Bobby Bonilla is the finesse king, folks. This man hasn’t played baseball in over two decades at this point. Yet he is still being paid by the New York Mets.
That’s how you do it, folks. That’s why today is Bobby Bonilla day.
This is the day that everyone pauses for a second and laughs at Mets for agreeing to something this silly. The team still somehow owes Bonilla millions of dollars in deferred money more than a decade after they’d started paying him again.
If you’re confused about why this is a thing, don’t worry. We’re breaking it all down right here for you.
Here’s why we all celebrate the king of finesse, Bobby Bonilla.
But Sykes, I'm only 22 years old. Who in the world is Bobby Bonilla?
Oh, you poor baby. Don’t you worry — I’ve got you, family. Bobby Bonilla is a former MLB outfielder who was a six-time All-Star in his 16-year career. He also managed to win a World Series with the Marlins back in 1997.
All in all, he had a pretty good career. And he was an absolute beast, too.
The dude was pretty good.
Oh, so that's why Bobby Bonilla day is a thing?
Nope. How good he was actually has nothing to do with it, believe it or not. We call it Bobby Bonilla day because the New York Mets are still contractually obligated to pay him over a million dollars annually.
He made $1.19 million today, y’all. And he’s still got $13.1 million left to be paid on his contract with the Mets.
Happy Bobby Bonilla Day!
Every July 1st from 2011 to 2035, the New York Mets pay Bonilla — who retired 20 years ago — $1,193,248.20 as a part of his buyout deal.
Only 12 years and $13.1 million to go! pic.twitter.com/y5wiyXJu41
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) July 1, 2023
FINESSE. KING.
Wait, what? Excuse me?
Yep. This is a thing. The Mets bought out Bonilla’s contract in 2000. At the time, he was set to be paid $5.9 million, but the team decided to buy him out.
The two sides agreed to defer the payment and put it into an investment account run by Bernie Madoff…who turned out to be running a Ponzi scheme behind the scenes with everyone’s money. It nearly broke the Mets.
Here’s more from the New York Times:
When it came time to buy out Bobby Bonilla’s player contract, they created an annuity, invested the immediate savings into a Madoff account, and expected to make millions on the transaction for both parties.
“Put it in Bernie,” was how Saul Katz, the former president of the team, used to phrase it to colleagues in an indication of how intertwined the team’s finances were with Madoff, who it was later discovered was running the largest Ponzi scheme in history.
The 2000s were wild, y’all.
So THAT's why we laugh at the Mets today. Got it.
Yup. Exactly. That’s why we laugh at the Mets today and why we’ll be laughing at them about this until 2035. And probably after that, too. Because this is all just too ridiculous to believe.
It’s not even really that bad. Bonilla isn’t even the only player out there with deferred money on a team’s books. Nobody talks about, say, Freddie Freeman’s ridiculous deferred deal.
But everything about Bobby Bonilla’s deal is just so funny. He’s going to become the highest-paid player for the year 2000 next year when he’s paid again.
Next July 1, Bobby Bonilla will become the highest paid player for the 2000 season, surpassing Kevin Brown ($15,714,286). https://t.co/0A25faLydX
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) July 1, 2023
The jokes write themselves, man.
