The MLB deals returning the least per dollar — high salaries carrying a weak Contract Value Index grade.
Baseball’s long, guaranteed contracts make the misses expensive and hard to escape. The deals on this page are the ones our grading flags hardest: above-market salaries carrying a weak Contract Value Index (CVI) grade.
It is a value read, not a talent take. A former All-Star deep into a nine-figure deal can land here when the production no longer matches the dollars — and with no cap to soften it, that gap sits on the books year after year.
Think of it as a payroll-risk watchlist: the contracts most likely to become a sunk cost a front office has to win around rather than with.
Across the 8 most overpaid MLB contracts on the board, teams have committed about $86.5M per year for the weakest returns our grading sees, with RHP the position most often flagged.
Salary figures are average annual value. Cuts and releases are excluded — the Contract Value Index is not a valid signal on a non-contract move. Grades reflect value to the team, not raw talent.
Above-median MLB salaries paired with the weakest Contract Value Index (CVI) grades. Ranked by how far the grade falls, then by the size of the commitment.
| # | Player | Avg / Yr | CVI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tomoyuki SuganoRHP · Rockies | $5.1M | D D |
| 2 | Tatsuya ImaiRHP · Astros | $18.0M | D+ D+ |
| 3 | Kazuma OkamotoINF · Blue Jays | $15.0M | C- C- |
| 4 | Ryan O'HearnUTL · Pirates | $14.5M | C- C- |
| 5 | Nick MartinezRHP · Rays | $13.0M | C- C- |
| 6 | Harrison BaderOF · Giants | $10.3M | C- C- |
| 7 | Isiah Kiner-FalefaINF · Red Sox | $6.0M | C- C- |
| 8 | Ernie ClementINF · Blue Jays | $4.6M | C- C- |
A contract lands here when a team is paying above-median money for one of the weakest Contract Value Index (CVI) grades on the board — a lot spent for light return. It is not a verdict on the player’s talent; a great player on a market-resetting deal can still grade as overpaid if the dollars outrun the value. Read the full methodology.