Remembering when forgotten Astros pitcher briefly had biggest contract in MLB history

For much of the 1990s, left-hander Mike Hampton was a staple in the Houston Astros' starting rotation. From 1994 to 1999, he racked up more than 1,000 regular season innings - and he hit his peak in his final year with the club, emerging as one of the game's premier starting pitchers.

Prior to 1999, Hampton was a run-of-the-mill, reliable arm for Houston. He averaged an ERA in the mid-3.00s, took the ball 30 or so times a year and gave his club a chance to win. Heading into his walk year, the veteran left-hander changed how the entire league viewed him with a dominating campaign that culminated in him finishing second in NL Cy Young voting to Diamondbacks flamethrower and future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson.

That year, Hampton set career-highs in almost every statistical category and led the NL with 22 wins and an .846 winning percentage. As dominant as Pedro Martinez was in Boston that year, Hampton did his best to match him on the Senior Circuit, making 24 starts and pitching 239 frames for the Astros. The two went about their business quite differently (Hampton averaged fewer than 7 K/9 that year, while Martinez eclipsed 300 punchouts, averaging more than 13 K/9) but the end results were the same: dominance.

What did that get Hampton? A one-way ticket to Queens. The Astros traded their ace left-hander to the Mets along with outfielder Derek Bell in exchange for minor leaguer Kyle Kessel, right-hander Octavio Dotel and outfielder Roger Cedeno.

He made quite the impression in that lone season in the Big Apple, leading the Mets in wins (15) and complete games (3). That October, he earned NLCS MVP honors after two dominant starts and, although New York fell short in the Fall Classic, Hampton still holds a soft spot in the hearts of Mets fans. Why? It's not just his performance that fall. It's because the team earned a compensatory draft pick when he left in free agency. Who did they select with that pick? David Wright.

Mike Hampton's record contract ushered in a new era in MLB history

But back to Hampton. On the heels of another strong campaign, he hit the open market - and found an unlikely suitor in the Colorado Rockies. Even then, Denver was known as a hitter's haven, but ownership busted open the checkbook, signing the former All-Star to the biggest contract in MLB history: an eight-year, $151 million pact.

The deal itself proved to be one of the biggest free-agent flops in MLB history. The Rockies must've missed the memo that showed Hampton had always struggled pitching at Coors Field, because the next two seasons were two of the worst in his 16-year big-league career. Colorado jumped ship on the deal then, shipping him to Atlanta in a wildly complicated three-team deal that also included the Marlins. But that's not what we're here to talk about.

Hampton's record eight-year, $151 million contract proved to be the high-water mark in MLB history for all of 48 hours. Two days later, superstar shortstop Alex Rodriguez signed an unprecedented 10-year, $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers, obliterating Hampton's mark by more than $100 million.

It's safe to say that contract aged better than Hampton's, even with Texas salary dumping its remains onto the New York Yankees ahead of the 2004 season (the story of that trade is also worth its own visit, so check it out). From 2004 to 2013, Rodriguez was worth 52.2 bWAR, had a 140 OPS+ and slashed .291/.386/.534 - and that's including a precipitous drop-off at the end of his scandal-plagued career in his mid-30s.

He also won two MVP awards, and three Silver Sluggers and was a seven-time All-Star during that span. As mind-boggling an amount of money as it was, it's not hard to say A-Rod was worth every penny. After Hampton got out of Colorado, he got his career back on track, but he never came close to replicating what he did during that 1999 season with the Astros.

In 2009, Hampton came back for a cup of coffee with Houston at age 36, but was wholly spent by that point. He wrapped up his career the following season with the Diamondbacks and rode off into the sunset with his tens of millions of dollars. But, for two short days, he was baseball's highest-paid player - and, although it didn't last, it's certainly worth remembering.