Top 15: Biggest Thieves in Baseball - Hitters

Last Week I gave you all the pitcher edition of the Top Ten Biggest Thieves in Baseball. I actually started that post with Top 20 and realized a lot of the pitchers made a case and thus decided to separate them into a separate category. Really all pitchers making over 5 Million are thieves since they only play at best 20% of the season. I guess it's a good thing I waited until today because one member of this list, actually a Top Fiver was today moved to a new team. Find out But I figured why not let you the fan know why your ticket prices are so high, and that sometimes you don't get what you pay for (Minimum 70 Games AND 200 + ABs).

15. Geoff Jenkins - RF - Philadelphia Phillies - $5,000,000
Barely cracking the Top 15 the Phillie Right Fielder plays with a bunch of guys who are keeping the Phils atop the NL East standings. In a dog fight for the NL East, the Phils are battling and they are being led by Pat Burrell, Ryan Howard, and Chase Utley. Unfortunately for this team fighting, a good portion of their salary is locked up in their Mediocre, at best, Right Fielder.

$:Stat Ratio - $555,555/HR, $185,185/RBI, $76,923/H, $192,307/R

14. Austin Kearns - RF - Washington Nationals - $5,000,000
Another guy raking in $5,000,000 per year Kearns doesn't impress many with his power or well anything. Both the Phils and Natties have RF's making $5,000,000 and underperforming. Why then are the Phils in 1st and Natties in DFL. Probably because Jenkins isn't one of the Top 5 paid players in Philly. Kearns comes in at Number 3 for Washington. When almost a tenth of your team's salary is stuck in one player he should probably have more than 30 RBIs and 60 Hits in 74 Games.

$:Stat Ratio - $833,333/HR, $166,666/RBI, $83,333/H, $156,250/R

13. Mark Kotsay - CF - Atlanta Braves - $7,000,000
Despite the recent offensive surge of Kotsay his season numbers don't reflect those of a guy making 7 Mill or in the Top 6 in Team Salaries. Of course he is having a Hall of Fame season compared to the guy he replaced in Centerfield. Kotsay is one of those guys who is slightly above mediocre, but his $7 Mill payday seems a little high. Of course it's better than the $8,000,000 he made last year. Then again, he's been slightly overpaid for more than a few years now.

$:Stat Ratio - $1,400,000/HR, $212,121/RBI, $85,365/H, $218,750/R

12. Jay Payton - LF - Baltimore Orioles - $5,000,000
Payton made not one but two great grabs, WebGems for the O's last week, and if I felt like including outfield performance that would have moved him down to the bottom of this list, or perhaps not even on it. Unfortunately I haven't adjusted my rankings based on defensive performance hence the name being Hitters and not Position Players. His $5 Mill tag might not seem like a lot but there are plenty of other Outfielders making less and producing a lot more at the plate. All he would have to do is look over at Right Field on his own team.

$:Stat Ratio - $833,333/HR, $138,888/RBI, $86,206/H, $192,307/R

11. Ray Durham - 2B - Milwaukee Brewers - $7,500,000
A decent mid-season pick up for the Brew Crew, I'll bet Ray's pretty damn happy to be out of San Francisco. One thing remains the same for Durham though, in SF his too high contract was overshadowed by Barry Zito, in Milwaukee he gets to hide behind Eric Gagne. He will help keep Milwaukee in contention with Chicago, but for an organization throwing money around by overpaying Durham right now but unwilling to sign younger proven talents to longer, higher grossing contracts might not be a good thing this coming offseason. Ask Prince.

$:Stat Ratio - $1,875,000/HR, $227,272/RBI, $89,285/H, $153,061/R

10. Kenji Johjima - C - Seattle Mariners - $6,383,333
The Seattle Catcher is making 6.3 Million in only his 3rd year, which could very possibly be his last in the Pacific Northwest. As of a couple days ago Mr. Johjima has been sidelined for the remainder of the season to make way for a younger talent. I'm sure Kenji will see the field again, but it looks like they might have written that check a little too early. Good luck dumping his contract in the offseason.

$:Stat Ratio - $2,127,777/HR, $265,972/RBI, $104,644/H, $319,166/R

9. Gary Matthews Jr. - LF - Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim - $9,400,000
Another member of the "If Defense Counted" list Matthews, Jr. finds himself in the Top Ten. Perhaps that 2004 - ? HGH prescription mentioned in the Mitchell Report has something to do with his numbers dropping in all but one area, salary. Surprisingly, he is the only name named in the Mitchell Report to appear on this list.

$:Stat Ratio - $1,342,857/HR, $261,111/RBI, $123,684/H, $247,368/R

8. Julio Lugo - SS - Boston Red Sox - $9,250,000
Boston fans are sick of Lugo. There is a more talented prospect (Jed Lowrie) hanging out in his shadow that can actually perform at the plate, and (I know I said this wasn't about Defense but) they can't wait to have someone at Short who doesn't give up 16 (and counting) errors per season. This is a bust on every level. And it really hurts Sox Fans.

$:Stat Ratio - $9,250,000/HR, $420,454/RBI, $132,142/H, $342,592/R

7. Brandon Inge - C - Detroit Tigers - $6,200,000
I'm sure sharing time with Pudge behind the plate has affected Inge but unfortunately for Tigers fans the wrong catcher is gone from Detroit. I can see getting rid of one of them, but I think Detroit got rid of the wrong one. Pudge's power numbers might have been slumping but at least he got his bat on the ball once in awhile.

$:Stat Ratio - $688,888/HR, $193,750/RBI, $140,909/H, $229,629/R

6. Scott Rolen - 3B - Toronto Blue Jays - $11,625,000
I think it would be safe to say that the Cardinals don't really miss Scott Rolen all that much. Troy Glaus might not be a huge upgrade (until his recent outburst against the Cubs) but it's still better than Rolen and his outlandish contract. I know people in Toronto expected a lot more out of a 5 figure guy, and needed a lot more to be in contention for the division or a Wild Card spot.

$:Stat Ratio - $1,660714, $305,921/RBI, $147,151/H, $290,625/R

5. Adam Dunn - LF - Arizona Diamondbacks - $13,000,000
The Newest Diamondback, as of a few hours ago is Adam Dunn. The DBacks don't have much power in their Clubhouse so I'm sure they will welcome Dunn and his 32 HRs. Unfortunately for the DBacks they will soon learn what Cincinnati has known for awhile. The man's got 80 hits, 32 of which left the park. Of course 120 other times he has come up to the plate he's sat right back down with a nice K hanging from his neck. He's had 6 or 7 games with 3 Strike Outs and has fallen victim to Golden Sombrero already once this season.

$:Stat Ratio - $406,250/HR, $175,675/RBI, $149,425/H, $224,137/R

4. Jason Varitek - C - Boston Red Sox - $10,442,030
The Captain of the BoSox, one of everyone's favorites. So much so that he went to the All Star Game. Now I understand that there is more to being a catcher than offensive numbers, but again I'm ranking hitters and Varitek is one of the more overrated ones in the league.

$:Stat Ratio - $1,305,253/HR, $326,313/RBI, $151,333/H, $417,681/R

3. Paul Konerko - 1B - Chicago White Sox - $12,000,000
Konerko took a couple weeks off in June on the DL, but it doesn't look like it improved his game at all. The White Sox are going to need their First Baseman to start seeing the ball in order to have any kind of chance in the post-season. It's a good thing Chicago has some of their better players on the bottom end of their pay roll in order to maintain. Of course it's always interesting when some of the teams top performers (Dye, Quentin, Swisher, Danks, etc) combine to make less than Paul Konerko.

$:Stat Ratio - $1,090,909/HR, $315,789/RBI, $171,142/H, $307,692/R

2. Todd Helton - 1B - Colorado Rockies - $16,600,000
Helton might have 7 HRs but he plays at Coors so even that number seems high, well higher than it would be if he played somewhere else. He makes almost 2 Million more than the number 2 and 3 salaries on the team (Holliday and Cook) Combined. I'm sure they're looking forward to the next 75,300,000 comitted to him through 2012. Sorry Rox. It might seem like it couldn't be worse but....

$:Stat Ratio - $2,371,428/HR, $572,413/RBI, $210,126/H, $425,641/R

1. Andruw Jones - CF - Los Angeles Dodgers - $14,726,910
It's not often a team has the best and worst pick-ups in the same season. It would appear that the signing of Andruw Jones is probably the worst move in team history other than Piazza leaving. I think part of the reason they signed Manny was just so Andruw was no longer listed in the team's Top 3 Salaries so the fans might forget. Also, he's been benched.

$:Stat Ratio - $4,908,970/HR, $1,051,922/RBI, $446,270/H, $701,281/R