Money for nothing: Bonilla's back on payroll

The 2011 season will signal the return of 47-year-old Bobby Bonilla to the Mets' bottom line.  Write him under the financial lineup with red ink.

One of the leftover matters from the Steve Phillips era resurfaces as the Mets begin to pay back on a debt incurred to Bonilla In 2000.

The Mets owed Bonilla $5.9 million for the final year of his contract, but deferred that amount (with an interest rate of 8 percent) until this year. The result? Bonilla is now owed $29,831,205 until the year 2035. He'll pocket it on an annual basis so it relieves his tax burden.

Bonilla signed a five-year, $29 million contract with the Mets in 1991, but the money stilled owed him resulted from his second tenure, when he was reacquired from the Dodgers with the remains of a $23.3 million deal.


Here is what the Mets got for their money:

 
            Games    Avg    HR     RBI
1992    128        .249    19       70
1993    139         .265    34      87
1994    108         .290    20      67
1995    80           .325    18      53
1999    60           .160      4      18