Listing the 25 most overpaid MLB players in 2023, from future Hall of Famers to surprise names
By Bill Felber
2. Miguel Cabrera, DH, Detroit Tigers
Mike Illitch loved Miguel Cabrera. In 2016, a short time before he died, Illitch gave the 2012 Triple Crown winner one of the sweetest deals in captivity: eight years and $248 million. That for a player already in his mid 30s and trending toward full-time DH appearances.
Cabrera’s WAR basically evaporated after 2016, topping out at 0.2 in 2018. He’s 40 this year and swings like a fellow his age. That means a .249 average and .651 OPS, about 70 points below the league average.
His WAR is negative for the third successive season, at -0.3. His salary, however, remains a robust $32 million for the final two months of that legacy contract.
Looking beyond sentimentality, the brutal fact is that measured by WAR Cabrera has been the sixth least productive DH in baseball this season, and that despite matching Giancarlo Stanton as the best paid. Given the average $9.621 million salary and 0.652 productivity of a DH, Cabrera’s -0.3 score works out to a value of -$4 million and change. That means he’s being overpaid by an imposing $36.096 million.