10 Worst MLB Contracts For the 2023 Season

1. Stephen Strasburg, Washington Nationals

Like Rendon, Strasburg hit free agency after the Nationals won the World Series in 2019. The Nats handed him an identical, seven-year, $245 million deal in December that year. He's made eight starts in the three seasons that have followed. Strasburg suffered a nerve issue in his hand in 2020, shoulder inflammation in 2021, then surgery to fix thoracic outlet syndrome later in the year, and only pitched 4.1 inning in 2022 before he hit the IL due to a nerve issue. And he's still not healthy heading into 2023.

Strasburg has already made $105 million over the first three years of the deal, and is owed a further $140 million over the next four. About $80 million of that will be deferred to 2027 through 2029, but it still counts against the team's luxury tax bill. The three-time All-Star may have deserved a contract from the Nationals after that championship, but given his lengthy injury history before that contract, it was a huge gamble. And the Nationals lost that bet.