Brian Roberts was a good second baseman for the Baltimore Orioles for 13 seasons. He was a good fielder, batted from .270 to .314 consistently and once stole 50 bases in a season. He had 4 seasons in a row where he stole 30 bases or more.
As a mainstay for the team the Orioles gave him a 4 year $40 million contract starting in 2010. However, as often happens in sports, Roberts’ best season were behind him.
Due to injuries he played only 59 games in the first year, 39 games in 2nd, and 17 games in the 3rd. He did manage to play in 77 games in the final year of his contract. In four seasons he actually played in about one season worth of games. Although he batted .278 in his shortened first season, he never hit over .250 again. In those four seasons he stole a total of 22 bases.
You can never fault a player if he is injured. However, as a business investment, the Orioles ended up paying Roberts for past performance and never got a return on their $40 million contract. We call this a classic Swing Badder contract.
