The most overpaid players in baseball

These five MLB players are cautionary tales for GMs who want to splurge on talent during the offseason. They are the five most overpaid major-leaguers.

5. Jed Lowrie ($10 million salary in 2020)

The Mets have to feel foolish after signing Jed Lowrie, age 34, to a two-year, $20 million contract after his first-ever All-Star season in 2018.

He missed all but nine games last year and recorded just seven at-bats due to various maladies. As was the case when New York signed him, there seems to be little available room on the field for Lowrie with the Mets’ current infielders well-ensconced in their current roles.

4. Ian Desmond ($15 million salary in 2020)

There was nothing logical about the Rockies’ signing of Ian Desmond in 2017, whether it was position or salary, and Desmond has done little to dissuade the critics.

Desmond hit a mediocre .255 in 2019 (.216 away from Coors Field), his third straight season in Colorado without an All-Star game appearance, with just 20 homers and 65 RBI. Rockies fans are stuck with the underachieving 34-year-old slugger until 2021, after which Colorado can buy Desmond out.

3. Wil Myers ($22.5 million salary in 2020)

When Wil Myers signed a back-loaded six-year, $83 million extension with the Padres in 2017, he was fresh off his first All-Star game appearance and boasted a Rookie of the Year Award from 2013. That seems like a distant memory off his dismal 2019 campaign.

Myers saw his average drop to .239 and his strikeouts increase to 168 last year. After hitting 30 homers in 2017, Myers hasn’t even hit 30 total over the last two seasons (11 in 2018, 18 in 2019). He’s also played sub-par defense in the outfield since being shoved there following the Manny Machado signing.

It’s hard to envision Myers earning his keep in 2020.

2. Jordan Zimmermann: ($25 million salary in 2020)

Jordan Zimmermann’s rapid decline has coincided with the Tigers’ fall to the bottom of the AL Central.

Zimmermann went 9-7 with a 4.87 ERA, then his highest in any full season since entering the majors, in the first year of his five-year, $110 million contract signed in 2016. Detroit has seen diminished returns since, culminating with Zimmermann’s disastrous 2019 in which he went 1-13 with a 6.91 ERA.

Fortunately for the rebuilding Tigers, Zimmermann is on the books for only one more season.

1. Chris Davis ($23 million salary in 2020)

A symbol of the Orioles’ dysfunction over the last few years, Chris Davis is the most overpaid player in the majors.

It took until April 13 of last season for Davis to tally his first hit of the year. That snapped a historic hitless streak of 62 plate appearances (54 at-bats). Davis’ batting average over 105 games in 2019 was a paltry .179, though improved over his .168 average in 2018. His power, the main reason why Baltimore gave him a seven-year, $161 million deal in 2016, has diminished considerably, as he hit just 12 homers last season.

Unfortunately for Orioles fans, Davis is on the books until 2022, when he turns 36. 

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