Surprising Blue Jays player catches unnecessary stray in 'worst MLB contracts' piece

As the Major League Baseball offseason sputters on into its second month, one of the traditions in which baseball "experts" like to partake is the annual evaluation of the worst contracts in the game. There's never a shortage of teams and players to target, with, of course, the advantage of hindsight.

This year's crop of the worst MLB contracts heading into 2025, as determined by The Athletic's Cody Stavenhagen, ranks 10 undeserved behemoth deals, many of which were likely on this same list last December.

Luckily, the Toronto Blue Jays avoided seeing any of their contracts make the Top 10. However, Stavenhagen included one surprising Blue Jays player as an honorable mention, with starting pitcher José Berríos the lone Jays entry (subscription required). The right-hander has four years and $86.9M remaining on his seven-year extension that kicked in in 2022.

How did Blue Jays' José Berríos land on a list of the worst MLB contracts while George Springer escaped unscathed?

Still, despite the dollars owed Berríos, it's baffling that he was the Blue Jay who made this list, with a more deserving and painfully obvious candidate roaming the outfield turf for Toronto. Right fielder George Springer should have been given this "honor."

The six-year, $150M contract that brought Springer to Toronto in 2021 as a 31-year-old looked like a good investment at first. Adding a successful veteran to help the young studs was a good move. Despite being restricted by injury in his first season in a Blue Jays uniform, when Springer was in the lineup, he produced a career-high .907 OPS and 22 home runs in 78 games.

Unfortunately, the signs of decline have been real over the last couple of seasons. Things really fell off a cliff in 2024. He posted career lows with a .220 batting average and .674 OPS and managed 19 homers and 56 RBI despite playing in 145 games. He also posted a career-high 50.7 percent ground ball rate.

After making $25M in 2024, the 35-year-old Springer will remain the Blue Jays' highest-paid player (assuming they don't extend Vladimir Guerrero Jr.) over the next two seasons, earning $24.16M each year until the Blue Jays can shed his contract after 2026.

And Berríos? After his disastrous 2022 campaign, the 30-year-old right-hander has done exactly what the Blue Jays wanted him to do. He has a 3.63 ERA over the last two seasons and has eaten through 382 innings. He was a rock-solid presence and kept the rotation afloat this season while other veterans Kevin Gausman and Chris Bassitt fought inconsistency.

How Stavenhagen missed Springer's contract but included Berríos when compiling this list is a mystery that will likely never be solved.