The Diamondbacks’ worst contracts: Introduction and honorable mentions

Photo by Evan Hurd/Sygma/Sygma via Getty ImagesArizona have made their share of mistakes in the free-agent and associated markets over the years. We were debating exactly where the Madison Bumgarner signing ranked on that list of desert follies, and I decided to dig through history and see where exactly Mad Bum might rank. To come up with an objective measure, I looked purely at the cost of the contract and the production over its length. I didn’t care whether the player was here or dealt elsewhere, or any value returned in trade. Contract costs were adjusted from the time of signing into 2022 baseball dollars, largely using this information on average salary. That figure was then discounted by $8 million for every bWAR the player produced, to get a final negative value.

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