When a team has ample salary cap space, general managers tend to make poor decisions.

Most of the worst contracts are in the NBA and Major League Baseball. It’s really hard to have a bad contract in the NFL since nearly every deal is basically a series of one-year deals with team options. Bad contracts still happen in the league when guaranteed money gets out of control.

Many of the worst NBA contracts right now happened when the salary cap ballooned before the 2016-17 season. Many of those deals have teams already looking for relief by trading draft picks to teams just to take on a bad contract.

Here are the the ten worst contracts in sports.

The contracts mentioned only include future money. The baseball contracts do not factor in the remaining money left for the 2018 season.

Albert Pujols – Three years for $88 million

I don’t really blame the Angels too much for this bad deal. Pujols was going to get a huge deal and be overpaid for his twilight years by some team. I do blame the Angels for adding an extra year on this deal. They outbid the Cardinals due to the length of this deal. His contract is untradeable and he will be 41 years old by the time this deal ends.

Chandler Parsons – Two years for $49 million

Parsons was one of the players that benefited from being a free agent during the 2011-12 offseason. He has only played a total of 70 games in the past two years due to injuries. He even found himself coming off the bench last season for Memphis. The Grizzlies are one of the bottom teams in the loaded West. It will be near impossible to trade him unless they attach an unprotected first round pick…and they can’t afford to do that.

Jason Heyward – Five years for $106 million

Heyward was a broken his first two seasons with the Cubs. His swing was a mess, but his defense still rated out as one of the best right fielders in baseball. He finally fixed his swing this season, but the 2.0-ish WAR isn’t worth the $20+ million per season. He has a series of player options coming up in the coming years, but I don’t see him making the same money he it opted out. The Cubs will have Heyward until after the 2023 season.

Joakim Noah – Two years for $38 million

Noah was another beneficiary of the ballooned salary cap. He signed with the Knicks for a big money deal, but has only played in 53 games total in the last two years. He didn’t light up the scoreboard in those games either. He has only averaged 4.6 points per game in a Knicks uniform. The Knicks are finally starting to get some young talent on the team, but Noah’s dead money contract seriously destroys any chance of them signing another impact veteran.

Jacoby Ellsbury – Two years for $42 million + $5 million 2021 buyout

Ellsbury was one of the best young player to hit free agency before he signed with the Yankees. He put together some very good seasons with the Red Sox, but he has yet to have anywhere near the same production in the Bronx. The Yankees currently have Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge and Brett Gardner/Aaron Hicks in the outfield. Ellsbury has missed the entire year so far with plantar fasciitis and hip injuries. They have him under contract with two more years with a $5 million buyout. They have no need for him and they are going to have an issue dumping his contract.

Tristan Thompson – Two years for $36 million

Thompson hasn’t been a total disaster since he signed his new contract with the Cavs. His production did hit a wall last season. He fell out of the starting lineup and only started 22 games last year. He fell out of the rotation at times and was near-useless in the postseason. Now that LeBron James is in Los Angeles, the Cavs need Thompson more than ever. There’s a chance he could turn it around, but I don’t have much hope. He has his mind on other things right now.

Troy Tulowitzki – Two years for $34 million + $4 million 2021 buyout

When the Blue Jays traded for Tulo a few years ago, it looked like they may have overpaid. Now it looks like they vastly overpaid. He has been injured for most of his time in Toronto and he hasn’t matched his Colorado production with his new team. Tulo hasn’t played a single game this year due to bone spur surgery on both ankles. His future doesn’t look good and there’s little-to-no chance he will be worth his contract.

Mike Conley – Two years/$59 million + 2021 contract ($34 million) vests if he plays 55 games in 2019-20

Conley’s deal was pretty crazy when he signed it years ago. He’s a very good point guard and while doing research for this post, I realized he has never been an All-Star. He could be one of the best players never to earn an All-Star nod. The Grizzlies are in bad shape and there’s no need for them to have someone like Conley under this big money deal. He only played 12 games last year, but unlike most of the players on this list, he has been very good when he’s on the court. This contract is bad just because he is almost untradeable with this huge contract. Memphis should probably try to keep him from playing in 55 games in 2019-20.

Chris Davis – Four years for $92 million

Davis signed his big money deal after hitting 47 homers with a .262 average in 2015. He hasn’t matched that production and his batting average has been around the Mendoza Line for most of his contact. He was having one of the worst seasons ever this season before hitting a few homers last month. He’s still only batting .156 with 11 homers. The Orioles are really bad right now and they are sellers at the trade deadline…but they won’t be able to find a new home for Davis.

Prince Fielder – Two years for $18 million

Fielder has been retired since 2016, but he is still getting paid the rest of the monster contract he signed before the 2012 season. Insurance is paying the lion’s share of his remaining money, but the Rangers are still on the hook for $9 million a year through the 2020 season. 

Too soon to tell if they are bad…

Kirk Cousins – 3 years for $84 million
Eric Hosmer – 7 years for $123 million
Yu Darvish – 5 years for $101 million

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About the Author…

Bobby Roberts (otherwise known as Sweetbob) is the creator of ‘America’s White Boy’ and contributor at Project Shanks. His writing has been featured on ESPN’s ‘SportsNation’, Sports Illustrated’s Hot Clicks, Guyspeed, and various other sites. You can follow him on Twitter at @Sweetbob.