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Posted on 07/01/2026 5:36:13 AM PDT by ShadowAce
It's July 1, and that means it's time for Mets fans everywhere to wish each other a Happy Bobby Bonilla Day! Why? On Wednesday, 63-year-old Bobby Bonilla will receive a check for $1,193,248.20 from the New York Mets, as he has and will every July 1 from 2011 through 2035.
Because of baseball's unique salary structure, Bonilla's annual payday is often more than some of the game's current young stars will make in a given year.
The Mets are certainly not alone in handing out deferred payments to star players long after they last suited up for the team, with past MVPs and Cy Young winners among the notable names still collecting annual paychecks from their previous employers.
In recent MLB offseasons, deferred money became an even bigger talking point with the Los Angeles Dodgers frequently opting for the structure, highlighted by a deal with Shohei Ohtani that will delay payments for $680 million of his $700 million megadeal. He'll start receiving $68 million per year in 2034.
Here is what you need to know about Bonilla's payday, deferred money in baseball and the current players making less for the 2026 season than Bobby Bo will receive from the Mets.
In 2000, the Mets agreed to buy out the remaining $5.9 million on Bonilla's contract.
However, instead of paying Bonilla the $5.9 million at the time, the Mets agreed to make annual payments of nearly $1.2 million for 25 years starting July 1, 2011, including a negotiated 8% interest.
At the time, Mets ownership was invested in a Bernie Madoff account that promised double-digit returns, and the Mets were poised to make a significant profit if the Madoff account delivered -- but that did not work out.
Under new owner Steve Cohen, who mentioned the possibility of celebrating Bonilla at Citi Field annually soon after taking over the team, the Mets have embraced Bonilla's day.
Bonilla last played for the Mets in 1999 and last played in the majors for the Cardinals in 2001, but he will be paid through 2035 (when he'll be 72).
Here are some other notable deferred-money contracts, courtesy of ESPN Research:
• Bobby Bonilla (again): A second deferred-contract plan with the Mets and Orioles pays him $500,000 a year for 25 years. Those payments began in 2004.
• Bret Saberhagen: Will receive $250,000 a year from the Mets for 25 years (payments also began in 2004; this was the inspiration for Bonilla's deal).
As trade season starts up, here are the big names who could move -- and the teams that could deal for them. Jeff Passan »
• Max Scherzer: Will receive $105 million total from the Nationals that will be paid out through 2028.
• Manny Ramírez: Will collect the final payment of $24.2 million total from the Red Sox through 2026.
• Chris Davis: Davis' arrangement with the Orioles might make him the new Bonilla, as he collects $59 million in deferred payments during a 15-year stretch that started last year and continues through 2037. Davis received $9.16 million in both 2024 and 2025 and now will collect $3.5 million from 2026 to 2032 and $1.4 million from 2033 to 2037.
The biggest difference in the two deferral-heavy deals is that Bonilla's came as the result of a buyout by the Mets for an underperforming veteran, whereas Ohtani's salary arrangement was proposed by a superstar at the height of his free agency.
In his unprecedented contract, Ohtani is being paid just $2 million annually during the 10-year length of his deal with the Dodgers. From 2034 to 2043, Ohtani will receive $68 million per year. The parameters of the arrangement allow the Dodgers more short-term flexibility while also lowering the team's competitive balance tax burden with only the present-day value ($46 million per year) of the contract counting toward L.A.'s CBT payroll.
Because baseball's salary structure has young players start their careers by earning just over half of Bonilla's annual $1.19 million, the following players will be making less than Bonilla this season (listed in order of 2026 Fangraphs WAR entering Tuesday's games):
Pete Crow-Armstrong: $894,000 (4.9 WAR)
Jacob Misiorowski: $788,300 (4.3 WAR)
Dillon Dingler: $834,900 (3.7 WAR)
Cam Schlittler: $801,425 (3.7 WAR)
Otto Lopez: $810,500 (3.6 WAR)
Kevin McGonigle: $780,000 (3.4 WAR)
JJ Wetherholt: $780,000 (3.4 WAR)
Nick Kurtz: $780,000 (3.3 WAR)
Miguel Vargas: $805,700 (3.2 WAR)
Figures from ESPN Research were used throughout this story.
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I go to Japan all the time and I don’t speak the language. It’s flipping hard. And the juice just isn’t worth the squeeze.
And it’s the Dodgers that recruited him, he didn’t come to them begging for a job.
Wait till Showhey’s deferred bucks come due!!
This scenario seems outlandish in professional sports, where players earn huge salaries and the franchises are worth billions of dollars, but this is exactly what happened with superstar Mario Lemieux of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins. In 1999, the team filed for bankruptcy while the retired Lemieux was still owed millions of dollars in deferred salary. Facing the prospect of collecting pennies on the dollar in the bankruptcy proceedings as an unsecured creditor, Lemieux ended up converting his unpaid salary into an ownership stake and bought the team. He even came out of retirement and played several more years just to help improve the team’s financial fortunes.
I calculated 5.9 million versus 25 years at $1,193,248.20 deferred by 11 years to be about 8% interest.
You just don’t get it. It’s called gratitude. He didn’t seek them out, doesn’t matter, he accepted a job that he receives a crap ton of money for. The LEAST he can do is show he is thankful to “work” in this country by simply learning our language.
Not sure how that spells gratitude. I’d think being kind and thankful to those he interacts with would show gratitude.
So 1.19 million is couch cushion change but $5.9 million was too much? Did Cohen strike this deal or was it a previous owner?
Ohtani does speak English.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haYqfqFpArc&t=68s
Maybe you guys should do some research before spouting off like a couple of dopes.
Allen Iverson had a similar deal with his shoe contract from Reebok. When Iverson was in his prime as an NBA superstar in the early-mid 2000’s, he got a signature shoe deal with Reebok, but rather than take a big payout up front, he set up a deal where he would get $800,000/year until he turns 55 and then a lump sum of $32 million on his 55th birthday.
“ Ohtani does speak English
Maybe you guys should do some research before spouting off like a couple of dopes.”
I know that. He must speak English in broadcast interviews or be seen as a jerk
So sorry, he speaks prepared messages in English. Why the interpreter? Not fully able to speak the language without prepared remarks? But calling us out as dopes because of this YT clip, not convincing enough.
“ I go to Japan all the time and I don’t speak the language. It’s flipping hard. And the juice just isn’t worth the squeeze.
And it’s the Dodgers that recruited him, he didn’t come to them begging for a job.”
Then he would be best learning English for “what do you numbskulls want from me? I just work here. I’m just visiting. Here on business. Piss off” in his interviews.
I don't understand the correlation. "Gratitude" has nothing to do with it. It's not like he's some bum they took off the streets and made him a star. The guy is making millions for his employers, setting records, and generally delighting the baseball world. What else does he "owe" baseball and America--become an American citizen? Marry an American wife? I suspect when he ends his playing days here, he'll go back to Japan and buy a ball team and live there the rest of his life. As an American, that's what I'd do if I was him.
Since the job Dodgers are based in CA, he will still have to pay CA tax.
You guys are ridiculous. The guy is under a microscope. The press is always looking for something to twist. He wants to make sure his words are interpreted properly so he uses an interpreter. So that alone makes him a creep and a jerk. Your lives must be going pretty wel if this is what gets you worked up.
I think you’re just pissed because the best all around baseball player arguably since Babe Ruth happens to be Japanese.
No, He earned it while working in CA even if it was a deferred payment when he gets it. I learned about this little CA tax law when I joined the service while married.
Dang that sucks.
“ I think you’re just pissed because the best all around baseball player arguably since Babe Ruth happens to be Japanese.”
That is not true. Don’t put that on me
He makes millions. Learn our language speak it when talking to us.
The only reason I’m pissed and “worked up” (not really, hence the air quotes), is because I’m a Yankee fan of 60+ years. I actually admire his all around talent as a player.
Sure - I’m not gonna go back and do the math, but I very much suspect that was a pretty decent (probably better than decent- his agent, not Bonilla, negotiated it) rate at the time.
It’s my American right *to be greedy* if I want to be :-) — but you’re not wrong. Big enough number at 6.7% guaranteed? I might do so, too.
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