Every July 1, the New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB) are mocked with “Bobby Bonilla Day”.토토사이트
The day has been covered by many media outlets across the country, and even Mets owner Steve Cohen has taken the “if you can’t avoid it, enjoy it” approach, saying, “I hope everyone enjoys my favorite day of the year, Bobby Bonilla Day.
Bobby Bonilla Day is a day of shame for the Mets. Released by the Mets after the 1999 season, Bonilla was owed $5.9 million in salary. The Mets opted for a “10-year, 25-year amortization” option, which turned out to be a terrible idea, as the $5.9 million in salary became $29.75 million.
As a result, the Mets are paying Bonilla $1.19 million on July 1 each year from 2011 through 2035 at an 8% interest rate. When Cohen bought the team in 2020, he suggested “let’s make Bonilla Day a festival,” and this year was no different.
What’s amazing is that Bonilla isn’t the only player the Mets pay to “cry and eat mustard. In fact, he’s not the only non-Mets player the Mets currently pay more than $80,000 a year. In addition to paying Robinson Cano (40-Baltimore Orioles) $20.25 million, who is currently without a team, James McCann (33-Baltimore Orioles) $11 million, Eduardo Escobar (34-LA Angels) $9.11 million, and Chris Flexen (29-Unaffiliated) $4 million, Darin Ruff (36-Milwaukee Brewers) $3.3 million, Tommy Hunter (37-Independent) $680,000, the retired Brett Saberhagen $250,000, and Gary Sanchez (30-San Diego Padres) $80,000. Including Bonilla brings the total to nearly $50 million.
The Oakland Athletics, the last-place team in payroll (total player salaries) this year, have a payroll of $60.85 million, so it’s safe to say they could almost afford to run a first-team MLB club.
These are all players who either underperformed and the Mets released them, taking on the remaining salary, or traded them to other teams for salary relief.
Of course, not all of these deals will work out as expected, which is why so many MLB teams are currently paying players who aren’t on their roster.
Still, the Mets are particularly noteworthy because of the frequency and size of their deals. In fact, the Mets are the only MLB team to pay players not currently on their team more than $40 million this year.
