A big difference between Zito's 126M and Pavano's 40M contract. Also, Kevin Brown had some productive years with the Dodgers during the length of his contract while Zito is looking right now to be unproductive in the first two years of his deal, but there is a small chance about the remaining five years.
No doubt you were thinking of their connection to the Yankees except the Yankees saved money trading for Brown by unloading Weaver to the Dodgers in return due to Weaver having a longer contractural obligation and the Dodgers paying some of Brown's contract.
Yet, no matter what you say...for me, Carl Pavano and Kevin Brown still come to mind when I think of bad contracts for teams...
Probably because the Yanks still made out horribly on the Brown experience (no matter what they might have "saved" on the transaction). They ate a lot of dirt with him.
Kei Igawa comes to mind too. But he's still got a lot of pitches to throw under his contract. He may still turn out to be better than currently considered.
Apparently, Pavano & Brown came to Heyman's mind, too.
And, Julio Lugo! The Sox sure have had a tough time getting a good shortstop the last several years. Well, actually, they've had some good ones--just not any who could be good while they were in Boston!
If Zito doesn't turn it around, his deal along with Hampton will be the two worst deals because of the amount of money and lack of production from the both of them.