Fans absolutely hate these Philadelphia Phillies contracts

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Philadelphia Phillies fans absolutely hate these contracts

The Philadelphia Phillies have been around since 1883, so they’ve had ample time to make a lot of bad decisions.

This week, we asked our Twitter followers to tell us the worst contract the Phillies have ever given out, and the results were a mix of the expected and totally unexpected.

https://twitter.com/FS_TBOH/status/1481677296964706304?s=20

Let’s dive into what Phillies fans think are the worst contracts in the history of the franchise…

Adam Eaton

After the 2006 season, the Phillies signed Adam Eaton to a three-year deal for $24.5M, which was an absurd amount of money at the time.

Eaton had never been particularly impressive; he was coming off a 5.12 ERA season with the Texas Rangers when the Phillies inexplicably decided to shell out.

Between 2007-08, Eaton pitched to a 6.10 ERA over 51 games, and went 14-18.

And to really drive the point home about how bad he was, the Phillies ultimately decided to release Eaton and just pay him the remaining $9M on his contract.

David Robertson

David Robertson‘s Phillies tenure was a case of ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer,’ as the Phillies had watched Robertson end their championship dreams in the 2009 World Series.

Of course, that had been almost a decade before, and the Phillies still thought they were making a good move by signing the 34-year-old for the 2019 season. To make this more embarrassing, Robertson negotiated his own deal and convinced the Phillies to pay him $23M over two years, with a club option for a third year.

Instead, he pitched in seven games, finished three, and posted a career-worst 5.40 ERA. The Phillies bought out his option for another $2M.

Danny Tartabull #45 (Photo by J.D. Cuban/Allsport/Getty Images) /

Jake Arrieta

Jake Arrieta wasn’t the Cy Young pitcher he’d been when the Phillies signed him to a three-year deal for $70M in 2018.

Over three seasons, he pitched to a 4.36 ERA over 64 starts, and his pitching got progressively worse each season.

The contract included five additional options that would have paid Arrieta another $135M, but by the end of 2020, the Phillies had seen enough and opted to part ways instead.

Danny Tartabull

Danny Tartabull‘s contract was horrendous, but at least it was short. Blinded by the recency bias of Tartabull’s 27-homer season in 1996, the Phillies ignored his injury history and offered him a one-year deal for $2M.

Despite originally declining the deal, when Tartabull saw that no other team was coming close to matching the Phillies’ offer, he changed his mind. The fact that no other teams were interested in a bidding war should have been a massive red flag for the Phillies, but instead, they saw it through.

Big mistake, as Tartabull would play exactly three games for the Phillies, and go hitless in all of them. In 11 plate appearances, he struck out four times, walked four times, scored two runs, and that was the end of his big-league career.

Scott Kingery

The Phillies really jumped the gun on this one; they signed Scott Kingery to a massive deal before he had made his MLB debut.

Ahead of his big-league debut in 2018, the Phillies signed him to a six-year deal for $24M, with club options from 2024-26. Essentially, the Phillies thought Kingery was going to be so excellent that they wanted to avoid paying him absurd amounts in arbitration during that span.

Instead, Kingery has hit .229/.280/.387 with a .667 OPS over 324 games for the Phillies, and has only played 51 games over the last two seasons. He was hitting .053 over 19 games when they sent him down to Triple-A in 2021.

It’s hard to see the Phillies wiggling their way out of this deal.

Didi Gregorius

Another case of recency bias for the Phillies, who overlooked Didi Gregorius’ longtime defensive struggles and gave the shortstop a two-year deal for $28M. This is even more absurd when you remember that his first season in Philly was the shortened 2020 season. He did play in all 60 games, but that’s a small sample size to reward with such a hefty contract.

Gregorius followed it up with one of the worst seasons of his career in 2021, and now the Phillies are stuck paying him over $15M in 2022.

Ryan Howard

Ryan Howard won Rookie of the Year and NL MVP in back-to-back seasons, but injuries destroyed his incredible career.

In 2010, the Phillies gave him a massive five-year extension for $125M, but his Achilles injuries caused him to miss significant time over the following seasons.

Howard still had some good years left in him, but fans who watched the team get progressively worse will blame him for everything else.

JT Realmuto & Bryce Harper

I’ll start off by saying that I don’t agree with these two picks at all, but the fans have spoken.

Several fans named Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto among the worst contracts in Phillies history, to which I say, these are players around whom you build a championship team.

Also, if you’re somehow mad at Bryce Harper after he put together an NL MVP season, you might need to redirect your anger at the front office, bullpen, several starting pitchers and infielders, literally anyone else but him.

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