As that date approaches, the Mets become a punchline and punching bag for beat writers near and far. Not every agent, though, is comfortable with these risks. 7 Of The Craziest Deferred-Money Contracts In Sports . In a year, the Braves will stop paying for a huge mistake it made during the Reagan Administration. . December 9, 1980: Cubs trade Bruce Sutter to the Cardinals Over the course of his six-year deal, Sutter collected 40 saves, total, while sporting a 4.55 ERA. Atlanta won the NL West twice from 1969 to 1990. On every single July 1 since 2011 and every subsequent one through 2035 baseball fans celebrate the hallowed tradition known as Bobby Bonilla Day, a glorious holiday in which the six-time MLB All-Star receives a deferred $1.19 million payment from the New York Mets as a result of what came to be an utterly gross miscalculation on the part of the club dating back to the 1999-00 offseason. By, Photo by Nury Hernandez/New York Post Archives /(c) NYP Holdings, Inc. via Getty Images, Photo by B Bennett/Bruce Bennett Studios via Getty Images Studios/Getty Images, Jeff Swinger via Imagn Content Services, LLC, Photo by Christopher Pasatieri/Getty Images, Photo by Rich Pilling/MLB Photos via Getty Images, Mike Ehrmann/Pool Photo via USA TODAY Sports, Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY, USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Content Services, LLC, Photo by Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images, Roy Dabner, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via Imagn Content Services, LLC, This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google. Sutcliffes contract is structured on a radically different basis than Sutters, since there are no deferred payments. | All in all, its over $47 million for a pitcher who delivered just 40 saves for a team that averaged 96 losses per season. The 1979 NL Cy Young Award winner and a member of the Cubs Hall of Fame, Sutter pitched with Chicago from 1976-80, collecting 133 . When you dont know what youre doing, bad things tend to happen. Bruce Sutter, RP (December 7, 1984) . Pretty good deal for Saberhagen, who got 25 years of payments from a contract where he won 21 games. -- Who has control over the account, if there is one? Even if the Mets dont exercise his $32,500,000 club option for 2024 hed receive the final $15,000,000 of that sum in 2039 he can still boast no less than $52,500,000 in deferred cash to his name. You are betting on the viability of both the sport and the franchise. If, for example, the interest rate were to remain at 12.3% for the life of the agreement, the total payments would be $47.2 million. By the time the 25th and final Bobby Bonilla Day has come and gone 13 years from now, the man will have turned the $5.9 million the Mets still owed after releasing him with a year left on his contract into a full $29.8 million in deferred money as part of a peculiar with-interest compensation structure. Bruce Sutter. Ryan Brauns chance at long-term success seemed in grave doubt when in 2013, he admitted to taking PEDs during his MVP season of 2011. The press estimated that with interest the account would pay Sutter $1.3 million per year for 30 years. When Albert Pujols jumped from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, part of the deal was a ten-year, $10 million personal services contract with the team that kicks in after his retirement, or the expiration of his deal. --Sutter cannot be traded without his consent. Advertisement . Its not discussed as often enough as the one the former All-Star has with the New York Mets, but its just as bad. The best deal came for their lawyer, Donald Schupak, who got 10 percent roughly $1.45 million every year, just for putting the deal together. Bronner says this protects Sutter, since if inflation increases, the interest rate will probably rise, and the real value of his payments will be protected. Unfortunately, the owner of the Express was going broke by 1985, so much so that Young had to personally pay a bus driver to take them to one game and line up at tailback because the Express had no money to replace injured players. Manny Ramirez Contract Details, Salaries, & Earnings | Spotrac All were negotiated in the last few years, so no one has yet seen the long-term effects of the big-money, deferred-payment contracts. As a pretty funny, and obviously unintended side effect, Sutter ended up getting his negotiated salary in both 1989 and 1990, even though he was retired, Lewis wrote. When he negotiated an extension in 1993, he insisted on two things: a signing bonus of $2.5 million and then payments of $250,000 a year for 25 years. Thats right: it was deferred until 2022. Former Cubs closer and Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter has died That is going to create for Rick an annuity that pays $900,000 a year beginning in 12 years. Those payments of $750,000 during his playing career and the $1.12 million that followed are only interest payments, Lewis points out. Sean Keane is a comedian residing in Los Angeles. Because Bonilla was traded to Baltimore midway through the deal, the Orioles and Mets split the money. Buy Bruce Sutter Baseball Cards The key to the contract is the interest rates. It might be the worst contract in baseball history, and it still has 17 years to go. Baseball is better. Search instead in Creative? So they deferred a lot of player salaries, most notably that of star Mario Lemieux, who was owed $32.5 million at the time the owners declared bankruptcy the teams largest individual creditor. Hall of Fame pitcher Bruce Sutter dies at 69. Bronner spoke of an equivalent value of $13.6 million--the $4.5 million in salarie, plus the theoretical $9.1 million base upon which the annual payments will be made after the six years. In the case of Sutter, that means he shouldnt have gotten the full $9.1 million (plus interest); he retired four years into the six year contact. It led Holliday and his agent, Scott Boras, to claim he was getting $17 million per year, and it gave the Cardinals extra salary flexibility. Dennis Gilbert did a phenomenal job working #TheContract for Bobby Bo. Bruce Sutter, a Hall of Fame reliever and World Series champion, died on Thursday. We just felt more secure. . Young eventually settled the annuity for $1.4 million, presumably figuring it was better than what hed get after bankruptcy proceedings. That ends in 2021, and its only 2018, so Bruce Sutter, at some point this year, received or will receive a check for $1.12 million.. Sutter, whose final payment comes in 2022, was able to turn $9.1 million into nearly $47 million thanks to interest. --The principal of the fund after the next six years, the $9.1 million whether it is a phantom fund or not, will go to Sutter or his heirs in 2020 at the conclusion of the contract, at which time taxes will have to be paid on it. The last time Saberhagen pitched in the big leagues was 2001. Haywood couldnt get a guarantee on what would happen if the Rockets folded, so he jumped to the Supersonics for a $1.5 million contract that paid out over 15 years. Though hes less famous than Pujols, Ryan Zimmerman has an even sweeter deal with Washington, a $10 million post-retirement personal services contract that pays out over five years. Those payments . After the 1984 season, Sutter signed a six-year contract with the Braves that paid him $4.5 million and placed another $4.8 million into a deferred payment account that would pay him $1.3 million per year for 30 years after the contract expired. Of course, like the Mets, they lost a big chunk of that money investing with Bernie Madoff. Zach Randolph has deferred significant portions of his contracts two separate times, starting with his six-year, $84 million Blazers deal in 2004. It was widely reported that relief pitcher Bruce Sutter was to receive payments totaling $44 million over the next 36 years from his new club, the Atlanta Braves. Get on our list for weekly sports business, industry trends, interviews, and more. Sutter retired four years into his six-year deal with the Braves, but as Lewis explained, Sutter still received his money because Atlanta agreed to pay the $9.1 million in full when the contract was agreed to. He spent the 1984 season anchoring the bullpen of the St. Louis Cardinals, leading the league in Games Finished with 63 and amassing a then-record-tying 45 saves while pitching a now unheard of 122.2 IP. When Alex Rodriguez signed his massive free agent deal with Texas in 2001, he deferred $45 million until 2011-20 at 3 percent annual interest. His Braves tenure was highlighted by injuries. Typically, when a player signs a multiyear contract, the total is paid out over the course of that contract in the form of annual salaries. Privacy Policy. Instead of being termed as ridiculous, Major League Baseball teams refer to the contracts as "deferred salary payment plans." . Bruce Sutter Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth, Family The Baseball Hall of Fame said that Sutter died Thursday in Cartersville. The famous one came when the Mets bought out Bonillas $5.9 million salary for 2000. If they funded the annuity in this way, according to the 12.3% interest rate agreed upon, the fund would have increased to $9.1 million at the end of the six years and, according to the minimum interest rate, would fund annual payments of $1.12 million. Bruce Sutter, who passed away today at sixty-nine years of age, is something of an anomaly among St. Louis Cardinals players whose numbers have been retired by the club. I felt a little differently seven or eight years ago when inflation wasnt so bad.. Bobby Bonilla is the poster boy for ill-considered salary deferrals, but he actually had two with the New York Mets. For more information, please see our There is little question that Sutter belongs with the highest paid players in baseball. He was, shockingly, worth more as a batter: he put up a 0.0 bWAR line as a Brave, turning in a career-high 0.1 bWAR in 1988, when he went 0-for-1 with a walk and a strikeout. For the thirty years after he retired 30!!! Though the Braves made up for it in a big way in the 1990s to mid-2000s, this team is still paying Bruce Sutter heaping sums of cash. Oops. So, depending on the rate, the actual required payments may be more than $1.12 million a year. A six-time All-Star, Sutter led the National League in saves for five years and won the 1979 Cy Young Award. Agent Tom Reich of Los Angeles (no relation to this writer), who represented Dave Parker among others, also questioned accepting as much as Sutter did in deferred compensation. If someone said to me, we want to defer 55% of the contract into an account over which you have no control (a precise description of the Sutter deal), I dont think I could live with that. Hall of Fame closer Bruce Sutter, World Series champion, dies at 69 . The payments began in 1991, which means that Sutter has been receiving deferred payments for 30 years. Week Team League; 05/14/1977: Chicago Cubs: NL: 07/09/1978: Chicago Cubs . Move over, Bobby Bonilla: The Braves have been paying Bruce Sutter for ATLANTA -- The Atlanta Braves signed free agent Bruce Sutter to a contract worth nearly $50 million Friday and the fastball relief pitcher said he was delighted because now he can see Dale. A specialist in content strategy, copywriting, and SEO, he has additionally worked as a digital consultant in the corporate services, retail, and tech industries. Bronner, told of Reichs remarks, said that Sutter already has established various revenue pools through an earlier four-year contract with the St. Louis Cardinals, which he said had brought his client about $1 million a year. Unfortunately for Baltimore, Davis almost immediately cratered at the plate, hitting .168 and .179 in the last two seasons. Bruce Sutter Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images (They havent.) Sutter spent five years with the Cubs, four with the Cardinals, and three with the Braves but remained an Atlanta resident after retirement. The newspaper estimated that the account would pay Sutter $1.3 million per year for 30 years after the initial six seasons of the contract. They racked up over $300 million before the NBA finally bought them out in 2014, for something like $500 million more. The power of compounded interest is extremely strong. They might say, Gee, the cash flow in 2013 is lousy and well pay you 20 cents on the dollar.. 12. In 1984, Sutter signed a contract with Atlanta that would pay him $4.8 million over six years and place another $4.8 million into a deferred payment account. Keep in mind he only made roughly $750,000 in annual salary during his four years playing badly for the Braves. Manny being Manny indeed! Sutter was recently diagnosed with cancer and died in hospice, surrounded by his family, his son, Chad . And the upcoming 60-game season makes the deferral look even smarter because the 2020 money deGrom gets at age 51 wont be prorated one bit. Sutter only played four forgettable years with the Braves before retiring after the 1988 MLB season. Two other issues between Bronner and some of the other agents involved his willingness to accept such a high percentage of the total compensation in deferred payments and his relative optimism that the Braves in particular and baseball in general will maintain the financial viability over the next 36 years necessary to pay off the contract. The newspaper . In 2023, Davis gets his first of five $3.5 million payouts from the Os. Unlike a lot of long-term NHL deals of that time, it wasnt even cap circumvention he got $4.5 million every season for the 15 years. Sutter set a National League record with 45 saves in 53 chances last season. But for some reason, the Braves wanted more. It was the winter of 1984. He posted 300 saves in a 12-year career with the Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals and . "Bruce Sutter Dollars and years: $42.7 million million over 30 years Years of deferred payments: 1993 - 2022 Who owes him These Georgia cities lead the nation in all-cash home sales in 2022, but why? Sutter annually receives $1.12 million from the Atlanta Braves and will continue to receive payments until 2022. The Cardinals announced that Hall of Fame pitcher and World Series champion Bruce Sutter has passed away. Boardroom is a media network that covers the business of sports, entertainment. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Where would the Braves be without Josh Donaldson. He also signed a four-year deal for $66 million in 2011 and deferred almost $10 million, roughly 25 percent.