Kansas City Royals: Ten Worst Contracts in Team History

Eighth Worst Contract Ever – Yuniesky Betancourt (Royals shortstop in 2009, 2010, and 2012)

Here’s a name that most Kansas City Royals fans will associate with “failure” and it’s Yuniesky Betancourt. Betancourt joined the Royals in 2009 and went on to become anything but a great MLB player.

After two seasons in Kansas City, Betancourt was sent to Milwaukee in the “Trade Heard Round the World” (also known as the Zack Greinke trade) and the Royals ended up with a package of prospects, most notably two guys named Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar. Good trade!

Before the 2012 season began, however, after trying incredibly hard to find ANYONE who would take Betancourt, the Royals re-signed him! Not only that, but they gave him two million dollars on a one-year deal, knowing he couldn’t field and he couldn’t hit.

Betancourt took the two million dollars to appear in 57 games, slashing .228/.256/.400 and continuing to have fans question what the hell this team was doing in free agency.

Although the amount of money and the contract itself wasn’t crazy, giving a known offensive and defensive failure that type of contract made no sense to anyone. That’s why Yuniesky Betancourt was given the eighth worst contract in team history.