Spending money is incredibly helpful, obviously, but it doesn't guarantee anything. I mean, the Toronto Blue Jays have a top four payroll in the league, yet, they're barely hovering over .500 and there's a good chance they don't make the playoffs. The Texas Rangers are three games under .500 and roster one of the most disappointing offenses in the league.
The simple fact is, with payrolls around the league skyrocketing, it's easy for teams to overpay players they want. Some of these deals age fine, but others do not. These five contracts in the NL East are crippling their respective teams to a certain extent.
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5) Trevor Williams is wasting a Nationals roster spot at this point
After a solid 2024 campaign (albeit in only 13 appearances), the Washington Nationals chose to re-sign Trevor Williams on a two-year, $14 million deal. This deal looked mostly fine at the time, considering how expensive starting pitching has gotten, but he's done nothing to justify the deal this season.
The right-hander has a 5.69 ERA in 11 appearances and 55.1 innings. He's allowed four or more earned runs in five of his starts, and has completed six innings only twice. Some of the reduced workload is by design, as Williams hasn't thrown 100 pitches in a single outing this season, but it's hard to figure out what exactly he brings the Nationals as a 33-year-old who is not part of their long-term future.
It feels like his rotation spot is better served for a younger arm who can potentially be part of the long-term equation in Washington. Perhaps when Cade Cavalli returns, Williams will be bumped from the starting staff, but if and when that happens, the contract will only look worse, as the Nationals will essentially be paying $7 million this season and next for a long reliever.
4) Phillies fans want Taijuan Walker gone for a reason
There are a couple of directions I could've gone in for the Philadelphia Phillies. Trea Turner is not getting paid $300 million to put up a sub-.800 OPS. Aaron Nola is not making more than $170 million to get off to the worst start of his career and sit on the Injured List. As underwhelming as those two players have been, I do expect them to bounce back to an extent. For Taijuan Walker, though, there's a reason Phillies fans want him gone.
This season has gone better for Walker than the last two, as he has a 3.53 ERA in 10 appearances (eight starts) and 43.1 innings of work, but there's one important thing to point out. When the team is healthy, Walker is a reliever.
While Walker has looked decent in his two relief appearances this season, he's in the third year of a four-year, $72 million deal. The Phillies did not hand him that contract ahead of the 2023 campaign to use him as a reliever in an ideal world, just three years into the deal, but that's where we are right now.
3) Starling Marte doesn't do nearly enough to justify this Mets contract
Handing Starling Marte, a player most known for his speed, a four-year, $78 million deal was a risk, and the New York Mets are seeing the downside of it now. Marte has lost a step (or four), and looks like a shell of his former self.
Marte was an All-Star in 2022, and even had some key hits down the stretch for the Mets last season, but this season, he's slashed .228/.339/.359 with three home runs and 14 RBI and is primarily a DH playing on the short side of a platoon. He has just three appearances and 16 innings in the outfield this season, which is astonishing.
Even if Marte was performing like one of the best designated hitters against left-handed pitching in the game, giving him over $20 million this season is an overpay. The fact that he's essentially been a league-average hitter based on his 101 OPS+ makes the deal worse. He was a productive player shortly after the deal was signed, but the Mets are learning why it's risky to hand older players long-term deals.
2) The Marlins regret paying Cal Quantrill in hindsight
Coming up with an overpaid Miami Marlins player is easier said than done because they don't spend any money. I could go with Sandy Alcantara based on how he's pitched this season, but I do believe he'll ultimately be fine. Instead, I'll go with Cal Quantrill, who signed a one-year, $3 million deal this past offseason.
$3 million might sound dirt cheap, but somehow, he's the third-highest-paid Marlins player, further proving how some of these small-market owners are to blame for payroll discrepancies.
Even at $3 million, Quantrill is not coming close to justifying his contract. The right-hander has a 5.84 ERA in 11 starts and 49.1 innings of work. He's gone beyond five innings just once, and has allowed four or more earned runs four times. Even at the cheap price tag, the Marlins would've gotten better bang for their buck had they gone in another direction.
1) Raisel Iglesias is one of many reasons the Braves have underperformed
The Atlanta Braves are a mess for many reasons, but one of them has to do with their bullpen. A lot of focus has been on the team's lack of depth, and rightfully so, but their best reliever coming into the year, Raisel Iglesias, has really struggled.
Iglesias, once one of the most reliable closers in the game as recently as last season, has a 5.91 ERA in 22 appearances and 21.1 innings of work. Most alarmingly is the fact that he's allowed seven home runs already, three more than he had in all of last season in roughly one-third of the innings. Iglesias has eight saves, but has already blown three save opportunities, one fewer than he had in 38 tries last season.
For most of his deal, Iglesias justified the hefty paychecks he was receiving and then some. This season, he's regressed heavily, seemingly without warning. He's making $16 million in the final year of his four-year, $58 million deal to pitch like one of the worst closers in the game. For the Braves to turn their season around, it goes without saying that he's going to have to get going.