15 worst Los Angeles Dodgers free agent signings in franchise history

8. Don Stanhouse: Five Years, $2.1 Million, 1979

Remember those early free agent deals that scared the Dodgers off from the process altogether? If they could do it again, they probably wouldn't have hitched their wagon to aging Orioles relieverDon Stanhouse for the back end of his successful career.

There are ways to take advantage of the free agency cycle. That's not how it's done. But hey, during the '70s, people didn't know any better.

When the Dodgers signed Stanhouse, he was a 28-year-old All-Star reliever for the AL Champion O's, coming off a 2.85 ERA season in 72.2 innings (tellingly not missing any bats, though, en route to whiffing just 34).

When they actually got Stanhouse, he was a 5.04 ERA guy who pitched just 25.0 innings in LA before he was released early on during the 1981 season. Back then, when it went, it went swiftly for pitchers. Surgeries were rudimentary. Sometimes, 29-year-olds just ended up with chewed gum and tape in their AC joints, and that was the way it was.

Needless to say, Stanhouse pitched more like an outhouse.