Vernon Wells signed a seven year $126 million dollar deal in December 2006 coming off a season where he posted an OPS of .899. The move was questionable at the time and it’s looking worse every day. This contract is arguably the worst in all of baseball. If I were the GM of a baseball team I would avoid him at all cost.

First off his contract is too long. His contract runs through the 2014 season where he will be making $21 million dollars at the age of 36. If he is this bad at the age of 31 I don’t want to think about how bad he will be in 2014. Some of his peripherals are not appealing either. One statistic that jumps out to me is his decline in ISO, which is slugging percentage minus batting average. It was at .140 last year, while the league average was .155. His low walk rate worries me, which explains his low on base percentage over the years. The decline in his line-drive percentage is a cause for concern as well. It was a lowly 14.8% last year.

As if his lack of offensive production was not bad enough, his decline in defense is just as bad if not worse.  In 2006 he won the Gold Glove, where had had a UZR rating of 7.5 runs above average.  In 2009 his UZR rating negative 18.2 runs below average. His range has been on the decline since his gold glove season back in 2006. As he gets older it’s hard to imagine his range improving. When you combine his poor offense and defense you get a player that had a WAR (Wins Above Replacement) of -.1. Even if his bat does come around his defense kills any value he may have with the bat. The scary thing is that his contract is heavily back loaded. He is not worth the money he is making now and I can’t imagine him living up to his contract when it jumps up to $12.5 million in 2010, $23 million in 2011, and $21 million through the years 2012-2014.

Being a Cubs fan I know a thing or two about bad contracts. Alfonso Soriano’s contract is bad, but when healthy he does not cost his team games like Wells does. Vernon Wells is the only player in baseball that I would not trade Alfonso Soriano for and that should tell you something.