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Stupid Mets Deal Goes Into Effect Now: Bobby Bonilla Gets $30 Million Over 25 Years

Ben Yakas

Published May 15, 2011

Modified May 15, 2011

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Ben Yakas

Published May 15, 2011

Modified May 15, 2011

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Even Orcrist the Goblin Killer couldn't help knuckleballer R.A. Dickey and the Mets slay the Houston Astros yesterday. But despite the loss, the patchwork team has really improved over the last month, and are now a mere three games below .500. The team is so focused, they didn't even blink when a particularly athletic fan ran onto the Minute Maid Park field in Houston during the game Friday, and evaded capture with some serious skills:

Despite the improvement for the Mets on the field, they still have their miserable Madoff "false profits" lawsuit hovering in the background, with no end in sight. The WSJ wrote a lengthy editorial this week rehashing the case, and ultimately defending the Mets' owners, who have been accused of complicity in the Madoff scandal by trustee Irving Picard:

Mr. Picard has virtually unconstrained discretion under the bankruptcy code, including subpoena power and a team of investigators and forensic accounting experts. He has billed for $175.5 million in fees. Yet rather than shed more light on what happened, he seems most interested in collecting fortunes from public figures by humiliating them into a settlement, before his claims are ever tested in court.

Madoff's crimes did enough damage and shouldn't be compounded by treating his victims as accomplices without unequivocal evidence or due process.

As if the Mets needed any more financial strains, they will also have to start paying one of their biggest albatrosses soon: starting July 1, the Mets will be paying ex-slugger Bobby Bonilla $1.2 million a year through 2035 thanks to a deferred deal he made with the club in 2000. Just imagine if the Knicks had to pay Eddy Curry for the next 25 years! And it's not like Bonilla even needs it, since he already has a cushy $200,000-a-year job as a "special assistant" at the MLB Players Association in Manhattan. He doesn't have to go into the office, and according to a woman at the office, his duties consist of "just [talking] to the players."

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baseball

bobby bonilla

madoff

mets

mlb

Ben Yakas

Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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