This year’s Bobby Bonilla Day might be the most appropriate of them all.
Saturday marks the date for the annual $1.19 million check that the Mets pay their former third baseman, first baseman and right fielder — a tradition that started in 2011, with the team continuing to pay Bonilla through 2035.
It’s a yearly reminder of the deferred payment schedule that followed Bonilla’s buyout after the 1999 season, which has been followed by similar plans from players and teams in recent years.
Bonilla spent parts of five years with the Mets, playing for the franchise from 1992 until a 1995 trade to Baltimore and then rejoining for one year in 1999 before the buyout.
That included a role — and a .249 average, .779 OPS — during the 1992 season, later dubbed the “Worst Team Money Can Buy,” that has served as the direct comparison for the Mets’ disappointing record through the first half of their current campaign 30 years later.
When Bonilla was released in 2000, the Mets still owed him $5.9 million on the four-year, $23.3 million deal he signed with the Marlins in 1996.
Instead of paying it outright, the Mets’ ownership — before losing money to Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme — chose to defer payments with eight percent interest over 25 years from 2011-35 to free up money for the 2000 season.
The Mets might not have another Bonilla plan arranged by agent Dennis Gilbert, but if their season keeps spiraling, Bonilla might have company for some of the most bizarre deals in franchise history.
“I talk to Bobby on a regular basis anyway,’’ Gilbert, now a former agent, told USA TODAY in a recent interview, “but I really think about him on Father’s Day, because it’s the father of all deferred contracts.’’
Bonilla told Action Network last year that he has enjoyed being a father since retiring from baseball following his final game on Oct. 7, 2001, and Mets owner Steve Cohen has proposed getting Bonilla to Citi Field in the future to commemorate the day.
“Let’s take a vote,” Cohen tweeted in November 2020. “How about we have a Bobby Bonilla day every year .Hand him an oversized check and drive a lap around the stadium.Could be fun.”
For Bonilla, his infamous 1999 season occurred amid a stretch of six All-Star honors in eight years, a segment of his career that etched his position as a top player of that era and secured the five-year, $29 million deal with the Mets in 1991 that, at the time, served as the most expensive signing ever.
It was the 1990s equivalent of a Cohen splash signing.
After the buyout and introduction of the deferred payment plan, Bonilla signed with the Braves and logged 114 games in 2000 before concluding his career with the Cardinals the next year.
His hamstring injury in 2001 allowed Albert Pujols to make the Cardinals’ Opening Day roster as a rookie, according to MLB.com, and he proceeded to hit .329 with 37 homers — driving in 130 runs while snagging Bonilla’s spot in left field.
Bonilla retired after hitting .213 with five homers and 21 RBI in 93 games that year.
In Bonilla’s final season with the Mets in 1999, he only hit .160 across 60 games, and his buyout preceded the Mets’ 2000 campaign that ended with a loss to the Yankees in the World Series.
Bonilla ended his 16-year career with a .279 average and 287 homers, while also winning the World Series with the Marlins in 1997, but the deferred payment plan has become his most noteworthy achievement — and still appears on the Mets’ Spotrac payroll tracker.
“My text messages blow up — way bigger than my birthday,” the 60-year-old told Action Network in 2022. “It’s a fun day. It always brings a smile to my face.”
At one point during his 23-minute press conference Wednesday to address the state of the Mets, Cohen, sitting behind a Mets bistro table in a raised chair, fielded a question about how much money he’s losing this season.
Contract after contract has backfired — or, at least, not been worth what he agreed to pay at signing.
Max Scherzer has struggled with inconsistencies, a blister that limited his breaking balls and a sticky-stuff suspension.
That costs Cohen $43 million in base salary.
Justin Verlander dealt with a teres major strain and, likewise, some inconsistencies after missing the first month of the season.
That costs Cohen another $43 million in base salary.
The record-setting payroll around $364 million contains three contracts with base salaries over $30 million and 10 with a base salary over $10 million.
“Well, bigger than a breadbasket, I’ll tell you that,” Cohen said about the money lost.
He then joked about sharing that number with the reporter outside following the press conference, before cracking a smile, pointing at the reporting and ending his joke with a sarcastic, “No, I’m not [telling you].”
But amid the underperformances that have become magnified given the Mets’ payroll, the small deferred payment plan — the annual paradox that provides some humor and also a glimpse at one of the worst contracts in sports history — to Bonilla might serve as the most refreshing sight.
By now, it has become normal, even though it still has 12 years to go.
