Bobby Bonilla - Season 1

[Centerfield]

This came up in the Soto thread. But I was wondering why the original Bonilla contract is widely considered a bad signing. Maybe that's an overstatement, but it's not considered a great signing, such as Piazza or Beltran, and not even considered a good signing, such as Curtis Granderson.

In December of 1991, Bonilla signed a 5 year, $29M contract. The richest contract at the time. He was the highest paid player in MLB from 1992-1994, until Ryne Sandberg signed his deal. Bonilla was coming off a year where he hit .305, with 18 HRS, .883 OPS, and finished 3rd in the MVP voting.

His first year with the Mets was a disappointment. But then, he turned things around.
1992: .249, 18HR, .779 OPS
1993: .265, 34 HR, .874 OPS
1994: .290, 20 HR, .878 OPS (strike shortened)
1995: .329, 28 HR, .963 OPS

At the deadline in 1995, Bonilla was traded for O's top prospect Alex Ochoa, and Damon Buford.

Overall, Bonilla posted a higher OPS with the Mets than he did in Pittsburgh. And despite a bad first year, for the remaining 4, he more or less performed as he was expected to perform. With just a few months left on his deal, he was traded for a top prospect.

I have a few theories why Bonilla is viewed in a negative light. The most obvious is that the team played poorly, and fair or not, Bonilla came to symbolize "the Worst Team Money Can Buy". Equally as likely is the bad first impression that he was never able to shake. I think some Met fans failed to recognize that Bonds was the superior player, and falsely viewed the two as equals. And they were upset when Bonds went to the next level while Bonilla just kinda stayed who he was. And maybe some fans are clouded by Bonilla's second tour of duty in 1999, and the ridiculous deferred payments that still haunt us.

Some, like me, were never going to like him because he wasn't Strawberry. But really, none of that was his doing. And the fact that Ochoa was a bust wasn't his fault either.

So what do you guys think. Is Bobby Bonilla viewed unfairly?

[MFS62]

I think he was.
I believe the view in which he is held stems from one play.
I forget all the details, but is looked like he dogged it chasing a fly ball that cost them a game.
It got a lot of press, and was a hot topic on WFAN, with Massive Mike and the Cretinous Canine leading the charge. Mike hated it that Bonilla had signed a high dollar contract right after the two of them had been embroiled in a contract dispute with their station. They basically rode him out of town.
It was unjust. In all the games I saw Bonilla, he busted it on every play.
And hustling is all you can ask from a player.

Later

[Edgy MD]

There were also a couple of PR things that worked against him. He challenged the media corps at his press introduction to try to take the smile off of his face, he threatened to take a writer back to the Bronx as an implied threat to get back at the writer for bad coverage, he called the press box to complain about an error charged against him, and he acknowledged wearing ear plugs to block out boos — none of which is the most damning thing in the world, but taking on the press corps is always a bad idea, and it dovetailed not only with the Worst Team Money Can Buy narrative, but also with the concurrent Mets Gone Wild narrative that was lighting up the back pages.

He got booed during All-Star Game introductions, and was on a hot mic when he turned to the player next to him and smilingly commented that he gets booed everywhere. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that comment, but in the losing and angry atmosphere of the time, it received the worst interpretation.

And yeah, the losing may or may not have been avoidable, but a lot of the ugliness could have been avoided if everyone just stopped listening to WFAN.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

The "bad" Bobby Bonilla deal is the one the Mets assumed then restructured when they reacqired him. That deal was the Orioles' iirc.

The Mets looked dumb in the first BB deal because he didn't get along with the writers and succeeded Strawberry

[Fman99]

And maybe some fans are clouded by Bonilla's second tour of duty in 1999

Don't underestimate this aspect of it. He was particularly bad in his second Mets stint.

[Gwreck]

The "bad" Bobby Bonilla deal is the one the Mets assumed then restructured when they reacqired him. That deal was the Orioles' iirc.

It was the Marlins. After the 5 year deal that Bonilla signed with the Mets ended, he signed as a free agent with Florida for 4 years, $23.3M. He had a good first year (and the Marlins won the WS). When the Marlins dumped everyone, he went to the Dodgers in the Sheffield/Piazza deal, and was bad in LA. Then the Mets reacquired him after the 1998 season with 2 years left on the deal.

[Edgy MD]

The Mets were dumping a bad contract of their own in acquiring him, flipping him for Mel Rojas. The Bonilla contract was clearly more of a load on the Dodgers than the Rojas one was on the Mets, but presumably, the Mets were betting that the Bonilla deal still had potential upside that could not be claimed for the Rojas contract.

Unfortunately, sometimes when you swap bad contracts, you're actually doubling down on your own initial bad decision.

[SheaStadiumPornRoom]

big fan of Bobby.

[Centerfield]

The Mets were dumping a bad contract of their own in acquiring him, flipping him for Mel Rojas. The Bonilla contract was clearly more of a load on the Dodgers than the Rojas one was on the Mets, but presumably, the Mets were betting that the Bonilla deal still had potential upside that could not be claimed for the Rojas contract.

Unfortunately, sometimes when you swap bad contracts, you're actually doubling down on your own initial bad decision.

It was much worse than that. Complete unforced error.

Shitty Decision #1
This started with Phillips and his infatuation for overpaying for middle relievers. He took a very productive Lance Johnson (great 1996 season, and was slashing .309/.385/.404 in 1997) and traded him for Brian McRae (.705 OPS) and two shitty middle relievers. One of the shitty middle relievers (Rojas) was also expensive.

I mean, it's one thing to sign a middle reliever to a big contract and have it go bad. It's another to trade a productive CF who gave you an .827 OPS over two years and trade him for a middle reliever who is already shitty and expensive.

To his credit, McRae did have a strong 1998 before turning shitty again. And Turk Wendell found something and gave us 4 good years of middle relief. But Rojas just continued to be shitty and expensive.

Shitty Decision #2
And the Mets could have just eaten the $4.5 due to Mel Rojas, but instead, like Edgy said, they just kept digging and traded Rojas for Bonilla, who, as you might have guessed, was also shitty. After getting traded to the Dodgers, he put up a .675 OPS (.715 overall OPS for 1998). Bonilla had 2 years, $11.8M due on his contract. LA threw in $1M.

The LA Times headline for that trade was "It's a Relief as Dodgers say Goodbye to Bonilla".

But wait. It gets better!

Shitty Decision #3
After putting up a predictably shitty year in 1999 (.579 OPS), the Mets agreed to buy out the remaining $5.9M due to him, by agreeing to pay him $30M over 25 years (roughly 8% interest).

Shitty Decision #4
In fairness, this could be called Shitty Decision #3A. Because part of the reason they agreed to pay Bonilla 8% interest, is that the Wilpons had this great fund pumping out double digit returns. So they took that Bonilla money, and invested it into a fucking Ponzi scheme. Completing the cycle where they turned a terrific centerfielder into 25 years of obligation, and what is largely considered a punchline in baseball.

But hey. All's well that ends well. Because ultimately the Wilpons sold the Mets for a huge profit to Steve Cohen. So God bless the USA. Where shitty rich people do nothing but fail up.

[G-Fafif]

Old CPF Aussie friend Second Spitter/Triple D LOVED Bobby Bo and wanted it known.

https://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/ ... sometimes/

[metirish]

Wow that's a name from the past

[Edgy MD]

Now that's a great Spit take!

[whippoorwill]

Hahaha I’ll never wash my hand again!

Where’d that guy go anyway?

[smg58]

Bonilla is certainly not the only big Mets acquisition to underachieve in his first season here. But while Beltran and Lindor played big roles getting the Mets to the playoffs their second year here and all was quickly forgiven, Bonilla was the most visible face on a sinking ship. Granted, he wasn't the one throwing fireworks at fans. But the prevailing narrative of that era was the Mets were full of unlikable guys who just didn't give a shit, and there was too much broken for Bonilla to fix with a good individual season.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Old CPF Aussie friend Second Spitter/Triple D LOVED Bobby Bo and wanted it known.

https://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/ ... sometimes/

Classic.