It’s good to be David Price and Jason Heyward.
During the 2015-2016 MLB offseason, the lefty ace and defensive whiz raked in contracts worth slightly more than $400 million combined.
The big question moving forward is just how well those megadeals will work out for their new employers, the Boston Red Sox (Price) and Chicago Cubs (Heyward).
In the process of ranking the 15 largest contracts (in terms of overall value) from worst to best, we considered two key factors.
The first factor was how well the specific move addressed both the short- and long-term needs of the given team. The second factor was how the individual contract compared to deals for similar players. Did Club X wildly overpay for a headliner, or does the price tag match up with other spending around the league?
Starting at No. 15—the worst deal of all—let’s count down to No. 1—the best deal of the offseason. As it turns out, the same club bookends these rankings.