It’s Bobby Bonilla Day! The New York Mets have to pay former player $1.19M today and every July 1st until 2035.
Bonilla hasn’t been a Met since 1999 is still getting more than $1 million a year for doing absolutely nothing.
Bonilla was traded to the Mets from the Los Angeles Dodgers before the 1999 baseball season. He played for the Mets that year, but the team wanted to part ways with him and buy out his contract before the next season began.
The Mets still owed Bonilla $5.9 million and the agent representing him told the Mets they could release him and wouldn’t have to pay him right away.
The Mets could defer the payments, with interest, to a once-a-year sum from 2011 to 2035.
Mets ownership was invested in a Bernie Madoff account that promised double-digit returns, if that happened, the Mets were poised to make a significant profit. It never happened.
By 2035, the Mets will have paid Bonilla $29.8 million for the 2000 baseball season. He played for the Atlanta Braves that year. Bonilla will be 72 in 2035.
Photo courtsey of Trace Wealth Advisors
