Atlanta Braves: 5 Worst Contracts In Recent Memory

Atlanta Braves Sign Derek Lowe

Derek Lowe was a big-name player that fans were most likely excited about. He was a two-time All-Star, had garnered a third-place finish in Cy Young votes earlier in his career, and was a World Series champion in 2004.

The Braves signed Lowe to a 4 year, $60 million contract before the 2009 season. It did not seem like a bad signing at the time. After all, he just finished a four-year stretch being 20% better than league average at preventing runs (120 ERA+).

Almost instantly, the Atlanta Braves organization started to regret this signing. Lowe gave up the second-most hits per 9 innings in his career, his highest WHIP of his career, while posting an ERA that was 12% below average (4.67).

He did have 15 wins, but this was due to circumstance more than anything else, due to starting the most games in the league, and having a solid bullpen behind him.

For the next two years, Lowe never had an ERA+ at or above the league average, and his WHIP and strikeout to walk ratio continued to be an issue.

After posting a 76 ERA+ in 2011, the Braves had enough and ended up trading him to Cleveland to help mitigate some of the payroll damage.

Lowe ended up only providing 1.8 WAR in his entire three years in Atlanta. WAR is an accumulative stat, Lowe led the league in starts two of three seasons, and was only two starts behind the leader in the other — ouch.