Every MLB Team's Worst Bang-For-Your-Buck Player in 2026

A lot of Major League Baseball players are worth every penny of their salary and then some, but there are also an awful lot of highly paid players who have not been productive in 2026.

In fact, every team has at least one player who definitively has not lived up to his salary. (Including players who have missed the entire season due to injury. They're still getting paid, after all.)

Let it be known that the monetary data points we are using today are luxury tax salaries, per Spotrac.

Using Shohei Ohtani's preposterously deferred 10-year, $700M contract as an example, his AAV is $70M and he is presently receiving $2M cash per year, but for the Dodgers' luxury tax purposes, he counts as $46.1M. We're interested in that latter figure for this exercise. (Though, Ohtani is nowhere close to LAD's LVP, to be clear.)

The following 30 players have a cumulative tax salary of $663.2 million and have been worth a combined 0.9 wins below replacement.

Yikes.

Statistics are current through the start of play on Friday.

AL Central | AL East | AL West | NL Central | NL East | NL West

AL East

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Baltimore Orioles: RHP Chris Bassitt, $18.5M
2026 Stats: 85.1 IP, 4.96 ERA, 1.58 WHIP, 6.4 K/9, 0.4 bWAR

Between Craig Kimbrel ($13M) in 2024, Charlie Morton ($15M) last year and now Chris Bassitt, the Orioles will probably think twice this offseason before signing another late-in-his-career pitcher to an eight-figure deal. In Bassitt's defense, he did have a solid three-year run with Toronto, both in terms of durability and production. But both his cutter and his four-seamer have devolved into batting-practice pitches. His strikeout rate has plummeted to 15.7 percent after five consecutive years north of 22.

Boston Red Sox: LHP Garrett Crochet, $28.3M
2026 Stats: 30.0 IP, 6.30 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 11.1 K/9, -0.5 bWAR

Crochet was nothing short of fantastic for the Red Sox in 2025, leading the majors in strikeouts while finishing second in the AL Cy Young vote. If they hadn't already signed him to a six-year, $170M deal one week into last season, it surely would've cost even more to lock him up long-term this past winter. Unfortunately, in the first year of that contract, he made three quality starts, two subpar starts and one horrific start before hitting the shelf in late April. (They're still hoping he can pitch in relief in October, but we'll see.)

New York Yankees: DH Giancarlo Stanton, $22M
2026 Stats: .256/.302/.422, 3 HR, 14 RBI, 24 games, 0.2 bWAR

Stanton missing a significant chunk of the season to recover from an injury has been an annual rite of passage for eight years at this point. He usually plays enough to still make an impact, averaging 108.2 games played and 28.2 home runs over the previous five seasons. No such luck this year; he last appeared in a game on April 24 due to calf injuries. Even while healthy, he was a league-average hitter with a 100 OPS+.

Tampa Bay Rays: LHP Steven Matz, $7.5M
2026 Stats: 74.0 IP, 5.72 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 6.6 K/9, -0.9 bWAR

Acquiring Gavin Lux's $5.525M salary in January and then having him miss the entire season (thus far, at least) with shoulder and ankle injuries was a rare whiff from the Rays. But at least he's costing them $2M less than Matz and isn't actively hurting the team with what has been one of the worst ERAs among MLB pitchers who have logged at least 70 innings in 2026. Even since transitioning to the bullpen in early June, Matz has allowed multiple runs in nearly one-third of his appearances.

Toronto Blue Jays: RHP José Berríos, $18.7M
2026 Stats: N/A

Cases certainly could be made for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and/or George Springer here, as those co-faces of the franchise haven't exactly carried their weight for a combined luxury tax hit of more than $60M. At least they're playing and providing some positive value, while both Berríos and Anthony Santander ($14.7M) have been complete sunk costs. Berríos might miss all of 2027, too, as he didn't undergo Tommy John surgery until late May.

AL Central

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Chicago White Sox: DH Andrew Benintendi, $15M
2026 Stats: .242/.304/.421, 14 HR, 70 RBI, 0.2 bWAR

In season No. 4 of Benintendi's five-year, $75M contract, it's hardly breaking news that he isn't living up to the billing. He had a 2.9 bWAR in 2021 and another 2.9 mark in 2022, but he has been worth a cumulative 0.6 wins above replacement since. At least he's rarely playing the field this year, though, because Benintendi's value "added" in left field over the previous three seasons was equal to Nick Castellanos' impact in right field.

Cleveland Guardians: RHP Shawn Armstrong, $5.5M
2026 Stats: 33.0 IP, 4.91 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 9.0 K/9, 0.0 bWAR

Considering José Ramírez made up more than 25 percent of Cleveland's Opening Day payroll, he is making more than twice what his closest teammate is making and is having his worst season in more than a decade. You could make a compelling argument for him in this spot. However, even "worse than usual" Ramírez is still one of the more valuable players on the Guardians roster, while Armstrong has given them nothing in return for the fourth-highest salary on the team.

Detroit Tigers: LHP Framber Valdez, $36.6M
2026 Stats: 157.2 IP, 4.17 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 6.8 K/9, 1.2 bWAR

From a purely "value added per dollar received" perspective, the correct answer for Detroit would be Javier Báez, worth a negative 0.7 bWAR for a $23.3M tax salary. However, when the Tigers gave Valdez $115M in early February, they immediately became one of the top threats to reach the World Series. It is largely because of a 12-16 record in his turns through the rotation and a worst-by-far-in-his-career strikeout rate that the Tigers have fallen a mile short of expectations.

Kansas City Royals: RHP Seth Lugo, $23M
2026 Stats: 159.0 IP, 5.04 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 6.7 K/9, -0.3 bWAR

With a 1.15 ERA through his first five starts, Lugo was one of the precious few things about this team that wasn't a mess early on. Since that promising start, however, Lugo has made 24 starts with a 5.99 ERA, allowing more hits and runs than any other pitcher in baseball since April 21. He was one of the biggest reasons Kansas City made the playoffs in 2024. Now, he's one of the biggest reasons the Royals are jockeying for draft lottery odds.

Minnesota Twins: RHP Pablo López, $18.4M
2026 Stats: N/A

Hate to put a guy on this list who suffered a season-ending injury about five seconds into spring training. But aside from the money Minnesota retained in the Carlos Correa trade, López and Byron Buxton ($14.3M) are the only players the Twins are paying more than $7M this season. If López hadn't gotten hurt, there's a decent chance the Twins would be leading the AL Central right now.

AL West

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Athletics: RHP Luis Severino, $22.3M
2026 Stats: 62.2 IP, 4.16 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 9.3 K/9, 0.9 bWAR

Severino's numbers aren't bad compared to most of the A's pitching staff, but he also hasn't pitched since May, missing out on the warm summer months at Sutter Health Park, where fly balls carry like the pre-humid days at Coors Field. Plus, for darn near triple the salary of the next-highest-paid pitcher on the team, the A's were hoping he would be better than "comparatively not bad." They were also hoping he would make more than 12 starts.

Houston Astros: 2B Jose Altuve, $25M
2026 Stats: .246/.309/.400, 15 HR, 44 RBI, 0.1 bWAR

If we could roll up Lance McCullers Jr., Cristian Javier and Tatsuya Imai into one big, $47.8M sandwich of pitching disappointment, that'd be a great pick here. It's frankly a miracle that Houston is in a position to make the postseason in spite of darn near the worst starting rotation in baseball. But Altuve still making bank while struggling to remain anything more than a replacement-level player is a major hurdle the Astros have needed to clear both this season and last. (And he still has three years left on his contract.)

Los Angeles Angels: 3B Anthony Rendon, $35.6M
2026 Stats: N/A

The Angels and Rendon agreed to restructure the contract this past offseason so that his 2026 salary gets deferred to 2028-30. He still counts against the 2026 luxury tax payroll, giving us one more chance to revisit one of the worst contracts in MLB history. Rendon was solid in 2020, but he has a .666 OPS and a cumulative 1.7 bWAR in the six seasons since, playing in just 205 games.

Seattle Mariners: RHP Luis Castillo, $21.6M
2026 Stats (with Seattle): 99.2 IP, 5.06 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 7.8 K/9, -0.7 bWAR

If you were expecting Cal Raleigh here, you've slept through the part where he has a 1.200 OPS over his last 18 games. His resurgence has done nothing to help salvage Seattle's dreadful record, but at least he has turned things around. Castillo never did, and it's a small miracle that the M's managed to trade him (and what's left on his contract) to Chicago ahead of the deadline.

Texas Rangers: SS Corey Seager, $32.5M
2026 Stats: .227/.322/.430, 17 HR, 40 RBI, 2.7 bWAR

Despite a sub-.500 record, Texas doesn't have an obvious candidate for this list. The five Rangers making big bucks have each been worth better than one win above replacement. But Seager is sort of the poster boy of a Rangers team that has been banged up and not as productive as usual. He does have a .954 OPS over his last 26 games played, but he was batting .192 through Texas' first 120 games, missing 59 of them.

NL East

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Atlanta Braves: SS Ha-Seong Kim, $20M
2026 Stats: .126/.211/.136, 0 HR, 8 RBI, 2 SB, -0.6 bWAR

As bad as those numbers are, they were even worse before Kim went 3-for-3 on Sept. 1 and followed it up with his first extra-base hit of the season (a hustle double on a slow line drive) the following day. He has dealt with multiple significant injuries over the past two years, but it's hard to believe this is the same guy who racked up 28 home runs and 60 stolen bases between the 2023 and 2024 campaigns in San Diego.

Miami Marlins: RHP Pete Fairbanks, $13M
2026 Stats: 40.1 IP, 6.02 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 12.7 K/9, -1.1 bWAR

From 2023-25, Fairbanks was one of 12 pitchers to record at least 75 saves, and one of just six to do so with a sub-3.00 ERA. But that success in Tampa did not follow him to Miami. Heck, he didn't even have a month in 2026 with a sub-3.00 ERA. And though he has 18 saves, he's also had seven instances where he either blew a save or suffered the loss. If the Marlins had just run it back again with Calvin Faucher as their primary closer, they might have been right there with San Diego and Arizona for the last wild card spot.

New York Mets: DH Jorge Polanco, $20M
2026 Stats: .148/.201/.230, 2 HR, 6 RBI, -1.4 bWAR

There are more expensive Mets who simply haven't delivered the goods, including Marcus Semien ($24M), Francisco Lindor ($34.1M), Bo Bichette ($42M) and even Juan Soto ($51.1M). Polanco remains the crux of everything that went wrong for New York over the past 10 months, never even making a formal offer to Pete Alonso and then deciding to throw $40M at a guy who had never previously played first base in his MLB career.

Philadelphia Phillies: SS Trea Turner, $27.3M
2026 Stats: .241/.293/.388, 19 HR, 56 RBI, 19 SB, -0.2 bWAR

Turner entered 2026 as a career .297 hitter, but he has been unable to keep his on-base percentage—let alone his batting average—at that mark this year. After a great 2025 in the field, his defense has taken a colossal step backward with an MLB-worst 21 errors. Though it's a near certainty he'll join the 20/20 club for the fourth time in his career, it also might be one of the five least valuable 20/20 campaigns in MLB history.

Washington Nationals: RHP Stephen Strasburg, $35M
2026 Stats: N/A

If we're including the final year of Rendon's seven-year, $245M nightmare of a contract, we've got to do the same with Strasburg. (And thank goodness, because the Nationals otherwise don't have a single 2026 luxury tax salary north of $7M.) Strasburg hasn't pitched since 2022, retiring from baseball in 2024. He had a 6.89 ERA in the eight appearances he was able to make during this ill-fated deal.

NL Central

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Chicago Cubs: RHP Jameson Taillon, $17M
2026 Stats (with Chicago): 76.0 IP, 5.92 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 8.1 K/9, -1.0 bWAR

Had he been able to make a full 32-33 starts, Taillon would have been on track to become the first pitcher in MLB history to allow more than 50 home runs in a single season. By some miracle, the Cubs convinced the Blue Jays to absorb nearly one-third of this salary ahead of the trade deadline, after they designated him for assignment in late July with a bunch of career-worst numbers on his stat sheet.

Cincinnati Reds: DH/3B Eugenio Suárez, $15M
2026 Stats: .208/.302/.421, 22 HR, 63 RBI, 0.1 bWAR

Suárez was supposed to be Cincinnati's solution to not having a legitimate slugger or a go-to choice at DH in 2025. And though he has heated up over the past six weeks, the Reds couldn't even give him away at the trade deadline with a .663 OPS at the time. Because he hasn't delivered the way they hoped he would—and because the likes of TJ Friedl, Matt McLain, Ke'Bryan Hayes and Noelvi Marté have been so much worse—Cincinnati is currently the National League's lowest scoring team.

Milwaukee Brewers: RHP Brandon Woodruff, $22.025M
2026 Stats: 45.1 IP, 2.98 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, 9.3 K/9, 1.0 bWAR

Woodruff was dominant while healthy. However, for the fourth consecutive year, he made 12 or fewer starts, making the "while healthy" portion of his season far too short. Let's not forget: Woodruff also got a $10M payout from the $20M mutual option that he declined in November, so they effectively paid him $32.025M for roughly one quarter of a season. (They're still on track to set a franchise record for wins in a season, though. Madness.)

Pittsburgh Pirates: DH Marcell Ozuna, $12M
2026 Stats: .203/.286/.327, 8 HR, 29 RBI, -1.1 bWAR

Two years removed from finishing fourth in the 2024 NL MVP vote, Ozuna would make a compelling case for top five in this year's NL Least Valuable Player vote, if there were such a thing. His OPS went from .925 in 2024 to .756 in 2025, all the way down to .612 this year before the Pirates finally threw in the towel. Toward the end, they even tried deploying him almost exclusively against left-handed pitchers, but it didn't help.

St. Louis Cardinals: OF Lars Nootbaar, $5.25M
2026 Stats (with St. Louis): .234/.333/.354, 3 HR, 16 RBI, 0.2 bWAR

The Cardinals don't have any good candidates here, as they sold off most of their expensive pieces during the offseason. Only Nootbaar and Dustin May had salaries of at least $5M. May had an impressive 3.14 FIP before they traded him to Milwaukee. But Nootbaar missed the first two months of the season and had a .521 OPS over his final 25 games before getting traded to Arizona.

NL West

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Arizona Diamondbacks: RHP Corbin Burnes, $32.9M
2026 Stats: 3.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 6.0 K/9, 0.2 bWAR

He's finally back from Tommy John surgery, and not a moment too soon. Burnes made his 2026 debut on Tuesday, tossing three scoreless innings against the Royals. With any luck, he'll be stretched out enough to go six or seven innings during the do-or-die final weekend of the regular season against the San Diego Padres, possibly again during the wild card round. If that happens and he helps get the Diamondbacks into the NLDS, the lengthy rehab will have been worth every penny. For now, though, those three innings sure have cost a lot of money.

Colorado Rockies: OF Kris Bryant, $26M
2026 Stats: N/A

It'll never quite approach Rendon/Strasburg levels of disaster, simply because Bryant's $182M contract isn't even 75 percent as expensive as those $245M swings and misses. But since the beginning of 2023, Bryant has played in 128 games with a .642 OPS and a negative-2.3 bWAR. At this point, he's frankly helping the Rockies by simply cashing his checks while not picking up a bat.

Los Angeles Dodgers: OF Kyle Tucker, $57.2M
2026 Stats: .225/.323/.361, 13 HR, 60 RBI, 10 SB, 0.3 bWAR

We previously mentioned Marcell Ozuna's year-over-year fall from OPS grace since 2024. Well, Tucker is right there with him, going from a .993 OPS in 2024 to an .841 mark last year, down to the current eyesore of .684. The Dodgers would have to be thrilled if he could start even producing at that level as of late, but he has triple-slashed .143/.255/.242 over his last 27 games. If that doesn't change and if Andy Pages makes it back in time for the postseason, Tucker might be a $57.2M benchwarmer in October.

San Diego Padres: RHP Joe Musgrove, $20M
2026 Stats: N/A

Neither Manny Machado nor Xander Bogaerts has lived up to their exorbitant salaries this season, but at least they're both putting in reps, missing a combined total of seven games this season. Musgrove, on the other hand, has suffered one setback after another from the Tommy John surgery he had 23 months ago. He didn't pitch at all in 2025. It's not looking promising that he'll make it back onto a big-league mound in 2026.

San Francisco Giants: RHP Tyler Mahle, $10M
2026 Stats (with San Francisco): 94.2 IP, 5.13 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 8.5 K/9, -0.2 bWAR

Mahle is one of 10 players who opened the season on the Giants roster with a tax salary of at least $10M. Most of those players failed to live up to their potential. But Mahle, in particular, has to be a point of frustration for Giants fans, blossoming into an ace the instant they traded him away, boasting a 1.24 ERA in six starts with Atlanta. It would be one final kick in the teeth for San Francisco if Mahle ends up imploding in the NLDS to help the Dodgers advance.