The Colorado Rockies have their own “Bobby Bonilla Day” deferred salaries

Every year on July 1, former New York Mets All-Star Bobby Bonilla comes up in the news as it is the day that he is paid $1.19 million by the Mets after they bought out his contract for the 2000 season.

The Colorado Rockies, though, have not one but two deferred salaries on their books from players that have not played on the team for nearly a decade or more.

The Colorado Rockies pay deferred salaries to Todd Helton and Vinny Castilla

In 2022, the Colorado Rockies have two deferred salaries to two franchise legends but neither of them has played with the team for nearly a decade or longer.

Todd Helton signed a two-year contract extension for roughly $38 million in 2010. However, he deferred $13 million of that to after he retired. Therefore, he is paid $1.3 million per year for 10 years. The final year of that will be next season. However, Helton is a special assistant GM Bill Schmidt so he is still with the club in some capacity.

The other deferred deal is to former third baseman Vinny Castilla. When Castilla re-signed with the team on a one-year deal for $2.1 million. All but $500,000 of that was deferred to 2015 through 2029 so he is paid $106,666 per year from the Rockies in addition to his salary as a special assistant to Bill Schmidt.

However, those two contracts are nothing like Bonilla’s. Bonilla was owed $5.9 million for the 2000 season before the Mets bought the contract out. Instead, the Mets agreed to pay Bonilla nearly $1.2 million each and every season for 25 years starting July 1, 2011, including a negotiated 8 percent interest. So instead of getting paid $5.9 million, the Mets agreed to pay him $29.83 million.

They agreed to it because they invested money with Bernie Madoff and were promised big returns. Of course, Madoff’s investment didn’t return since it was a Ponzi scheme. That’s part of the reason why the Wilpons (the former majority owners of the Mets) were universally mocked (for that and other very bad decision making).

Lessons the Colorado Rockies can take from the Colorado Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche gave a masterclass in conducting a rebuild. If the Colorado Rockies take a few lessons, perhaps they can win a title.