Are these large reliever contracts worth it? It's complicated

In the last two playoffs, the Kansas City Royals, New York Mets, Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs relied on elite late-inning relievers to help take them to the World Series. As a byproduct of that and several other factors, MLB teams are breaking the bank to acquire similar players.

History suggests, however, that doing so might lead to bad things for those teams. Sometimes these mega deals work out, but sometimes they backfire significantly. Below are a few examples of long deals given to free-agent closers and how they worked out. We'll look at these deals mostly through a traditional lens of valuation while also considering Win Probability Added (WPA).

B.J. Ryan - 5 years/$47 million…