The Mets beat out big spenders like the New York Yankees , Los Angeles Dodgers , and Boston Red Sox to sign the top free agent on the market, and given Soto's age and track record, it's not hard to see why Steve Cohen and David Stearns were willing to mortgage the next decade and a half on the year-old outfielder.
But while Mets fans have World Series dreams dancing through their heads, and Soto seems destined to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer someday, it's worth noting that not every big contract works out the way the team and player had hoped. Whether it's a big-money team trying to get the top player on the market or a small-market team going above and beyond to convince a star to play for them, every team in the league has found itself on the wrong side of a free-agent deal.
But which one is the very worst in the history of each franchise? Some might really surprise you, while others are still on the team today. After a great season, Montgomery waited until the end of March to sign a deal with the D-Backs.
Yes, this is an incredibly short deal to be on this list, but it's hard to get worse than Montgomery was in His ERA is over 6. Some older fans will mention the Matt Williams deal, while the Madison Bumgarner contract quickly blew up in the team's face.
Both contracts were awful, but the Montgomery deal is literally unconscionable. A former top prospect and No. He was coming off a season where he was stealing fewer bases, but he had a career high 28 home runs. He was still just 27 years old, so this contract should've taken him through his prime. Unfortunately, Upton was so bad in his first season in Atlanta that it became a running joke. He finished the season hitting.
