NEW YORK METS 2010 SEASON POST: Collins named New Manager

[johnnyredstorm]

Take 2 from Cinci and sweep the Braves and all will be forgiven

I'm excited for this little homestand. Might have to go out to one of the games.

 

[itz rolli]

Bobby Bonilla won.

http://online.wsj.com/art...4575339013108198050.html

There's No Accounting for This
Thanks to a Deferred Buyout, the Mets Still Owe Bobby Bonilla 25 Annual Payments of $1.19 Million

By MIKE SIELSKI

(See Correction & Amplification below .)

SAN JUAN, P.R.—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.

"That beautiful thing," he said here Monday.

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Ezra O. Shaw /Allsport

Former Met Bobby Bonilla calls his Mets contract, which will earn him $29,831,205 between 2011 and 2035, 'that beautiful thing.'
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At his best, Mr. Bonilla was a versatile player and productive hitter during his 16 years in the major leagues. Seven times, he hit at least 20 home runs in a season. Four times, he drove in at least 100 runs. He played third base, first base and the outfield at various stages of his career. He was on six playoff teams and won a World Series in 1997 with the Florida Marlins.

This unusual arrangement between him and the Mets, though, is characteristic of his time with the team—4½ years marked by controversy and unmet expectations. By the time Mr. Bonilla departed, the Mets were so eager to be rid of him that they agreed to defer payment—with interest—of the $5.9 million they owed him in the final year of his contract.

When Mets fans think of Mr. Bonilla and outsized contracts, they usually remember the free-agent deal he signed with the team in December 1991—a five-year, $29 million agreement that made him the highest-paid player in Major League Baseball. He then became the emblem for one of the worst periods in the franchise's history; the Mets were an aggregate 75 games under .500 over Mr. Bonilla's first three full seasons with the team before they traded him to Baltimore in July 1995.

But it was actually Mr. Bonilla's second free-agent contract that led to his upcoming financial windfall. He signed with the Marlins in 1996 for four years and $23.3 million. After Florida traded Mr. Bonilla to the Los Angeles Dodgers in May 1998, the Mets then re-acquired him that following off-season, sending relief pitcher Mel Rojas to the Dodgers for Mr. Bonilla on Nov. 11, 1998.

Mr. Bonilla's second tenure with the Mets was far briefer, but no better, than his first. He hit just .160 with four home runs in 60 games in 1999. He feuded with manager Bobby Valentine. In perhaps his most memorable transgression, he played cards with teammate Rickey Henderson as the Mets lost the deciding game of the National League Championship Series in Atlanta. The Mets didn't want him around any longer, and Mr. Bonilla wanted the freedom to pursue another contract with another team, but the Mets were still on the hook for the $5.9 million due Mr. Bonilla in 2000.

Beverly Hills Sports Council represented Mr. Bonilla during negotiations with Steve Phillips, then the Mets' general manager. Attempts to reach Mr. Phillips through his agent, Steve Lefkowitz, were unsuccessful, and agent Jeff Borris, who is still with BHSC, said through a spokesman that he had "no comment at this time."

Jeff Wilpon, the Mets' chief operating officer, and David Howard, the team's executive vice president of business operations, also did not return calls seeking comment. A Mets team spokesman said of Mr. Bonilla's contract: "It's old news. There's nothing new here.''

Dennis Gilbert, who had represented Mr. Bonilla earlier in Mr. Bonilla's career and remains one of his friends, said in a phone interview that there was no need for Mr. Bonilla to strong-arm the Mets into such a lucrative buyout.

"The idea wasn't completely unilateral," said Mr. Gilbert, a senior partner at Gilbert-Krupkin LLC, an insurance and estate-planning firm. "It wasn't one way. Both sides thought it was a good idea."

In fact, according to Mr. Gilbert, the only real sticking point in the deal was the interest rate. The two sides eventually agreed on 8 percent. In January 2000, the U.S. Prime Rate was 8.5 percent, according to FedPrimeRate.com.
A Little For a Lot

Bobby Bonilla when he was with the Mets:
YearGamesAvgHRRBI
1992128.2491970
1993139.2653487
1994108.2902067
199580.3251853
199660.160418

Totals: 5 seasons, 515 games, .95 HRs, 295 RBI

Per season average: 103 games, .270 BA, 19 HRs, 59 RBI

Years earlier, Mr. Gilbert had negotiated with former Mets general manager Al Harazin a similar deal for Bret Saberhagen, who pitched for the team from 1992 to 1995. For 25 years starting in 2004, Mr. Saberhagen receives annual deferred payments of $250,000. So when the Mets decided to buy out Mr. Bonilla's contract, they had precedent and a template already in place for such an agreement.

By postponing their payments to Mr. Bonilla for 11 years, the Mets freed enough money to trade for starting pitcher Mike Hampton and outfielder Derek Bell and sign first baseman Todd Zeile. Those three players earned a combined $15.1 million in 2000, and the Mets reached the World Series that year for the first time since 1986.

But the team has reached the postseason only once since, and it can be argued that the short-term gain of the arrangement with Mr. Bonilla wasn't worth the long-term cost. Because the Mets are repaying him with interest, Mr. Bonilla will earn $29,831,205 between 2011 and 2035—more than he earned in his first contract with the Mets.

"Bobby's a very smart person," Mr. Gilbert said, "and he understands the value of income."

Working as a special assistant to Michael Weiner, the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, Mr. Bonilla was at Hiram Bithorn Stadium this week for the three-game series between the Mets and Marlins, two of the eight teams he played for during his career.

He spent time Monday mingling with players and coaches. Mets rightfielder Jeff Francoeur, the team's representative to the players association, chatted with Mr. Bonilla in the Mets' clubhouse. Mr. Francoeur said he was unaware of the conditions of Mr. Bonilla's buyout and had never heard of such a contract.

"But it's awesome," he said. "You pull something off like that, and later on you don't have to worry about [stuff]."

As he sat in the visitors' dugout talking with manager Jerry Manuel, Mr. Bonilla could see the Mets beginning their pre-batting practice calisthenics. Among them were several important players who are earning less in guaranteed money this year than Mr. Bonilla will earn next year.

Those players include; infielder Fernando Tatis ($850,000); pitchers Hisanori Takahashi ($1 million) and Jon Niese ($402,000); and catchers Rod Barajas ($500,000) and Henry Blanco ($750,000).

"Hey," Mr. Bonilla said, "a blind squirrel can find an acorn."

Write to Mike Sielski at [email protected]

Correction $ Amplification

Beginning on July 1, 2011, the Mets will pay former player Bobby Bonilla $1.19 million a year for 25 years as part of a buyout of the $5.9 million the team owed him in 2000. A previous headline of this article incorrectly gave the amount of the annual payment as $1.9 million.

 

[johnnyredstorm]

Umps tonight are on something else. BTW, Beltran would have made that play.

 

[johnnyredstorm]

Nieve's gotta go. He is just worthless.

 

[mez 0ne]

How do the umps come together to conversate a HBP? That is the homeplate
umps call always...they overturned the og call and allowed a run to score.

then the ump proceeds to squeeze Pelf on the outside pitches, he was clearly
bothered and then couldn't get out of the 5th inning smfh.

Baseball umps just get worse and worse every year.

 

[mez 0ne]

How do the umps come together to conversate a HBP? That is the homeplate
umps call always...they overturned the og call and allowed a run to score.

then the ump proceeds to squeeze Pelf on the outside pitches, he was clearly
bothered and then couldn't get out of the 5th inning smfh.

Baseball umps just get worse and worse every year.

 

[youngin33]

Tough L after a call somehow gets overturned against us. Did Dusty throw the red flag out there?

If you're going to overturn that, just give him a ball and it's a 3-2 count instead of depending on a guy who is 90 feet away from the play overturning a guy who is 2 feet away from the play.

Thought Big Pelf was going to pitch pissed off in a good way after being left off the all star team, guess not.

 

[jhova718]

tough loss. Minaya HAS to be watching this and see that we need a Lee type. ASAP. DO IT OMAR

 

[youngin33]

Yeah, Lee as a rental is going to be a must if we want to get a playoff spot.

He's going to be a bargain in the sense that we would pay 4.5 million for half a season of his tremendous pitching. Now, only thing is do the Mets have enough prospects to acquire him? And in the off-season when he goes to the Yankees, we would get back 2 draft picks for losing him I believe.

We can't be gun shy because of the Zambrano/Kazmir deal from years ago which Duquette got roasted for.

 

[johnnyredstorm]

Trading for Lee is completely different from the Kazmir situation. We have enough, but it's not worth it. I'd rather get Oswalt.
And props to Gary for calling Johan's dinger. The exact spot, too

 

[jhova718]

SANTANA WITH THE BOMB LOL

 

[jordansmakeyoupoor]

Again, Santana shows us why he is our true ace on this staff.
I hope Jerry lets Santana have a chance at a complete game... I really do not want to see K-Rod come in 

 lolol

 

[mez 0ne]

Nice to see David Wright named NL Player of the month.

 

[tim teufel]

would u guys call bay's season terrible if he still ends up with 100 rbi"s regardless of the homeruns?

 

[mez 0ne]

That was dope.

 

[johnnyredstorm]

 

[nightruans]

to do this against the powerful reds lineup is nice...

 

[jordansmakeyoupoor]

^^ Minus the hr #'s, he isnt actually playing that bad at all. He has as many triples as hrs, and I think as long as he keeps hitting extrabase hits then he is fine. However, I still see a hot streak coming for Bay that will just be ridiculous. (hoping haha)

 

[ddot7]

This seems like the only full game I've been able to watch in a while and it's only because I'm sick.

It was great to see Johan getting back to form after that stretch of a few games that he was definitely off and %*+%#$! awesome to see him hit that HR too. Nice seeing Jerry go out there and ask him how he felt instead of just having his mind made up that he was gonna put in Frankie. I'd have less faith that we'd get the win if that happened.

I'm still up in the air about the possibility of Lee...he's incredible though and would give us a top 1-3 rotation. If it were anything beyond this season, I'd say no question, get it done and pay him the money for however many years. You know Seattle's gonna want some of the prospects that are "major-league ready". Although I usually think they're just prospects and free agency can take care of filling holes at those positions, it's tougher to see when it's just a rental and I question whether the Wilpons are willing to pay to get those free agents.

For example, a guy like Thole may or may not be our catcher of the future, Tejada at 2nd, Mejia as a starter. If they're traded, is management and ownership gonna go out and sign guys that are good enough to make us forget about Thole, Tejada, Mejia or are they gonna settle for guys who are cheap to fill a spot? It's either you have your home grown guys that have lower salaries or you go out and write checks.

 

[d3si]

I chuckled after Johan Santana hit a solo home run. It's good to see the old Santana back..

 

[ddot7]

Just read this on Adam Rubin's ESPN NY Mets blog:
DAY OF REST: Manuel said before the game that he planned to give some regulars a day off on Wednesday against Reds starter Bronson Arroyo, which will be the 16th game in 16 days for the Mets. Manuel wants to couple Wednesday's day off with Thursday's scheduled off day to give some players a breather.

Manuel said C Josh Thole will start against Arroyo and he planned to give Ruben Tejada the day off with Alex Cora starting at second.

The Met manager insists he isn't concerned with Tejada's struggles at the plate of late. Tejada is 0-for-16 in his last five games ad just 4-for-30 in his last ten.

"He’s a young player and they’re going to have periods like that," Manuel said.

Manuel also said that he planned to sit either Jason Bay or Jeff Francoeur on Wednesday. He planned to use either Chris Carter or Jesus Feliciano to replace the veteran he decides to sit.

It's easy for me to make a decision from my couch but I hate it.  They've got a day off on Thursday plus one more series til the All Star game, this is the rubber game in the series and you've got Atl and Philly playing each other.  Hopefully we win but damn, don't let up.

 

[Qnzprospect]

Thats what I was doing when Santana hit that Hr

 

[cedric ceballos 1995 lakers]

the L tonight sucked

sweep the braves and my weekend will be good.

i got tickets for 2 of the games when they play the dodgers later this month,  it's always fun watching your team win when their the road team and being there to watch it happen

i know it's a little bit ahead of time but would any of you guys wanna have a mini summit at a mets game in august. it don't matter if i can only get 1 person that wants to go or if i can get 10 people that would wanna go,  it would be cool to all go watch a game whenever, or if any of you guys are trying to go to a game in august pm me, ill be out there all of august so i'm gonna make it to at least 5 games since im a mets fan and also since citi field is a million times better then dodger stadium it's good to catch a game in a nice stadium every so often

 

[mez 0ne]

Freakin' Arroyo.

 

[mrdozo]

What's with the players getting so many days off? A lot of these guys ( Jason Bay especially) don't need time off when their bats are slumping. Batters need to see more pitches. I still think Manuel needs to go.
Cliff Lee should be pickedup at all costs. Santana is the man. As a mets fan, it hurts me to say, we don't deserve him sometimes with our lack of run support a lot of times.