ESPNBoston’s Gordon Edes has reported that the Boston Red Sox and free agent outfielder Shane Victorino have agreed to a three-year, $39 million contract, pending a physical.
The deal is already being widely lampooned, with ESPN.com’s Keith Law saying the deal “vaults to the top of the rankings of the worst contracts signed so far this offseason,” in his insider column.
As of right now, Victorino is slated to be Boston’s starting right fielder, while providing backup depth in center field. However, the Boston outfield could continue to change as additional signings or trades are pondered.
ESPN’s Buster Olney tweeted that entering the offseason, it was estimated by at least one front-office man that Victorino would be lucky to get a one-year contract for modest money.
One team guesstimated early in offseason that Victorino could be a good value buy at about $6-7 million on a one-year deal #explodingprices
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) December 4, 2012
The proof will be what is produced on the field, but right now there aren’t a lot of positive feelings about the Red Sox signing Victorino.
Click through to see three quick reasons why signing Victorino to such a large contract was a bad idea.