Want to get in a fun sports debate with your friends? Try to construct the Mount Rushmore of the worst contracts handed out to players under Angels owner Arte Moreno. There is no shortage of options, whether you favor the mega-deals that flopped or the smaller but still substantial commitments that didn’t come close to being repaid.
The above table doesn’t even include Vernon Wells, whom the Angels acquired from the Blue Jays in 2011 for Mike Napoli in the middle of a seven-year, $126 million deal. Toronto flipped Napoli to the Rangers for days later, where he became a World Series hero that October (although Texas lost to the Cardinals and even bigger World Series hero, David Freese, and Albert Pujols, who signed with the Angels that offseason). Wells performed below replacement-level during his two years in Anaheim before being traded to the Yankees … with Los Angeles still picking up most of the tab for the final two seasons of his deal.
