When you’re younger, you want to be a ballplayer. When you’re older and howl like a banshee on the moors when you rise from a sitted position, you just want to get paid like a ballplayer. And thanks to the US Government, we now have our chance… sorta.
Are you familiar with the concept of deferred money in sports contracts? The New York Mets are. The New York Mets are very familiar with the concept as they’ve been paying Brett Saberhagen $250,000 per year for the last 10 years (with 15 years left to go) and Bobby Bonilla more than a million dollars a year, which they will do until the former outfielder and third baseman is 72 years old in 2035. Both Saberhagen and Bonilla retired in 2001.
The Mets also have a deferment arrangement with team legend Darryl Strawberry for $100,000 a year, apparently, and that’s where your cash money dreams come in. Strawberry’s arrangement is being auctioned off by the IRS… even though it’s not Straw’s money anymore. I’ll let an excerpt from Craig Calcaterra’s Hardball Talk article explain:
The background is rather convoluted. It’s tied up in a domestic relations order which gave the compensation to Strawberry’s ex-wife, and her subsequent bankruptcy. So really it’s her money — forfeited to the IRS — not Darryl’s anymore. Here is some info on that from a couple of years ago. At the time the annual payout was around $100,000. Not sure how inflation, etc. deals with that, if at all.
With all of that said, if you want to get monthly stipend from the Mets in place of Straw (and his ex-wife) the bidding starts at $550,000. I’d wish you luck, but I personally think it would be hilarious if Bobby Bonilla won the auction. Lord knows he has the money.
(Source: Hardball Talk)
