Baseball's Big Money: How the High Priced Free Agents of 2007 Performed

First I'll list each player individually and then I'll tally them up in the end. Before I do that - what would be your guess as to how many of them actually earned their big money this season? Did the baseball owners spend their money wisely or foolishly last winter?

Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants)

Signed a 1 year $16 million dollar contract and produced excellent numbers when he was able to play. In 340 at bats, Bonds hit .276 with a .480 OBP and a .565 SLG. He hit 28 HR's, scored 75 runs and had 66 RBI's. Very few players were as productive at bat as Barry Bonds was in the majors this year. Despite the circus surrounding him and his steroid and performance enhancing drug use, you must say the Giants got their money's worth with him this season.

Roger Clemens (New York Yankees)

Signed a 1 year deal that actually paid him somewhere between $14 and $19 million. In 18 starts he was 6-6 with a 4.18 ERA. His ERA was 97% of the league ERA. Clemens was not terrible this year and the Yankees did start winning after he joined the team in June, but overall the Yankees badly overpaid him based upon the stats he actually did produce. Should Clemens come back in 2008? His wife has already said he should hang up his cleats, and this time I don't think her call got dropped like in the commercial, but he did pitch effectively at the highest level in 2007 at the age of 44.

Andy Pettitte (New York Yankees)

Signed for a $16 million salary and he produced a very good season. In 34 starts he went 15-9 with a 4.05 ERA. He was excellent the second half of the season and was a key reason the Yankees had the best record in the majors after the All Star break and made the playoffs as the wild card. The Yankees gave him a big money contract and he produced a big season for them.

Barry Zito (San Francisco Giants)

Signed a 7 year $126 million dollar contract that made him the highest paid pitcher in baseball. In 33 starts he went 11-13 with a 4.53 ERA. His ERA was 102% of the league ERA last season and that was the first time in Zito's career he pitched to above the league ERA. He wasn't a failure this season but he also was not notable. The Giants did not seem to get their money's worth, at least in the 1st year of this huge contract.

Aramis Ramirez (Chicago Cubs)

Resigned with the Cubs for 5 years and $75 million. He hit .310 with a .366 OBP and a .549 SLG. Hit 25 HR's and scored 72 runs and had 101 RBI's in 506 at bats. That's a good enough season to say the Cubbies got their money's worth with him this year. The fact that they also won their division and made the playoffs also means he has been worth the money so far.

Alfonso Soriano (Chicago Cubs)

Signed for $136 million over 8 years which made him the 5th highest paid player in baseball behind Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Manny Ramirez and World Series bound for the first time in his career, Todd Helton. In 579 at bats, Soriano hit 33 HR's, scored 97 runs and had 70 RBI's. His batting average was .299, his OBP was .337 and his SLG was .560. Did the Cubs get their money's worth with him this year? They did make the playoffs but overall Soriano did not hit like the 5th best player in the majors. He was not a bust by any means but I'd say that the Cubs did not benefit that much in 2007 with Soriano.

Carlos Lee (Houston Astros)

Signed for $100 million over 6 years. In 627 at bats, he hit .303, had a .354 OBP and a .528 SLG. He hit 32 HR's, had 119 RBI's and scored 93 runs. That's a pretty good year considering he was playing for a lousy Astros team that lost 89 games.

J.D Drew (Boston Red Sox)

$70 million dollar contract over 5 years. Drew did not produce this season. In 466 at bats he hit .284 with a .373 OBP and a .423 SLG. He hit just 11 HR's, had 64 RBI's and scored 84 runs. He was a major bust this season and the Red Sox obviously did not get their money's worth with him in the first year of a big contract.

Daisuke Matsuzaka (Boston Red Sox)

Signed for $52 million over 6 years. He went 15-12 with a 4.05 ERA in 32 starts and K'd 201 batters in 205 innings. That's a pretty good year and certainly good enough to say the Red Sox got their money's worth out of Dice-K this season.

Gary Matthews Jr (Los Angeles Angels)

Singed a $50 million 5 year contract and produced like a bad SS. In 516 at bats he hit .252 with a .323 OBP and a .419 SLG. He hit 18 HR's, scored 79 runs and had 72 RBI's. Huge bust for the Angels this year.

Gil Meche (Kansas City Royals)

Signed for $55 million over 5 years. What is the deal with this guy? For years in Seattle he pitched to a much higher ERA than the league average, yet had a much higher winning percentage than the Mariners had over the same time frame. For the Royals, Meche pitched to a 3.67 ERA which was just 77% of the league ERA but he went just 9-13 (.409) while the Royals went 69-93 (.426). So Meche actually pitched .017 worse than his team this season. Did the Royals get their money's worth out of him? You make the call.

Jason Schmidt (Los Angeles Dodgers)

Signed for $47 million over 3 years. He went 1-4 with a whopping 6.31 ERA before he was shut down for the season with an injury. Clearly the Dodgers did not get their money's worth out of him this season.

So What Do We End Up With?

Players who were worth the big money free agent contracts they signed: Bonds, Pettitte, Ramirez, Lee and Dice K.

Players not worth the big money free agent contracts they signed: Clemens, Zito, Soriano, Drew, Matthews Jr and Schmidt.

Honestly I have no idea what to do about Meche. He pitched to a great ERA but had a worse winning percentage than the very bad team he pitched for. Reluctantly I will say the Royals got their money's worth because Meche did pitch to a very low ERA this season.

So the baseball owners went 6-6 (.500) this past off-season with their big money contracts. Now how will they do in 2008?