Washington
Patrick Corbin Among Washington Nationals’ Four Worst Contracts Ever
While this was originally intended to be an article covering the four worst contracts the Washington Nationals will have on their payroll for 2025 to coincide with Tuesday’s about their four best, the club does not have any contracts for active players in 2025 that can be considered bad, as the majority are on league minimum deals.
Instead, we will take a look at the four worst contracts in the history of the franchise, only covering their time as the Nationals, not while they were the Montreal Expos.
It is a very pitching-heavy list, but at one time or another, each of these players was fan favorites, so get your torches and pitchforks ready.
Washington signed Gio Gonzalez to a five-year, $42 million deal ahead of the 2012 campaign after the lefty spent the first four years of his career with the Oakland Athletics.
With the Nationals, Gonzalez pitched to a 3.62 ERA across 1,253 1/3 innings in 213 starts with 1,215 strikeouts and a 112 ERA+.
While those numbers are certainly serviceable, they are boosted by spectacular bookending full seasons to his tenure.
In the time between his first and last full campaigns with the team, Gonzalez pitched to a 3.82 ERA across 707 1/3 innings in 122 starts with 694 strikeouts and a 103 ERA+.
If there is any good to come from Gonzalez’s tenure in Washington, he posted every fifth day, making 31 or more starts in five of his six full seasons with the club.
Gonzalez was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers in 2018 as part of a waiver trade after posting a 4.57 ERA across 145 2/3 innings in 27 starts with the Nationals with 126 strikeouts and a 93 ERA+.
The lefty would spend two more years in the Majors, 2019 with the Brewers, and 2020 with the Chicago White Sox, before retiring in 2021.
Five-Years, $42 Million
Ryan Zimmerman was a member of the 2005 Nationals team, the first year of the franchise’s history, and would spend the entirety of his 17 years in Major League Baseball with the club.
Zimmerman would quickly become a fan favorite, batting .286/.352/.477 with 179 home runs, 672 RBI, and a 120 OPS+ from 2005 through 2013, but that’s where the trouble begins.
Washington signed Zimmerman to a six-year, $100 million extension ahead of the 2014 campaign with an $18 million option for 2020.
This extension covered his age-29 through age-35 seasons (including the option), which is generally when baseball players begin to decline.
Decline he did, as over the life of the contract, the veteran batted only .263/.323/.470 with 91 home runs, 343 RBI, and a 106 OPS+ across 2,186 plate appearances in 552 games.
Injuries kept Zimmerman off the field for the majority of the contract, playing in 100 or more games only twice in that span, and missing a total of 420 games, nearly as many as he played.
It was a sad stretch in the twilight of the career of a franchise legend, though he would be a part of the 2019 team that won the World Series over the dynastic Houston Astros.
The club would decline the option for 2020 and sign the veteran to a $2 million deal, but Zimmerman opted out of playing in the COVID-shortened season and finished his career in 2021 on a $1 million deal with the Nationals.
Six-Years, $100 Million
With the picture for the article being Patrick Corbin, he was originally slated to be the final contract talked about, but he at least took the field every fifth day, no matter how bad he was when doing so.
Washington signed Corbin to a six-year, $140 million deal in the 2018-2019 offseason after the lefty spent the first seven years of his career with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
With the Diamondbacks, Corbin would pitch to a 3.91 ERA across 945 2/3 innings in 172 games (154 starts), with 897 strikeouts and a 109 ERA+.
In the first year of his deal with the Nationals, 2019, the lefty would play a pivotal role in the team making it to, and winning the World Series, pitching to a 3.25 ERA across 202 innings in 33 starts with 238 strikeouts and a 138 ERA+.
It would be all downhill from there.
In the last five years of his contract, Corbin pitched to a 5.62 ERA across 744 2/3 innings in 137 starts with 594 strikeouts and a 73 ERA+.
He was widely regarded across the League as the worst pitcher in the sport, but the team kept running him out there every fifth day, and he kept being able to be run out there.
While it was not good production, Corbin was able to eat 150 or more innings every year as the team grinded through their rebuild, and now that they are seemingly on the upswing, he is no longer on the payroll.
Six-Years, $140 Million
Stephen Strasburg’s contract ahead of the 2020 season is a cautionary tale of recency bias if there ever was one.
Washington drafted Strasburg with the number one overall pick of the 2009 MLB draft, and the highly-touted prospect made his Major League debut on June 8, 2010.
Strasburg would have a strong run through 2010, making 12 starts and pitching to a 2.91 ERA, before his season would come to an end early and the star would need Tommy John surgery.
The young flame thrower returned in September of 2011, making five starts and pitching to a 1.50 ERA in the process, and the future would return to looking bright.
From 2012 through 2019, Strasburg would have an above-average career, pitching to a 3.21 ERA in that time across 222 starts with a 128 ERA+, and while nagging injuries would keep him out of games quite frequently, he did make 30 or more starts in three seasons over that stretch, and never less than 22.
Strasburg would reach new heights in 2019, pitching to a 3.32 ERA across 209 innings in 33 starts with 251 strikeouts and a 135 ERA+ while playing a pivotal role in the Nationals’ World Series run, including being named World Series MVP.
Washington would reward the superstar with a seven-year, $245 million contract, but the following season, the bottom would fall out.
The plethora of serious injuries began, holding Strasburg to only eight starts across 2020 through 2022, with the last Major League start of his career coming on June 9, 2022.
How can you not be romantic about baseball?
The superstar would try and return in 2023, but could not, and officially retired on April 6, 2024.
While Strasburg will, and should, be remembered for helping lead this franchise to their first-ever World Series title, there is no denying the fact that the contract they gave him as a reward is the worst in franchise history.