More disastrous MLB contracts

The baseball world has seen bad contract after bad contract sign over there years. Whether it be Arod, Mike Hampton, or Alfonso Soriano, the huge money and long contracts being shelled out by General Managers to acquire star power has continued to plague franchises and handcuff their spending capabilities for years. Take the Cubs for example. Soriano signed and the Cubs have not been able to put much around him as Theo Epstein is now dwindling down payroll as he prepares a complete rebuild.

Albert Pujols

Today's stars are being grown in the minor leagues, and the teams that are finding success are those who are growing their own players. Look at the Yankees of the past when they were dominant- it was because they brought up their own guys such as Jeter, Posada and Rivera. More recently it is Cano. Even their big free agent spending can be overshadowed by the players they grew on their own.

The Angels seemed to do this for quite some time, but as of late, they have acquired massive contract after massive contract and it is simply not working for them. Last year Albert Pujols struggled mightily. This year he still isn't the machine that we had come to expect. In addition, Josh Hamilton was signed this past offseason and is having a miserable year at the plate. I am not suggesting every team is going to have a Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg combination to bring up, and the Angels brought up their own budding star in Trout, but how have these hundreds of millions of dollars handcuffed the Angels as we move forward? What if they can't pay Trout what he is going to want? I'm sure they can, but how do they keep him happy with the best possible players, when the team is so invested in two aging stars who appear to have left their prime?

Go ahead, tell me it is only May and that I need to lay off the Angels. You may be right. But with no salary cap and this continuing trend of mega contracts, teams are going to continue to bury themselves into contract hell.