Cardinals: Re-ranking the worst contracts in the NL Central

Paul DeJong #11 of the St. Louis Cardinals on deck (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Paul DeJong #11 of the St. Louis Cardinals on deck (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /
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Chicago Cubs Yan Gomes
Yan Gomes #7 of the Chicago Cubs in action against the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /

9. Yan Gomes

In the offseason, the Cubs signed catcher Yan Gomes to a 2 year, $13 million contract to be the backup to Willson Contreras. With Contreras potentially leaving Chicago in the offseason, Gomes could very well be the Opening Day catcher for the Cubs in 2023.

Catchers are hard to come by, and offensive numbers are not everything, but paying $6.5 million per year this season and next to a 35-year old backstop who is slashing .219/.247/.355 and only appeared in 68 games thus far seems like a major overpay.

Gomes has been a valuable catcher throughout his career, posting a .711 OPS for his career and has consistently put up good defensive bWAR numbers. If the catcher rarely plays though, or when he does, he is can’t hit, then it is hard to justify paying him so much.

The catcher could provide leadership behind the plate next season as Chicago continues to promote prospects and could even be trade bait later on if he turns it around, but for now, this was bad value for Chicago.