Brendan Kuty | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

By Brendan Kuty | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

With the Yankees and general manager Brian Cashman in full MLB hot stove swing, we take a look at the team's worst deals of all-time, from Roger Clemens to Jacoby Ellsbury and Kei Igawa.

Don't Edit

12. Jose Contreras

Year: 2002

Contract: 4 years, $32 million

Stats with the Yankees: 15-7, 4.64 ERA, 27 starts, 36 games, 166 2/3 IP

Don't Edit

Why it was horrible: Contreras simply wasn't what the Yankees thought he was, struggling big-time to control his walks. Didn't help that spent two months on the DL in his first season in pinstripes. When the Yankees finally traded him to the White Sox, they got back Esteban Loaiza, who was terrible, too, going 1-2 with a 8.50 ERA in 10 games.

Don't Edit

11. Roger Clemens

Year: 2007

Contract: 1 year, $18.7 million

Stats with the Yankees: 2007: 6-6, 4.18 ERA, 17 starts, 18 games, 99 IP

Don't Edit

Why it was terrible: Clemens made about $1 million a start in 2007. No Yankees fan who's old enough to remember can forget when Clemens showed up in owner George Steinbrenner's private box at Yankee Stadium in May of that year. But he was pretty bad, particularly for the money. He wouldn't play in the majors again after that.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

10. Steve Karsay

Year: 2001

Contract: 4 years, $22 million

Stats with the Yankees: 6-4, 3.39 ERA, 91 games, 101 IP, 12 saves

Don't Edit

Why it was horrible: Karsay was just what the Yankees wanted in his first year, putting up a 3.26 ERA with 12 saves in 78 games. But he was hurt for all of 2003 and pitched just seven games in 2004 and six in 2005. He retired with Oakland in 2006.

Don't Edit

9. Kenny Rogers

Year: 1996

Contract: 4 years, $20 million

Stats with the Yankees: 18-15, 5.11 ERA, 52 starts, 61 games, 324 IP

Don't Edit

Why it was horrible: Rogers was bad on the field and off it for the Yankees, who gave him his rich payday following a strong 1995 with the Rangers (17-7, 3.38 ERA, 31 starts). Rogers wasn't well liked in the clubhouse or by manager Joe Torres and the Yankees jettisoned him to the A's with cash before the 1998 season. Rogers was bad in 1996 (4.68 ERA) and somehow even worse in 1997 (5.65 ERA).

Don't Edit

Trump honors Babe Ruth

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

8. A.J. Burnett

Year: 2008

Contract: 5 years, $82.5 million

Stats with the Yankees: 34-35, 4.79 ERA, 98 starts, 99 games, 584 IP

Don't Edit

Why it was horrible: So, sure, Burnett came up huge in the 2009 World Series, giving up just a run in seven innings in Game 2 as the Yankees went on to beat the Phillies. That's about where the good stuff ends for Burnett. His 2010 season (10-15, 5.26 ERA, 33 starts) is considered one of the worst in franchise history from a starting pitcher. So much money. So little value.

Don't Edit

7. Alex Rodriguez

Year: 2007

Contract: 10 years, $275 million

Stats with the Yankees: From 2008-20016: .269 BA, 178 HR, 583 RBI, 880 G, 3,216 AB

Don't Edit

Why it was horrible: Forget that the Yankees cut Rodriguez at the end of 2016, with $21 million left to pay him in 2017. Forget that he missed all of 2014 thanks to a full-season suspension due to performance-enhancing drug violations. Forget that he was exposed for using PEDs for the first time in 2009. Forget that age and injuries made for terrible outputs in 2001, 2012, 2013 and 2016. Forget that he was a constant distraction. He did, after all, help the Yankees win a World Series in 2009.

Don't Edit

Boone: Stanton will take big step in 2019

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

6. Pedro Feliciano

Year: 2011

Contract: 2 years, $8 million

Stats with the Yankees: None

Don't Edit

Why it was horrible: Eight million dollars for ... nothing! The Yankees signed Feliciano and he never pitched a single inning for them, needing a pair of shoulder surgeries. Nowadays, it's probably the Yankees — and most teams — would shy from such a commitment for a guy who led the league in appearances for three straight seasons. He pitched in 92 games in 2010 with the Mets before falling apart in the Bronx.

Don't Edit

5. Kevin Youkilis

Year: 2013

Contract: 1 year, $12 million

Stats with the Yankees: .219 BA, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 28 G, 105 AB

Don't Edit

Why it was horrible: Bad enough for Yankees fans that Cashman gave that money to a guy so ingrained in the championship Red Sox teams for all those years, someone who feuded with Joba Chamberlain. What's worse was that back strains and eventually surgery on a herniated disk held Youkilis to just 28 games, contributing to what was in general a lost season for the Yankees.

Don't Edit

Keuchel would shave beard for Yankees

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

4. Hideki Irabu

Year: 1997

Contract: 4 years, 12.8 million, plus the $3 million the Yankees sent to the Padres to acquire him

Stats with the Yankees: 29-20, 4.80 ERA, 64 starts, 74 games, 395 2/3 IP

Don't Edit

Why it was horrible: Irabu was billed as the next Yankees' ace. He ended up getting called something pretty nasty by George Steinbrenner after he didn't hustle during a play in spring training and because of his weight. He was even the butt of a joke in the last episode of the "Seinfeld." Irabu wasn't long for New York, getting traded to the Expos after the 1999 season.

Don't Edit

3. Carl Pavano

Year: 2004

Contract: 4 years, $39.95 million

Stats with the Yankees: 9-8, 5.00 ERA, 25 starts, 145 2/3 innings

Don't Edit

Why it was horrible: Pavano earned the nickname "American Idle" for the many, many days he spent on the disabled list with the Yankees. It all started his first season, when hurt his right shoulder. In 2006, he started the season on the disabled list with — no joke — a bruised buttocks. And when the team tried to take him off the DL, he told them that day he'd been involved in a car accident that had broken two his his ribs more than a week prior. Yankees players, notably Mike Mussina, had a problem with his work ethic, and manager Joe Torre even admitted Pavano would have to do a lot to change the negative perception he'd earned in the clubhouse. It never went away. In total, he pitched less than a full season during four years with the Yankees.

Don't Edit

MLB free agent tracker

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

2. Jacoby Ellsbury

Year: 2013

Contract: 7 years, $153 million

Stats with Yankees: .264 BA, 39 HR, 198 RBI, 520 G, 1,934 AB, .716 OPS

Don't Edit

Why it was horrible: The Yankees handed a 30-year-old who whose value was in his legs a 10-figure deal that blew away anything anyone else was offering. They hoped he would be worth the money early in the deal, even if the last couple years proved sunken cost. Nope. Ellsbury was somewhere around average or less than that at the plate for three seasons before experiencing what seem and missing all of 2018 with what seemed a never-ending list of injuries. Now, it would shock nobody if the Yankees flat cut Ellsbury in 2019, even with $47 million still owed to him through 2021.

Don't Edit

1. Kei Igawa

Year: 2006

Contract: 5 years, $20 million plus a $26-million posting fee

Stats with Yankees: 2-4, 6.66 ERA, 13 starts, 16 games, 71 2/3 innings

Don't Edit

Why it was horrible: Igawa pitched in two miserable seasons in the majors. He spent two more years at Triple-A and most of his final season at Double-A. Twice, general manager Brian Cashman tried to sell Igawa back to a Japanese team, but Igawa refused to go. And it all happened as a knee jerk to the Red Sox outbidding the Yankees for Daisuke Matsuzaka, which didn't exactly work out for Boston, either.

Don't Edit

Eovaldi's price tag shoots up

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Brendan Kuty may be reached at bkuty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.