a press conference officially announcing his retirement.
Regardless, paying $35 million to not pitch—or even rehab—speaks for itself in terms of value.
Relief Pitchers
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Best Value: Devin Williams, Milwaukee Brewers
Salary: $3.35 million
In his first season as the Brewers' full-time closer, Williams emerged as one of the top relievers in the game.
He ranked in the top six in fWAR, xFIP and ERA, and Milwaukee knows something about having an elite closer.
Known as a pitching factory, it should come as no surprise Milwaukee seamlessly replaced Josh Hader with a player in his first arbitration year. Williams will be arbitration-eligible for two more years before becoming a free agent after the 2025 season.
Worst Value: Rafael Montero, Houston Astros
Salary: $11.5 million
The three-year, $34.5 million contract was a head-scratcher when Houston signed it in the offseason. Astros owner Jim Crane actually made a point to acknowledge Montero's free agency as a priority when it was announced they were parting ways with general manager James Click.
They operated for much of the offseason without a GM, instead with Crane, Jeff Bagwell and a small circle of advisers pitching in.
Sure enough, Montero struggled mightily, losing his job as Houston's setup man early in the season. He posted a 5.08 ERA in 68 appearances. It was the highest in baseball for any reliever who pitched more than 64 innings.
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