[Drake]

It's July 1, so that means Bobby Bonilla got a check for $1,193,248.20 today, just as he will every July 1 through 2035. That's due to a deferral clause from when the Mets bought out the final year of Bonilla's contract before the 2000 season.

The deal was signed by the Marlins in 1996, but Bonilla was traded to the Dodgers in the 1998 blockbuster that involved Gary Sheffield and Mike Piazza. Bonilla was later flipped to the Mets. He then only played 60 games in 1999, hitting .160/.277/.303, so the Mets saw fit to get rid of him before the 2000 season instead of paying him $5.9 million that year.

And now they'll be paying him a bit more than four times that -- just stretched out over 25 years.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/ey...t-paid-by-mets

Bobby Bonilla hasn't swung a baseball bat professionally in over a decade yet the Mets are still paying him nearly $1.2 million per year today. How is that possible? During his 14 MLB seasons, Bonilla was a six time all star, three time silver slugger and a member of the 1997 World Series champion Florida Marlins. At his peak, he could be expected to hit 20 home runs a year with 100 RBIs and a batting average well over .300. In 1991, Bobby signed a five-year $29 million contract with the Mets that made him the highest paid baseball player ever, up to that point. Unfortunately, towards the end of his career Bobby became somewhat of a disappointment. In 1999, with one year left on his contract, he averaged just .160 with four home runs and 18 RBIs. So why on earth did the Mets management agree to give him an incredibly lucrative new contract that still pays him millions every year today? The answer involves brilliant financial planning, an overly aggressive Mets organization and, believe it or not, Bernie Madoff.

http://www.celebritynetworth.com/art...ball-contract/