So they give Madoff that 5.9M and he doubles the money every year and then only have to pay out an 8% premium eleven years down the road? Sweet deal.

He's already earned it. Now he's just getting paid.

Bobby Bonilla's annuity - the gift that keeps on giving.

I know there have been a couple of articles about the Royals long-term deferrals to Quiz, Brett and Willie Wilson lately. As a kid of about 10 or 12 when those were signed, I actually remember those from the time. Just like I remember the Bobby Bonilla deal. My general recollection is that most people thought they were nuts at the time...

Can they activate Bonilla? He's got to be better than Jason Bay at this point.

Some of the other quotes from the original New York Post story that this was cribbed from are amazing:

For walking-around money, he holds a cushy $200,000-a-year job as a "special assistant" at the MLB Players Association in Manhattan but doesn't have to go into the office.

Asked what his duties entailed, a woman there said, "He just talks to the players."

Migdalia [his ex-wife] said she urged Robert, as she calls him, to accept the delayed deal.

"I made it very clear we can't take [the lump-sum $5.9 million]," she said. "I said, 'You'll just end up spending it.' "

Once more, we see innumeracy from the media. Do they not understand the time value of money? (Again: yes, both sides gambled on where interest rates would be, and Bonilla won. But the media acts as if receiving a higher dollar figure years down the road is in itself a windfall.)

For walking-around money, he holds a cushy $200,000-a-year job as a "special assistant" at the MLB Players Association in Manhattan but doesn't have to go into the office.

A cheap shot. The implication is that he's not doing anything for the money, but if his job is to be a liaison to the players, why would he "have to go into the office" to do it?

Regardless of how much work Bonilla does, why is the moral "shame" of a sinecure on the person in the position? Sometimes you just want to be overpaid.

[7]

Once more, we see innumeracy from the media. Do they not understand the time value of money? (Again: yes, both sides gambled on where interest rates would be, and Bonilla won. But the media acts as if receiving a higher dollar figure years down the road is in itself a windfall.)

Did Wilpon really gamble on where interest rates would be? If you believe Picard, Wilpon took the money and invested it with Bernie Madoff for a sure 10-12% for 12 years, while having to pay Bonilla only 8% interest. Seems more like he gambled on the continued existence / non-detection of the Ponzi scheme.

That money will fund a lot of charity bowling tournaments.

Speaking of Picard and the Mets.

Madoff and the Mets

Mets have bigger problems than wringing their hands over this ancient BobbyBo deal.

Please, spare me the tears for Bobby Bonilla. This guy created so many problems--for himself and by himself--during his days in New York.

How differnet would life had been twenty years ago if the Mets had listened to Mike and the Mad Dog and passed on Bonilla to wait a year for Barry Bonds to be a free agent?

Following the advice of Mike and the Mad Dog, just on principle, designates you to failure.

How differnet would life had been twenty years ago if the Mets had listened to Mike and the Mad Dog and passed on Bonilla to wait a year for Barry Bonds to be a free agent?

So they end up with neither guy.

This payment would have been pursuant to the 4-year contract Bonilla signed with the Marlins on 11/22/96. It had nothing to do with the Free Agent deal he signed with the Mets in 1991.