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Mets Paying Bobby Bonilla Twice as Much as Matt Harvey This Year

Courtesy of USA Today Images

Former Major League Baseball player Bobby Bonilla hasn’t played in a professional game since 2001. He’s 52 years old and last stepped on a baseball diamond less than a year after George W. Bush moved into the White House.

He’s also set to receive a $1.2 million paycheck from the New York Mets as part of a deferment he agreed to with the team back in 2000.

The story is as follows.

Bonilla was set to earn $5.9 million on the final year of his contract in 2000—a year that didn’t even see him suit up for the club. Instead of paying out that seemingly large amount of money, the Mets agreed to a deferment deal with Bonilla that was to pay him $1.2 million per year for the next quarter century.

For those of you who struggle with math, this means that New York will have ended up paying Bonilla nearly $30 million instead of the $5.9 million it was set to pay him back in 2000.

Now let’s take a gander at one of the top young pitchers in baseball, Matt Harvey. The 26-year-old starter is set to earn just $614 thousand this year, which is almost half of what the Mets are paying a player that hasn’t suited up in almost 15 years.

Harvey, a first-round pick in the 2010 draft, is considered one of the best young pitchers in the game. Barring further injury concerns, he’s going to earn a huge payday in the coming years.

However, the simple fact that his team is paying him almost half of what it’s doling out to Bonilla is a bit absurd. After all, Harvey was 10-years-old the last time Bonilla played for the Mets at the now defunct Shea Stadium.

Photo: USA Today Images

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