There's an long-standing theory in sports—baseball included—that bad contracts are immovable objects, destined to bury the team holding them until they finally run their course.
Yet year after year, we see holes blown in that argument.
Whether it's a player's history of success, a shortage of available options at a particular position or a combination of both, players with bad contracts are not always assets without value.
Not all bad contracts are created equal, of course. Philadelphia will still likely have to pay a team to take Ryan Howard off its hands, for example, and there isn't a team crazy enough to consider trading for, say, Alex Rodriguez, something the New York Yankees would unquestionably welcome.
But there are plenty of contracts that have gone sour—both on paper and in the court of public opinion—that can still command a significant return for the team on whose payroll it currently resides.
Let's take a look at five players who have those kinds of contracts and—while their current teams may need to pick up some of the cash remaining on their deals—are actually valuable trade chips that could be played this winter.
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