Each Major League Baseball offseason, teams get linked to certain free agents who just don’t make sense for their specific needs. Given the large sums of money these free agents demand, general managers have to be 100 percent certain about a player’s value before signing him.
Among the list of more than 100 free agents, there are plenty of names various GMs would be wise to avoid. For example, Jeff Samardzija, with his high fly-ball numbers from last year, may not be a good fit for the New York Yankees and their small ballpark.
Throughout the years there have been some historically bad free-agent signings, such as Josh Hamilton by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim or Jason Bay by the New York Mets. For this list, we’ll look at players who have been mentioned as a possible target of a team and discuss the cons of the potential signing.
Whether that player is too costly or just doesn’t fit in with a team’s depth chart, there are plenty of reasons why a free agent should not be pursued. We will go division by division to analyze each team’s needs, starting with the American League West.