Fernando Tatis’ fresh 14-year extension with the Padres is a record for the longest deal in MLB history, and will pay him through 2034…but someone else in baseball still has payroll tied up beyond that.
Yes, that’s right, the Mets’ past with Bobby Bonilla is rearing its ugly head one more time, as pointed out by The Sporting News:
Bobby Bo will be in his seventies when Tatis’ contract runs out, but he’ll still be getting paid by the Mets even after Fernando winds down his bakers’ dozen plus one in San Diego.
And if you don’t know by now: when the Mets wanted to release Bonilla in 1999, his agent agreed to defer the remaining $5.9 million left on his contract, agreeing to a pact with the Mets that would see them pay out that sum over a 25-year period, from 2011 to 2035, at eight percent interest.
The result: every July 1 is “Bobby Bonilla Day,” where the Mets pay Bobby Bo exactly $1,193,248.20 as part of that pact. Do the math, and the total sum shows that Bonilla turned that $5.9 million into $29.8 million, perhaps the ultimate ROI on a retirement plan.
So, when Tatis’ deal expires…Bonilla will still have one payment of roughly $1.2 million payment remaining, and it will come 34 years after he last stepped onto a baseball field, and when he is twice Tatis’ age – come July 1, 2035, Tatis will be 36, but Bonilla will be 72.
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