Philadelphia Phillies: 5 Most Overpaid Players of the 2012 Season
November 29, 2012 by Alec Snyder
Filed under Fan News
Now that the Major League Baseball offseason has finally had its kick start thanks to free-agent center fielder B.J. Upton signing a five-year, $75.25 million contract with the Atlanta Braves, big-name signings should start to increase in frequency over the coming weeks.
Add that with the Winter Meetings next week, and you’ve got a frenzy on your hands, albeit one that’s fun to watch.
For the Philadelphia Phillies, the offseason will be focusing on improving three main positions: center field, third base and the bullpen.
With the bullpen seemingly taken care of in light of the Phillies’ acquisition of Wilton Lopez from the Houston Astros (who else?) as their new setup man, barring any other bullpen additions, that’s one item that can be crossed off on the checklist.
As for the outfield, Upton’s signing creates a new discussion concerning the Phillies’ center field preference, as he was rumored to be the Phillies’ top target.
And then there’s third base, but that doesn’t seem to be as high of a priority to general manager Ruben Amaro Jr.
In the meantime, with players signing new deals left and right, it’s also important to take a look back on players from this past season and see how they fared in terms of worthiness on their contracts.
Some players, from Juan Pierre to Jimmy Rollins, were worth much more than their salaries indicated. Likewise, there are a few players who failed to live up to expectations, both on the field and contractually.
This slideshow will examine the Phillies’ top five most overpaid players for the 2012 season using FanGraphs’ dollar value statistic. A player’s overall value was determined by subtracting the player’s FanGraphs value from their 2012 actual salary.
In terms of eligibility for this list, I only chose players who spent the entirety of the 2012 season with the Phillies. Current free agents who were on the Phillies for all of last season are eligible, however.
Without further ado, I present to you the five most overpaid Phillies of the 2012 season (ranked in ascending order).
*Salaries courtesy of Cot’s Baseball Contracts.