In case you missed it, the MLB is in a lockout. Spring training should be going right now, but it’s not. It really sucks. Fans everywhere are worried about not being able to watch any baseball this year, players are looking at not being paid if the season doesn’t happen, and Rob Manfred is being deservedly ridiculed by every baseball fan on Earth. Everyone is miserable… except Bobby Bonilla.
Regardless of whether the season happens or not, Bobby Bonilla will receive a big old check for one million dollars from the New York Mets on July 1st, which means that as of now, he is going to be the highest paid MLB player this year. The man hasn’t taken a step onto the field since 2001.
Because the Mets are a poverty franchise run with even more incompetence than Rob Manfred could manage, they decided that instead of buying Bonilla out of the rest of his contract in 2000 (almost $6 million), they would pay him just about $1.1 million for twenty-five years, beginning in 2011. Meaning that he will be making money until 2035, when he will be 72 years old.
So, even as we all feel a great deal of sadness knowing that we won’t get a full MLB season (possibly not one at all), we can each give a smile knowing that the Mets are really stupid and they’re still going to have to shell out over a million for a guy that hasn’t been in the MLB in twenty years. July 1st is my favorite holiday.
