Bobby Bonilla Day: Former Mets star reaches milestone in deferred $1.1 million payments
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In the sports world, July 1 is a holiday for those who celebrate deferred contracts and love baseball.
Happy Bobby Bonilla Day!
What we know:
The 62-year-old Bobby Bonilla received a check for $1,193,248.20 from the Mets on Tuesday. This has been the case every July 1 starting in 2011.
After the 1999 season, the Mets and Bonilla agreed to a contract buyout. The Mets were on the hook for the remaining $5.9 million on Bonilla's contract, but deferred the payouts until July 1, 2011. That came with an interest rate of eight percent. All this came to fruition because the Mets, under previous ownership, were involved in an investment in Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, which resulted in then-owner Fred Wilpon getting scammed by Madoff.
He was bought out after the 1999 season ended, which included an incident where Bonilla played cards with teammate Rickey Henderson during Game 6 of the NLCS. The Mets were eliminated in 11 innings.
Wildly enough, this isn't the only deferred payment Bonilla has agreed to. Bonilla has a second deferred-contract plan with the Orioles, too. That deferment pays him $500,000 a year for 25 years, and those payments began in 2004.
In 2025, we've reached a milestone with the Mets' deferment: Bonilla has 10 more years to collect on his deal, as the deferment runs through 2035.
By the time the deal ends, Bonilla will be 72.
Big picture view:
Recently, deferred contracts have come to light as a trend across multiple sports leagues.
In Major League Baseball, this has been a trend.
Last offseason, the Los Angeles Dodgers gave baseball megastar Shohei Othani a $700 million megadeal. As part of that contract, the Dodgers will delay $680 million of payments for the $700 million deal until the next decade. Othani will start receiving $68 million per year in 2034.
It's not that uncommon, either. The Boston Red Sox will send Manny Ramirez $2 million as part of a 16-year, $32 million deferral deal. That agreement runs through 2026. Max Scherzer has a deferment arrangement that pays him $105 million and ends in 2028. Bret Saberhagen has such a deal with the Mets; the Orioles and Chris Davis have an agreement like that too. As of 2023, there were 12 active deferred-payment agreements across the MLB, according to Spotrac.
It remains to be seen how the Dodgers navigate owing Ohtani his $680 million next decade.
But, that might be a problem for the 2034 Los Angeles Dodgers. The 2025 Dodgers are reigning World Series Champions, and are contending for a consecutive World Series title.