Bobby Bonilla is my new hero

This is like George Costanza’s wildest fantasy come true: a guy becomes a horrible employee and his company is so desperate to get rid of him that they agree to pay out his contract with interest.  But get this, they defer the payments for 10 years, during which time the interest meter is still going.

Here’s Mike Sielski of the Wall Street Journal providing the background on just such a scenario:

One year from today, the Mets will add to their payroll a 47-year-old, past-his-prime power hitter who has a reputation as a malcontent—a player who has been retired from professional baseball for nine years and won’t play another game again.

Nevertheless, starting on July 1, 2011, Bobby Bonilla will remain on the franchise’s payroll for 25 years, collecting an annual salary of $1,193,248.20. Those are the terms the Mets agreed to Jan. 3, 2000, when they bought out the final year of Mr. Bonilla’s contract. (Wall Street Journal)

Bobby Bonilla, you magnificent bastard, you can now live out Peter Gibbons’ dream of doing nothing, and live it out in style.  In other “guys getting paid a ton for not doing a damn thing” news, the Minnesota Timberwolves have re-signed Darko Milicic to a four-year, $20 million deal.

I remember back in the 80’s when Jon Koncak, an NBA center who would average 4.9 rebounds a game over 11 seasons, was the poster child for drawing a fat paycheck while doing very little on the stat sheet.  In 1989 he signed a six-year, $13.1 million contract with the Atlanta Hawks.  This was in a year when Magic Johnson was making $3 million a year and Michael Jordan was pulling down $2.5 million.

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