Happy Bobby Bonilla Day!

[nymr83]

At least one player will be getting paid in full this season!

[Frayed Knot]

Speaking of that era NYM teams, some of y'all here will remember this blast from the past.



https://nypost.com/2020/06/30/how-whartongate-internet-scandal-rocked-the-mets-bobby-valentine/Who the Fuck is Brad34?

[MFS62]

Did we ever find out who those "five players" were?

Later

[kcmets]

Was Brad34 at the mofo picnic? lol

[MFS62]

According to The Atlantic (dang paywall) the Red Sox have been paying Bruce Sutter for 30 years.

Bobby Bo ain't alone.

Later

[kcmets]

They're running a 40% sale for $2.99/month. Don't know how long that rate

lasts will check it out when on a real computer.

[Frayed Knot]

Deferred payments are nothing new in sports and certainly aren't unique to the Mets & Bonilla.

This one just gets more pub than any other for a variety of reasons



- it's the Mets who are the subject of a number of punchlines, sometimes deserved sometimes not



- it's Bobby Bonilla whose latter half of his career also provided fodder for more than a few punch lines



- the reasons behind this particular deferred agreement have ties to the Madoff scandal so that makes an easy target as well. The Wilpons obviously thought that

their double-digit 'growth' off their Bernie investments were, like Sidra's tits, both real and spectacular so this looked like a wise deal to them at the time.

Those chuckling at it each year at this time naturally all have the benefit of 20/20 hindsight



- that there's little else going on in early July in the sports world means somebody's always got room to work it into their headlines



- it gives the talking heads the opportunity to say 'see, we do too talk about baseball' while also provides them with an opening to do what they really want

to do and that's knock baseball (you'd never see the brilliant NFL owners do something like this cuz they're smart enough to not guarantee contracts)

[Ceetar]

Bonilla was intentionally walked 9 times for the 1994 Mets.

[MFS62]

=Ceetar post_id=39694 time=1593629097 user_id=102]
Bonilla was intentionally walked 9 times for the 1994 Mets.

[kcmets]

It's kinda funny that this four sided coin is still a story. Of course, there's so

little else going on I haven't been keeping up, how many inflation whittled in-

stallments are left before we can put this baby to sleep?

[Ceetar]

anything can be a drum if you beat it hard enough.

[Frayed Knot]

=kcmets post_id=39702 time=1593635703 user_id=53]how many inflation whittled installments are left before we can put this baby to sleep?

[G-Fafif]

=MFS62 post_id=39697 time=1593632576 user_id=60]
=Ceetar post_id=39694 time=1593629097 user_id=102]
Bonilla was intentionally walked 9 times for the 1994 Mets.

[MFS62]

=G-Fafif post_id=39712 time=1593637372 user_id=55]
He's being paid until 2035 for all he didn't do in 2000.

[Edgy MD]

I like the Brad34 story review.



It's funny how mismatched Steve Phillips and Bobby Valentine were. The former had such thin skin and the latter was such a showman that he couldn't help poking the bear. For a brief time, they were just the right matchup, and then it blew up.

[G-Fafif]

On July 1, 1992, Bobby Bonilla homered and the Mets won.



http://www.leaptoad.com/mets/gamedetail.php?gameno=4914&tabno=Dhttp://www.leaptoad.com/mets/gamedetail.php?gameno=4914&tabno=D



On July 1, 1994, Bobby Bonilla homered and the Mets won.



http://www.leaptoad.com/mets/gamedetail.php?gameno=5238&tabno=Dhttp://www.leaptoad.com/mets/gamedetail.php?gameno=5238&tabno=D



So Happy Bobby Bonilla Day, indeed!!

[batmagadanleadoff]

Bobby Bonilla Day gets the fivethirtyeight treatment - with a video!



Here's something to consider -- the Mets deferred the money owed Bonilla after the 1999 season to hold onto the $5.9M at stake and re-invest it in the team. The Mets then signed one of MLB's best and most sought after pitchers, Mike Hampton, who led the Mets to the 2000 World Series. When Hampton left via free agency, the Mets used their compensation draft pick for Hampton's deparure to select David Wright. So how bad did the Mets really do here?

The Bobby Bonilla Retirement Plan: Quit Baseball In 2001, Get Paid Until 2035 Bobby Bonilla hasn't played in a professional baseball game since 2001, yet on July 1 of this year, the New York Mets paid him $1.19 million. And they will every July 1 until 2035, as part of a deferred contract that the Mets negotiated with Bonilla after the 1999 season. Instead of paying him $5.9 million that year, the Mets would owe Bonilla almost $30 million over the course of the deferred contract. How'd that happen? Watch the video [linked below] to find out.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/videos/the-bobby-bonilla-retirement-plan-quit-baseball-in-2001-get-paid-until-2035/https://fivethirtyeight.com/videos/the-bobby-bonilla-retirement-plan-quit-baseball-in-2001-get-paid-until-2035/

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy MD wrote: It's funny how mismatched Steve Phillips and Bobby Valentine were. The former had such thin skin and the latter was such a showman that he couldn't help poking the bear. For a brief time, they were just the right matchup, and then it blew up.

And how 'Bobby' is it to slide by on the technicality of claiming that he didn't say the things he was accused of saying in his speech?

Oh yeah, I may have said a few of those things right AFTER the speech to some of the same people who were at the speech ... but during the speech? never said anything of the sort!

[Ceetar]

The real interesting part of this is that Bobby Bonilla was never actually a Met.

[Frayed Knot]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=39757 time=1593711920 user_id=68]
Bobby Bonilla Day gets the fivethirtyeight treatment - with a video!



Here's something to consider -- the Mets deferred the money owed Bonilla after the 1999 season to hold onto the $5.9M at stake and re-invest it in the team. The Mets then signed one of MLB's best and most sought after pitchers, Mike Hampton, who led the Mets to the 2000 World Series. When Hampton left via free agency, the Mets used their compensation draft pick for Hampton's deparure to select David Wright. So how bad did the Mets really do here?

[kcmets]

=Ceetar post_id=39775 time=1593724136 user_id=102]The real interesting part of this is that Bobby Bonilla was never actually a Met.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Frayed Knot wrote: =batmagadanleadoff post_id=39757 time=1593711920 user_id=68] Bobby Bonilla Day gets the fivethirtyeight treatment - with a video! Here's something to consider -- the Mets deferred the money owed Bonilla after the 1999 season to hold onto the $5.9M at stake and re-invest it in the team. The Mets then signedone of MLB's best and most sought after pitchers, Mike Hampton, who led the Mets to the 2000 World Series. When Hampton left via free agency, the Mets used their compensation draft pick for Hampton's deparure to select David Wright. So how bad did the Mets really do here?

The Mets, of course, didn't sign Hampton, they traded for him, so any $$ savings weren't specifically tied to that.

[nymr83]

This was also pre-Madoff. Couldn't the Wilpon's have just added 5 million to the payroll with deferring anything?

[batmagadanleadoff]

=nymr83 post_id=39780 time=1593728035 user_id=54]
This was also pre-Madoff. Couldn't the Wilpon's have just added 5 million to the payroll with deferring anything?

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, Madoff didn't give the Mets wealth. He game them the illusion of having far more wealth down the road. So borrowing from the future to supplement the present seemed like a good play to them.



And as noted, there's an argument that it sort of worked out for them in a sense anyway.

[Ceetar]

it's not really an argument, it's just truth.



"Bobby Bonilla Day" is a reflection (a poor one) on the media.

[Frayed Knot]

btw, as if the reaction to 'BB Day' wasn't predictable enough, I saw a headline (but was able to keep from clicking on it) which stated that Bonilla was to be "one of the highest paid Mets this season", a statement

which is absolutely true except for deGrom, Cano, Stroman, Familia, Ramos, Porcello, Lowrie, Syndergaard, Conforto, Bettances, Cespedes, Diaz, Wilson, Matz, Marasnick, Wacha, Nimmo, Lugo, and Gsellman

[Benjamin Grimm]

Bobby Bonilla Day has always been stupid, but it's even worse this year because there's little else to talk about in the baseball world.

[Edgy MD]

it's not really an argument, it's just truth. "Bobby Bonilla Day" is a reflection (a poor one) on the media.

How come I can't even enjoy when Ceetar mostly agrees with me?

[Ceetar]

I can take it darker if you like.



what do you think the odds are that the Wilpons/media count Bonilla's contract as part of the "bleeding money!" cries about how much they're losing a year?