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This tier is a mixed bag of lower-spending teams, like the Cincinnati Reds, and higher spending teams, like the Red Sox, who have made more than one or two ill-advised contracts, but not so many that their annual payrolls have been extremely bloated. Despite the “misses” in contracts, this group of teams (seven teams, or 23% of MLB) has combined for 25% of the World Series appearances and 18% of the total playoff appearances over the past decade. Unfortunately, this tier doesn’t have a strong team theme, unless you count “half-Midwest teams” as a theme.

Tier 4: “Meh” Teams

Team	Dollars Spent	fWAR Generated	$/fWAR	World Series Appeared In	Playoff Appearances
Baltimore Orioles	$432,828,279	34.1	$ 12,692,911.41		3
Boston Red Sox	$780,032,338	69	$ 11,304,816.49	2	5
Chicago White Sox	$318,846,654	26.4	$ 12,077,524.77		2
Cincinnati Reds	$142,823,726	13.6	$ 10,501,744.56		3
Detroit Tigers	$533,455,117	47.8	$ 11,160,148.89	1	3
Kansas City Royals	$419,334,280	40.5	$ 10,353,932.84	2	2
San Diego Padres	$303,160,795	23.6	$ 12,845,796.40		1

Showing 1 to 7 of 7 entries

Kansas City Royals

We kick it off strong with a team that finally climbed to the top of the hill in 2015 after 30-ish years of mediocrity and downright bad-ness. Royals majority stakeholder David Glass—who, during his 26-year tenure as the team’s majority stakeholder, saw exactly four winning seasons—was not enthusiastic about spending a lot of money in free agency outside of Kansas City’s three-year competitive window. So, it was a little surprising to see Kansas City’s overall dollars committed figure, $419.33 million (above average, by the way!), because it seems like the Royals are perennially underspending in free agency.

You wouldn’t be completely wrong for thinking so, because the Royals, outside of those three or four competitive years, really didn’t put much money down on free agents:

Kansas City’s Spending By Year

Year	Dollars Spent	fWAR	$/fWAR
2011-12	$ 14,504,235	3	$ 4,834,745
2012-13	$ 25,200,000	1	$ 25,200,000
2013-14	$ 56,597,292	4.2	$ 13,475,545.71
2014-15	$ 65,825,819	9.2	$ 7,154,980.33
2015-16	$ 164,136,111	12.8	$ 12,823,133.67
2016-17	$ 44,916,654	1.6	$ 28,072,908.75
2017-18	$ 13,805,971	2.5	$ 5,522,388.40
2018-19	$ 11,432,529	1	$ 11,432,529
2019-20	$ 2,964,074	1.6	$ 1,852,546.25
2020-21	$ 19,951,595	3.6	$ 5,542,110

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In the four-year window from 2017-18 to 2020-21, the Royals spent just under $50 million. In the four-year window from 2013-14 to 2016-17, Kansas City spent over $330 million, nearly 7x as much as the 2017-18 to 2020-21 window. Those four years rank among the worst in terms of the Royals’ $ per fWAR numbers, but they got a championship and two World Series appearances out of it, and I think most fans and GMs would gladly take that.

Today In 2015: The Kansas City #Royals win the World Series, defeating the New York Mets in five games! #MLB #Baseball #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/o1hdi3SiEw

— Baseball by BSmile (@BSmile) November 1, 2021

Kansas City’s “Contract Losses”

Player	Position	Dollars Spent	Contract Length	Year Signed	fWAR	fWAR Year 1	fWAR Year 2	fWAR Year 3
Chris Young	SP	$ 11,750,000	2	2015-16	-1.5	-1.2	-0.3
Jeremy Guthrie	SP	$ 25,200,000	3	2012-13	1	0.6	1.2	-0.8
Omar Infante	2B	$ 20,250,000	3	2013-14	-0.9	0.5	-1.3	-0.1

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I tend to give a fair amount of deference to World Series-winning GMs because winning the “piece of metal” is so dang hard to do. Of course, if you’re (the GM) pushing all your chips in to win a title, you’re doing everything you can to win, and that means handing out contracts that you know will bring the player to your team. Of course, the dollar figures probably aren’t worth it from a spending efficiency standpoint, but that’s not the point of going “all in” on one or two seasons. That’s why I’m more willing to excuse the Jeremy Guthrie contract because he produced a positive fWAR in the Royals’ most important seasons of the past decade and then crashed after getting the W.

However, I think that we can all agree that Omar Infante’s contract didn’t really move the needle for the Royals enough to justify it. He did do some pretty cool stuff in a Royals uniform, though:

https://twitter.com/TonyDreiling/status/626211663390191617

He also had a strong 2014 World Series, going 7 for 22 across the 7-game series. But he also had a 48 OPS+ (124 games) in 2015 and didn’t make the postseason roster that year, so he did as little as possible to help the Royals win that World Series.

Kansas City’s “Contract Wins”

Player	Position	Dollars Spent	Contract Length	Year Signed	fWAR	fWAR Year 1	fWAR Year 2	fWAR Year 3	fWAR Year 4
Edinson Vólquez	SP	$ 17,000,000	2	2014-15	4.4	2.7	1.7
Jason Vargas	SP	$ 32,000,000	4	2013-14	4.9	2.3	0.4	0.4	1.8
Kendrys Morales	1B	$ 16,850,819	2	2014-15	3	2.1	0.9

Showing 1 to 3 of 3 entries

I’ve chosen these particular contracts, not because they’re elite from a pure $ per fWAR standpoint, but because these guys all made strong contributions to one or both of the Royals’ biggest seasons. For Vólquez, it was being a reliable starter in the 2015 World Series and a strong contributor during the regular season. The same goes for Kendrys Morales, who got down-ballot MVP votes in 2015 and had 3 home runs in the 2015 ALDS against the Astros. For Vargas, it was his strong starts in the 2014 ALDS and ALCS that helped the Royals make the World Series. Vargas, unfortunately, was injured for the 2015 postseason and wasn’t able to contribute. All of these guys were excellent supplements to the Royals’ core players, which is exactly what you want out of a free agent on a World Series contending team.

Cincinnati Reds

The Cincinnati Reds spent a paltry $142,823,726 million across 10 years of free agency. That’s outright inexcusable, considering the Reds’ 2020 rotation was the second-best rotation in baseball by fWAR, and Joey Votto, one of baseball’s great treasures, was churning out elite fantasy production for nearly the entire decade in the middle of the Reds’ lineup. Cincinnati even had a decent core of players to build around, with Votto, Eugenio Suárez, Todd Frazier, and Zack Cozart, among others. And yet, the Reds had only three playoff appearances across these 10 years (2012, 2013, 2020) to show for it. If not for the expanded playoffs in 2020, the Reds would have missed the playoffs for the seventh straight year, and their missed playoff streak would be among the longest in the league. And if not for the Reds going “all in” for 2020, they would have spent less than $100 million across this 10-year period.

In a bit of cosmic karma, the Reds ended up in the bottom half of the league in spending efficiency, with a solid 1/3 of their free-agent fWAR coming from Nick Castellanos‘ 2-year, $19.775 million (4.6 fWAR) deal signed in the 2019-20 offseason.

Cincinnati’s Spending Across the 10-Year Period

Year	Dollars Spent	fWAR	$/fWAR
2020-21	$ 1,793,564	1.8	$ 996,424
2019-20	$ 58,490,236	7.8	$ 7,498,748
2018-19	$ 2,000,000	-0.4	$ 2,000,000
2017-18	$ 9,774,450	2.8	$ 3,490,875
2016-17	$ 6,150,000	0.7	$ 6,150,000
2015-16	$ 2,600,000	-0.5	$ 2,600,000
2014-15	$ 2,500,000	0.3	$ 2,500,000
2013-14	$ 12,775,000	-1.8	$ 12,775,000
2012-13	$ 23,811,476	-1.2	$ 23,811,476
2011-12	$ 23,500,000	5.9	$ 3,983,051
Dollars Spent	fWAR	$/fWAR
$ 142,823,726	13.6	$ 10,501,744.56

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And lest you think the Reds are instead spending money on the payroll in some other fashion, the Reds’ highest payroll over the past decade was $107 million. The 2020 payroll, when pro-rated for a 162-game season, probably would’ve been higher than that number, but that payroll still wouldn’t have even placed the Reds in the top half of the league in terms of spending.

Here’s the 2020 class:

Cincinnati’s 2020 Free-Agent Class

Player	Position	Dollars Spent	Contract Length	Year Signed	Total fWAR	fWAR Year 1	fWAR Year 2
Wade Miley	SP	$ 10,372,222	2	2019-20	3	0.1	2.9
Pedro Strop	RP	$ 675,926	1	2019-20	-0.1	-0.1
Kyle Farmer	SS	$ 211,480	1	2019-20	0.2	0.2
Nick Castellanos	OF	$ 19,775,422	2	2019-20	4.6	0.4	4.2
Mike Moustakas	3B	$ 18,444,444	2	2019-20	0.2	0.6	-0.4
Shogo Akiyama	OF	$ 9,222,222	2	2019-20	-0.1	0.4	-0.5

Showing 1 to 6 of 6 entries

Over half of Cincinnati’s total fWAR over the measuring period was the result of Wade Miley and Nick Castellanos. Cool!

Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox, tied with the Giants for the most championships won during this time, spent quite a lot of money on free agents. Unlike their big-market counterparts, like the Dodgers, Yankees, and Cubs, the Red Sox failed to spend their money efficiently, falling in the bottom 10 teams in terms of $ per fWAR. Like the Dodgers, though, the Red Sox took shots on some questionable free agents, with some panning out, and others flopping. All told, the Red Sox dished out the second-most money to their free-agent signings among all MLB teams.

The Red Sox had the worst free-agent class of any team, across all 10 seasons, in 2014-15. Take a look:

Boston’s 2014-15 Free Agent Class

Player	Position	Dollars Spent	Contract Length	Year Signed	Total fWAR	fWAR Year 1	fWAR Year 2	fWAR Year 3	fWAR Year 4
Alexi Ogando	RP	$ 1,500,000	1	2014-15	-0.8	-0.8
Craig Breslow	RP	$ 2,000,000	1	2014-15	-0.6	-0.6
Hanley Ramírez	1B	$ 88,020,000	4	2014-15	1.1	-1.2	3	-0.5	-0.2
Justin Masterson	SP	$ 9,500,000	1	2014-15	-0.1	-0.1
Pablo Sandoval	3B	$ 95,455,000	2	2014-15	-1.8	-1.2	-0.2	-0.4

Showing 1 to 5 of 5 entries

The Red Sox fell for the “sign relievers to big contracts in free agency” trap here with Justin Masterson and they whiffed badly on Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramírez. From a dollars per fWAR standpoint, this is, without a doubt, the worst free-agent class of the last 10 years. Hanley did last long enough with the team to get a World Series ring in 2018, but he also failed to make it onto the field during the 2018 postseason. The other signings failed to make much of an impact, which sure didn’t help this class as a whole. In fact, this free-agent class produced a whopping -2 fWAR. Nice work, Ben Cherington and Larry Lucchino!

It isn’t fair to mention how bad the contracts for Pablo and Hanley were without also mentioning how bad the Red Sox whiffed on Rusney Castillo and Eduardo Núñez:

Boston’s “Bad” Contracts, Part 2

Player	Position	Dollars Spent	Contract Length	Year Signed	Total fWAR	fWAR Year 1	fWAR Year 2	fWAR Year 3
Eduardo Núñez	IF	$ 9,000,000	2	2017-18	-1.6	-0.7	-0.9
Rusney Castillo	OF	$ 37,000,000	3	2013-14	1	0.9	0.1	-0.1

Showing 1 to 2 of 2 entries

Yikes.

Let’s take a look at some happier Red Sox free-agent classes, namely the ones immediately preceding their World Series titles:

Boston’s 2012-13 Free Agent Class

Player	Position	Dollars Spent	Contract Length	Year Signed	Total fWAR	fWAR Year 1	fWAR Year 2	fWAR Year 3
David Ortiz	DH/1B	$ 29,000,000	2	2012-13	5.6	3.4	2.2
Shane Victorino	OF	$ 37,827,322	3	2012-13	5.2	4.7	0.2	0.3
Jonny Gomes	OF	$ 8,360,656	2	2012-13	2	1.5	0.5
Stephen Drew	SS	$ 9,500,000	1	2012-13	3.6	3.6
David Ross	C	$ 6,200,000	2	2012-13	2.6	1.5	1.1
Mike Napoli	1B	$ 5,000,000	1	2012-13	3.4	3.4
Ryan Dempster	SP	$ 13,250,000	1	2012-13	0.5	0.5
Koji Uehara	RP	$ 4,250,000	1	2012-13	3.1	3.1
					2013 fWAR Sum:	21.7

Showing 1 to 9 of 9 entries

It was tough to gauge whether Ortiz’s free-agent deal, signed Nov. 2, 2012, was a true measure of free agency or just a late extension, so I apologize if the numbers are a bit off here. Ortiz did some pretty cool stuff in 2013:

5 years ago today, down 4 runs, David Ortiz hit a game-tying grand slam, flipping Torii Hunter into the bullpen & sending bullpen cop Steve Horgan into celebration.

The Red Sox went on to win the World Series.

Officer Steve Horgan will retire in 2019. pic.twitter.com/PWUMF6gQ4n

— Only In Boston (@OnlyInBOS) October 13, 2018

The Red Sox also grabbed a handful of other key contributors in 2013, including a reasonably priced closer in Koji Uehara, a power bat in Mike Napoli, a great beard in Jonny Gomes, and a great Flyin’ Hawaiian in Shane Victorino.

When Shane Victorino hit this grand slam in the 2013 ALCS for the Red Sox, the entire series changed momentum.

Such an underrated hit, such an underrated player. pic.twitter.com/A5WPG0uAw2

— Jordan Moore (@iJordanMoore) March 31, 2020

Let’s take a look at the 2017-18 free-agent class:

Boston’s 2017-18 Free Agent Class

Player	Position	Dollars Spent	Contract Length	Year Signed	Total fWAR	fWAR Year 1	fWAR Year 2	fWAR Year 3	fWAR Year 4
Eduardo Núñez	IF	$ 9,000,000	2	2017-18	-1.6	-0.7	-0.9
J.D. Martinez	DH/OF	$ 75,646,296	4	2017-18	11	5.9	3.2	-1	2.9
Mitch Moreland	1B	$ 13,000,000	2	2017-18	1.4	0.7	0.7

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This one’s a winner because of J.D. Martinez. Núñez, as we already established, was a contract miss. Moreland was an All-Star in 2018, although, uh… you don’t see too many All-Stars end up with a 0.7 fWAR at the end of the season.

Happy birthday, J.D. Martinez! His 2018 season was crazy…

43 home runs
130 RBIs (led league)
.330 batting average
4th in MVP votingpic.twitter.com/pZYEk83Fsn

— Guy Boston Sports (@GuyBostonSports) August 21, 2020

Chicago White Sox

Back squarely in their competitive window, the White Sox spent a long, long time getting back to competitiveness. Before Chicago made it to the AL Wild Card round in 2020, they had not made the playoffs since 2008. In between then, the White Sox won more than 80 games just once and traded Fernando Tatís Jr. to the Padres for James Shields. For a good chunk of the decade, the White Sox held up on the spending—as teams tend to do when they win 60+ games and lose 90ish—which is partially why the White Sox come in well under the average dollars spent (they also could’ve just spent more, as a “big revenue” team (!!)).

AJ Preller and FTJ are still laughing at fleecing the White Sox with the James Shields trade. 😂 pic.twitter.com/HEvJ7HovtD

— Danny Vietti (@DannyVietti) February 22, 2021

Chicago’s Spending, 2011-12 to 2020-21

Year	Dollars Spent	fWAR	$/fWAR
2020-21	$ 22,084,906	7.8	$ 2,831,398.21
2019-20	$ 59,611,111	7.1	$ 8,395,931.13
2018-19	$ 24,500,000	1.6	$ 15,312,500.00
2017-18	$ 19,750,000	-1.3	$ 19,750,000.00
2016-17	$ 6,000,000	-0.9	$ 6,000,000.00
2015-16	$ 17,397,541	-2.3	$ 17,397,541.00
2014-15	$ 93,144,899	5.2	$ 17,912,480.58
2013-14	$ 50,350,000	9.3	$ 5,413,978.49
2012-13	$ 25,008,197	0.1	$ 25,008,197.00
2011-12	$ 1,000,000	-0.2	$ 1,000,000.00

Total Dollars Spent	fWAR	$/fWAR
$ 318,846,654	26.4	$ 12,077,524.77

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Chicago thought they were ready to contend after they won 85 games in 2012 and narrowly missed the playoffs, but uh… they were not. 2012 was the high point for Chicago in the early 2010s; after then, Chicago wouldn’t win more than 80 games until 2021. At least they spent well in 2013-14…?

Chicago’s 2013-14 Free Agent Class

Player	Position	Dollars Spent	Contract Length	Year Signed	Total fWAR	fWAR Year 1	fWAR Year 2	fWAR Year 3
Felipe Paulino	SP	$ 1,750,000	1	2013-14	-0.6	-0.6
José Abreu	1B	$ 34,000,000	3	2013-14	10.6	5.3	3.3	2
Matt Lindstrom	RP	$ 4,000,000	1	2013-14	-0.2	-0.2
Mitchell Boggs	RP	$ 1,100,000	1	2013-14	0	0
Paul Konerko	1B	$ 2,500,000	1	2013-14	-1	-1
Ronald Belisario	RP	$ 3,000,000	1	2013-14	0.4	0.4
Scott Downs	RP	$ 4,000,000	1	2013-14	0.1	0.1

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José Abreu’s contract is only 3 years because he opted out of the rest of his initial 6-year deal so that he could be eligible for arbitration. The best offseason for Chicago with over $30 million spent (a real offseason!) was solely due to José Abreu’s contract because the rest of these contracts were busts. At least they didn’t waste too much money on free-agent relievers, which hurt a lot of other teams in their search for free-agent value.

Let’s take a look at another one of Chicago’s good off-seasons, which was just last year:

Chicago’s 2020-21 Free Agent Class

Player	Position	Dollars Spent	Contract Length	Year Signed	Total fWAR	fWAR Year 1
Adam Eaton	OF	$ 7,751,573	1	2020-21	0.2	0.2
Carlos Rodón	SP	$ 3,000,000	1	2020-21	4.9	4.9
Liam Hendriks	RP	$ 11,333,333	1	2020-21	2.7	2.7

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Despite committing roughly $8 million to Adam Eaton, Chicago nailed their offseason, with Carlos Rodón pitching like a superstar for about 75% of the season and Liam Hendricks pitching like the elite reliever he is. Committing big money to a reliever can work… if you do it right!

Other than that, the White Sox didn’t have a ton of contracts to cheer about. Take a look at their big 2014-15 offseason, which preceded a 76-win season, then a 78-win season, and then all the way down to a 67-win season:

Chicago’s 2014-15 Free Agent Class

Player	Position	Dollars Spent	Contract Length	Year Signed	Total fWAR	fWAR Year 1	fWAR Year 2	fWAR Year 3
Adam LaRoche	1B	$ 12,000,000	1	2014-15	-1.2	-1.2
David Robertson	RP	$ 28,016,476	3	2014-15	3.5	1.7	1	0.8
Emilio Bonifacio	UTIL	$ 4,000,000	1	2014-15	-0.8	-0.8
Gordon Beckham	2B	$ 2,000,000	1	2014-15	0.4	0.4
Melky Cabrera	OF	$ 39,377,056	3	2014-15	2.9	0.1	2.2	0.6
Zach Duke	RP	$ 7,751,367	2	2014-15	0.4	-0.5	0.9

Showing 1 to 6 of 6 entries

The long-term deals were fine-ish during that offseason, while the short-term deals stunk. It happens (*shrug*), but at least the mistakes didn’t kill the team’s outlook long-term.

Baltimore Orioles

So, we’ve managed to avoid the truly terrible contracts so far. Unfortunately, we’ve run into our first real albatross, courtesy of the Baltimore Orioles. Birdland was blessed with a fella named Chris Davis, who signed a 7-year, $161 million deal in the 2015-16 offseason. Crush had raked in Baltimore before the contract, racking up a strong 13.4 fWAR from 2013-15. Unfortunately, he couldn’t keep it up over the life of his deal, and Davis ended up producing -2.3 fWAR over his 6 seasons in Baltimore. So, if you’re following along at home, Baltimore spent $161 million on a contract for a below replacement-level player.

With Chris Davis’ contract factored in, Baltimore committed $432.8 million across the 10 years. They got 34.4 fWAR for their troubles, for a $/fWAR of $12.6 million. Without Chris Davis’ contract factored in, Baltimore committed $271.8 million for 36.7 fWAR, which comes out to a $/fWAR of $7.4 million. So, the Orioles were strong spenders outside of the Davis contract. Although, some of that is due to Mike Elias’ extreme aversion to spending since becoming Baltimore’s GM.

When teams are in their “lean” years and they expect to lose a ton of games, they tend not to spend as much money in free agency, like with the White Sox above. The Orioles are guilty of that, except they have comically underspent during their “lean years.”

Baltimore’s Free-Agent Spending

Year	Dollars Spent	fWAR	$/fWAR
2020-21	$ 2,300,000	1	$ 2,300,000.00
2019-20	$ 5,111,111	1.6	$ 3,194,444.38
2018-19	$ 516,120	0.1	$ 516,120
2017-18	$ 52,550,187	3.6	$ 14,597,274.17
2016-17	$ 44,150,000	2.8	$ 15,767,857.14
2015-16	$ 220,458,841	2.8	$ 78,735,300.36
2014-15	$ 15,425,316	3.8	$ 15,425,316.00
2013-14	$ 60,800,000	9.4	$ 6,468,085.11
2012-13	$ 2,000,000	2.3	$ 869,565.22
2011-12	$ 29,813,000	7	$ 4,259,000.00

Total Dollars Spent	fWAR	$/fWAR
$ 432,828,279	34.4	$ 12,582,217.41

Showing 1 to 13 of 13 entries

Over the past 3 years, Baltimore has spent a total of $7.8 million (and gotten 2.7 fWAR from it, actually). Most teams outspend that in a single offseason, on a single player.

Well, let’s take a look at Baltimore’s big successes outside of 2018-19 to 2020-21:

Baltimore’s Contract “Wins”

Player	Position	Dollars Spent	Contract Length	Year Signed	fWAR	fWAR Year 1	fWAR Year 2	fWAR Year 3
Nate McLouth	OF	$ 2,000,000	1	2012-13	2.3	2.3
Andrew Cashner	SP	$ 17,423,000	2	2017-18	2.5	0.6	1.9
Wei-Yin Chen	SP	$ 11,338,000	3	2011-12	6.5	2.2	2	2.3

Showing 1 to 3 of 3 entries

Believe me when I tell you that there were slim pickings for Baltimore contract successes. I couldn’t pick any multi-year deals besides Wei-Yin Chen or Andrew Cashner (I guess?) because there were literally no other good multi-year deals to choose from; they’re either “meh” or just bad.

Take a look at Baltimore’s track record for multi-year contracts over the 10 years:

Every Single One of Baltimore’s Multi-Year Contracts

Player	Position	Dollars Spent	Contract Length	Year Signed	fWAR	fWAR Year 1	fWAR Year 2	fWAR Year 3	fWAR Year 4	fWAR Year 5
Wei-Yin Chen	SP	$ 11,338,000	3	2011-12	6.5	2.2	2	2.3
Ubaldo Jiménez	SP	$ 48,000,000	4	2013-14	4.8	0.4	2.6	1.7	0.1
Tsuyoshi Wada	RP	$ 8,150,000	2	2011-12	0	0	0
Alex Cobb	SP	$ 31,582,187	3	2017-18	1.5	1.5	-0.6	0.6
Andrew Cashner	SP	$ 17,423,000	2	2017-18	2.5	0.6	1.9
Chris Davis	1B	$ 161,000,000	7	2015-16	-2.3	2.9	0	-3.1	-1.3	-0.8
Wilson Betemit	3B	$ 3,250,000	2	2011-12	0.4	0.7	-0.3
Mark Trumbo	OF	$ 37,500,000	4	2016-17	0.9	2.2	-1.3	0.3	-0.3
Hyun-soo Kim	OF	$ 5,508,835	2	2015-16	0.7	1	-0.3

		Total Committed	fWAR	$/fWAR
		$ 323,752,022	15	$21,583,468.13

Showing 1 to 12 of 12 entries

Let’s look at Ubaldo Jiménez‘s biggest Orioles highlight!

Let’s take a look at the last pitch Ubaldo Jimenez threw in his MLB career pic.twitter.com/KZOF9ZK8mb

— McTAPIA (@rockierage117) February 6, 2020

Meanwhile, another name on that list, Alex Cobb, just tied his personal best for fWAR in a season on the final year of his contract with the Orioles. And the Orioles paid for it, too! It’s just too bad he had that great year as a member of the Angels.

San Diego Padres

The final team in this tier, the Padres also spent a long time rebuilding before getting back into their contending window. The Padres and the White Sox’s competitive windows have lined up almost exactly right, with the Padres having their best seasons early in the 2010s before going into a long rebuilding period. Funny enough, Dave Roberts was the manager of the Padres for a day in 2015 before he joined the Dodgers! He lost his challenge during the game, and his career “Overturned Challenge” percentage is 54.7% now. I bet that Dave Roberts and AJ Preller would make such a fun team in San Diego.

Speaking of Preller, once he took over for the Padres, he was responsible for spending about 93% of San Diego’s free-agent money in about 70% of the seasons. He did so with the flair associated with everything Preller does.

San Diego’s Spending, 2011-12 to 2020-21

Year	Dollars Spent	fWAR	$/fWAR
2020-21	$ 17,881,740	0.8	$ 17,881,740
2019-20	$ 18,388,703	3.5	$ 5,253,915.14
2018-19	$ 93,900,259	10	$ 9,390,025.90
2017-18	$ 82,423,937	3.3	$ 24,976,950.61
2016-17	$ 9,084,034	5.2	$ 1,746,929.62
2015-16	$ 6,846,877	-1.1	$ 6,846,877
2014-15	$ 47,885,245	1.9	$ 25,202,760.53
2013-14	$ 22,000,000	1.4	$ 15,714,285.71
2012-13	$ 3,000,000	-1.3	$ 3,000,000
2011-12	$ 1,750,000	-0.1	$ 1,750,000

Total $ Committed	fWAR	$/fWAR
$ 303,160,795	23.6	$ 12,845,796.40

Showing 1 to 13 of 13 entries

Preceding the 2014-15 free-agent class, the Padres won 77 games in 2014, 76 in 2013, and 76 in 2012. The hope behind the 2014-15 class was that the Padres’ free-agent additions would finally supplement their core and turn them into a playoff team. The Padres did have a pretty strong rotation in 2014, with Tyson Ross racking up a 2.81 ERA/3.24 FIP across 195 innings and Ian Kennedy with a 3.63 ERA/3.21 FIP across 201 innings. Their pitching as a whole ranked second in the NL in ERA in 2014, but their lineup ranked 15th in the NL in the same season. In fact, their lineup was dead last in NL teams in batting average, OBP, SLG, and OPS. So, it made sense for the Padres to try to spend in free agency to try to build up their lineup to go along with their strong rotation.

Preller got to work, first by acquiring players via trade. He traded Yasmani Grandal and Zach Eflin to the Dodgers for Matt Kemp and Tim Federowicz. He traded for Wil Myers and Ryan Hanigan, in exchange for Joe Ross, Jake Bauers, and a little PTBNL named Trea Turner. He traded for Justin Upton, giving up Max Fried, Jace and Dustin Peterson, and Mallex Smith. And in his final move, Preller went back to Atlanta and dealt for Craig Kimbrel and Melvin Upton Jr. (also known as B.J. Upton), giving up Cameron Maybin, Carlos Quentin, and Matt Wisler.

My goodness, Preller’s trade-a-palooza was… a disaster! The Padres gave up 3 future All-Stars in that offseason in Grandal, Turner, and Fried, and got a measly amount of production in return. Justin Upton produced 3.4 fWAR in a season, Matt Kemp produced 0.6 fWAR across 2 seasons, and Melvin Upton Jr. produced 3.1 fWAR across 2 seasons, and all of them were off the team within a year and a half in the second half of Preller’s 2014-15 trade-a-palooza. Kimbrel was his usual dominant self (albeit for one season) and Wil Myers is still on the team, so it wasn’t all bad. And to be fair to Preller, Turner had only just been drafted, while Max Fried had just undergone Tommy John surgery a few months prior, and Grandal had just suffered significant damage to his ACL and MCL in 2013.

So, Preller did a lot to make sure the Padres’ lineup was up to snuff through the trade market. Accordingly, he didn’t need to spend quite as much in free agency to supplement the team, but Preller still racked up a $47 million free-agent class, the team’s third-highest of the decade. Let’s see how it turned out:

San Diego’s 2014-15 Free Agent Class

Player	Position	Dollars Spent	Contract Length	Year Signed	Total fWAR	fWAR Year 1	fWAR Year 2
Brandon Morrow	RP	$ 2,500,000	1	2014-15	0.4	0.4
Clint Barmes	SS	$ 1,500,000	1	2014-15	0.2	0.2
James Shields	SP	$ 42,885,245	2	2014-15	1.3	0.8	0.5
Josh Johnson	SP	$ 1,000,000	1	2014-15	0	0

Showing 1 to 4 of 4 entries

Tell you what, this doesn’t look like a whole lot of offensive help. And the guys they did sign ended up being “meh.” James Shields may be more fondly remembered in San Diego for what he brought in via trade (Fernando Tatís Jr.!) than for his on-field contributions to the Padres, and the rest of these deals were too small to move the needle. And that’s why the Padres, who pushed all their chips in for 2015, completely flopped on the field, finishing with a 74-88 record. They traded all those chips away just a year or two later, with the Padres jumping right back into the rebuilding process. They wouldn’t finish with a record over .500 until 2020.

Gary, Keith and Ron look back on the 5th year anniversary of Bartolo Colon's legendary home run

Ron also reminds us that 3 weeks after Colon's homer, James Shields was traded to the White Sox for Fernando Tatis Jr. 👀 pic.twitter.com/WkCbN75RMa

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 8, 2021

Let’s take a look at some positive contracts!

San Diego’s Free-Agent “Winners”

Player	Position	Dollars Spent	Contract Length	Year Signed	Total fWAR	fWAR Year 1	fWAR Year 2	fWAR Year 3
Craig Stammen	RP	$ 5,500,000	2	2017-18	2.6	2.2	0.4
Drew Pomeranz	RP	$ 9,481,481	2	2019-20	1.3	0.8	0.5
Manny Machado	SS / 3B	$ 71,111,111	3	2018-19	10.2	3.2	2.6	4.4

Showing 1 to 3 of 3 entries

As it turns out, signing a superstar free agent before he enters his prime is a recipe for success! Manny “Not Charlie Hustle” Machado has matured into a team leader in San Diego, even taking it upon himself to do something he never would have done in Baltimore or Los Angeles:

Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. had to be separated while yelling at one another in the dugout https://t.co/VwPKZTQovH

— saucycatches (@saucycatches) September 19, 2021

Hopefully, he will continue to play well and be a leader in San Diego, because he’s a Padre for the rest of his career, barring a trade. The other two contracts were just solid.

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