Career Stats
Regular Season
| Year | G | GS | W | L | SV | IP | H | ER | K | BB | ERA | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 18 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 71.0 | 52 | 26 | 72 | 30 | 3.30 | 1.15 |
| 2004 | 18 | 18 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 95.2 | 93 | 60 | 82 | 42 | 5.64 | 1.41 |
| Career | 36 | 27 | 15 | 7 | 0 | 166.2 | 145 | 86 | 154 | 72 | 4.64 | 1.30 |
Career-best seasons highlighted in gold. Stats via Retrosheet.
Postseason
| Year | G | GS | W | L | SV | IP | H | ER | K | BB | ERA | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 8 | -- | 0 | 2 | 0 | 11.0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 5.73 | -- |
| Career | 8 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 11.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Jose Contreras was a pitcher who played for the New York Yankees from 2003 to 2004. Career stats: 15-7 record, 4.64 ERA, 154 strikeouts.
Jose Contreras was the Cuban right-hander whose defection and $32 million signing in December 2002 kicked off the Yankees-Red Sox "Evil Empire" era before he ever threw a pitch in pinstripes. He spent parts of two seasons in the Bronx (2003-2004), scuffled more than anyone expected given the price tag, and got traded to the Chicago White Sox in July 2004 -- where he became a legitimate ace and won a World Series ring the Yankees never got to see up close.
Path to the Bronx
Before any of that, Contreras was already one of the best pitchers on the planet -- just not in a league anyone in the Bronx could watch. He spent seven seasons as a workhorse in Cuba's National Series, the island's top domestic league, going 117-50 with a 2.82 ERA. He backed that up on the international stage too, picking up a gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, a silver at the 2000 Sydney Games, and gold with Cuba's national team at the 1999 Pan American Games. Cuba named him its Male Athlete of the Year three times. (A 117-50 domestic record will do that, even without a single major-league inning on his resume.) That's not a prospect. That's a legend on an island where nobody outside it was allowed to see him pitch.
He defected in October 2002 during the Americas Series in Saltillo, Mexico, and crossed into the United States near Tijuana. What happened next is a story the site already tells in full: a bidding war with the Red Sox that came down to both front offices sitting in the same city in Nicaragua, a Yankees contract that beat Boston to the punch, and a furious quote from Red Sox president Larry Lucchino that gave the whole rivalry a new nickname. Read the full "Evil Empire" story here -- the short version is that Contreras signed for four years and $32 million on December 26, 2002, and the Yankees had themselves a villain origin story before spring training even started.
Yankees Career
The results didn't match the hype, at least not consistently. Contreras opened 2003 in the bullpen, got hit around early (an ugly stretch that led to a minor-league option -- go figure things out in the minors, said the $32 million signing bonus), missed roughly two months with a shoulder strain, and came back to finish 7-2 with a 3.30 ERA. As a starter specifically, he was excellent -- 6-1 with a 2.34 ERA. The talent was obviously real. The consistency wasn't there yet.
| Yankees Record | 15-7 |
| ERA | 4.64 |
| Games | 36 |
| Innings Pitched | 166.2 |
| Strikeouts | 154 |
| WHIP | 1.30 |
| 2003 Record | 7-2, 3.30 ERA |
| 2003 as a Starter | 6-1, 2.34 ERA |
| 2004 with Yankees | 8-5, 5.64 ERA (18 starts) |
2004 was worse. The Yankees handed him a full-time rotation spot, and he answered with a 5.64 ERA over 18 starts, including a stretch back in the minors trying to sort himself out. By the trade deadline, the front office had seen enough.
October 2003 didn't go much better. Working strictly out of the bullpen in the playoffs, Contreras made eight appearances and finished 0-2 with a 5.73 ERA. Game 6 of the ALCS was the low point -- with the Yankees one win from clinching the pennant, Boston tagged him for three runs in the seventh inning and went on to win 9-6, forcing a Game 7 that Aaron Boone settled with a walk-off homer. In World Series Game 5, he relieved David Wells, who left after just one inning with back spasms, and allowed four runs over three innings in a loss that put the Yankees on the brink. (Boone bailed out that Game 6 meltdown three days later. The World Series against Florida wasn't so forgiving.)
Jose Contreras has a great deal of talent and a ceiling, and you see it and you get excited.
That was the whole two-year story in one sentence from the guy who signed the check. Contreras himself put it more bluntly after struggling to adjust to relief work early in 2003: "All my career, I was a starter. When I went to the bullpen to relieve, I thought it would be easy, but it wasn't." The talent was never the question. The fit was.
The Trade
On July 31, 2004, with the Yankees fighting Boston for the division and running low on patience, they sent Contreras to the White Sox for Esteban Loaiza -- reportedly finalizing the deal just a minute before the trade deadline, with cash considerations attached. It's remembered as one of the more lopsided trades in recent Yankees history (the kind fans still bring up unprompted). Loaiza went 1-2 with an 8.50 ERA in 10 games (6 starts) for New York the rest of that year and was gone within months. Contreras, freed from Yankee Stadium expectations, turned into exactly the pitcher Cuba had already told everyone he was.
Defects From Cuba
Contreras leaves the Cuban national team during the Americas Series in Saltillo, Mexico, and crosses into the United States, setting off a bidding war between the Yankees and Red Sox.
Signs With the Yankees
New York beats Boston to a four-year, $32 million contract, prompting Larry Lucchino's "evil empire" remark and a new era of the rivalry.
Rocky Rookie Year
Contreras bounces between the bullpen and the rotation, loses two months to a shoulder strain, and finishes 7-2 with a 3.30 ERA before an 0-2, 5.73 ERA October out of the bullpen.
Traded to the White Sox
The Yankees deal Contreras to Chicago for Esteban Loaiza just ahead of the trade deadline, ending his Bronx tenure at 15-7 with a 4.64 ERA.
Best Year of His Career
Contreras goes 15-7 with a 3.61 ERA for the White Sox, throws a complete game in the ALCS to clinch the pennant, and starts Game 1 of a World Series sweep over Houston.
Life After the Bronx
Chicago is where it clicked. Contreras went 15-7 with a 3.61 ERA in 2005, going 11-2 over the second half of the season, then threw a complete game in the ALCS to help send the White Sox to their first World Series since 1959. He started Game 1 against Houston, struck out ten, and watched Chicago sweep its way to a championship the franchise hadn't won since 1917. He kept rolling into 2006, opening the year 9-0 and running a 17-game regular-season winning streak that's still a White Sox franchise record -- it finally ended in July 2006 with a loss to, of all teams, the Yankees.
He pitched into his early 40s after that, moving through Colorado and Philadelphia before brief, unremarkable stops with Pittsburgh and Boston's farm system closed out his career in 2013. Across his five MLB stops, he finished 78-67 for his career. None of those other four teams got the version of Contreras the Yankees paid for in 2002. The White Sox did, and it's not particularly close.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Jose Contreras?
Jose Contreras was a Cuban right-handed pitcher who defected from Cuba's national team in October 2002 and signed with the Yankees that December for four years and $32 million, beating out the Red Sox in a bidding war that produced the "Evil Empire" nickname. He pitched for the Yankees from 2003-2004 before being traded to the Chicago White Sox, where he won a World Series in 2005.
What was Jose Contreras's record with the Yankees?
Contreras went 15-7 with a 4.64 ERA in 36 games (including 18 starts in 2004) across the 2003 and 2004 seasons. He was better in 2003 (7-2, 3.30 ERA, 6-1 as a starter) than in 2004, when he posted a 5.64 ERA over 18 starts before being traded.
Why did the Yankees trade Jose Contreras?
The Yankees traded Contreras to the Chicago White Sox on July 31, 2004, for pitcher Esteban Loaiza, reportedly finalizing the deal just before the trade deadline. Contreras had struggled with consistency in a full-time rotation role, posting a 5.64 ERA in 18 starts that season.
Did Jose Contreras win a World Series?
Yes, but not with the Yankees. Contreras won the 2005 World Series with the Chicago White Sox, starting Game 1 of the sweep over Houston and throwing a pennant-clinching complete game in that year's ALCS. It was the White Sox's first title since 1917.
What did Jose Contreras do before defecting from Cuba?
Contreras spent seven seasons as one of Cuba's top pitchers, going 117-50 with a 2.82 ERA for the national team. He won a gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, a silver medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and gold at the 1999 Pan American Games, and was named Cuba's Male Athlete of the Year three times.