New York Mets Still Paying Two 1990 All-Stars, Carlos Beltran MLB Salaries For 2017
New York Mets salary woes seem to never end, as the payroll has Carlos Beltran and two players from the 1990 All-Star team still receiving checks from the team. Many Mets rumors this MLB offseason have dealt with the team needing to shed some of the payroll expended on the outfield. As a report by Spotrac explains, the Mets are also dealing with the deferred salaries of players who aren’t even on the 40-man roster any longer.
Starting with Carlos Beltran, the Mets have to pay just about $3.2 million to him for the 2017 MLB season. Even though he just signed a contract to play with the Houston Astros, he is still owed deferred salary by the Mets. As part of the seven-year contract the Mets gave Beltran before the 2005 MLB season, he had to wait for some of that money. While making $16 million with the Astros this year, he will also receive the salary owed to him by the Mets.
The New York Mets are also on the hook for salaries owed to three other players who are not on the current roster. Starting pitcher Jonathon Niese is still on the payroll for $500,000 this season, despite only being a member of the Mets at the end the 2016 MLB season. The Pittsburgh Pirates traded Niese to the Mets for pitcher Antonio Bastardo and cash. The Mets then bought out his 2017 season, giving him a one-time payment to simply “go away.” Niese is again a free agent who can sign with any team, but the Mets are on the hook for $500,000 in salary.
That leads to the two most interesting names on the current payroll for the New York Mets. Former All-Stars Bobby Bonilla and Bret Saberhagen remain on the payroll for a few more seasons. Bonilla has a deferred salary that will pay him about $1.2 million a year until the 2035 MLB season. His deferred payments will amount to about $30 million over a duration of 25 years, something that he agreed to when signing a free agent deal with the team back before the 1992 MLB season. Bonilla played in 515 games with the Mets before getting traded to the Baltimore Orioles in 1995.
Finally, there is former Cy Young Award winner Bret Saberhagen. He signed a deal with the Mets right before the 1992 MLB season as well. Saberhagen pitched in 76 games for the Mets, posting a 29-21 record before getting traded to the Colorado Rockies during the 1995 season. He also agreed to defer quite a bit of salary, with the payments set for 2004 until 2028. Under his contract, Saberhagen will receive $250,000 a year, totaling $6.25 million over the 25-year duration of that deal. It’s as though he has a bank account paying him dividends, even in retirement.
These are just some of the reasons that so many New York Mets rumors address how the team is now trying to cut salary. Having deferred salaries on the books for Carlos Beltran, Jonathan Niese, Bobby Bonilla, and Bret Saberhagen makes it tougher to deal with the new contract for Yoenis Cespedes. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, the team already regrets picking up the option for outfielder Jay Bruce, as it gives the Mets one of the most expensive outfields in all of Major League Baseball.
Fans of other MLB teams may find it amusing that stars of the past are still drawing paychecks from the Mets. Both Bobby Bonilla and Bret Saberhagen are in their 50s, showing just how long they have been under contract with the Mets. They will still be getting paychecks from the team while they are in their 60s as well. This underscores some bad decisions that former management made with player contracts, but it also shows how shrewd agents working for these players really earned their paychecks. Now the current front office of the New York Mets has to deal with the fallout of it all.
[Featured Image by Joe Robbins/Getty Images]
