9 Notable MLB Players With Deferred Contracts

Professional baseball fans celebrated yet another “Bobby Bonilla Day” on July 1st. That, of course, is the annually reoccurring reminder that the former Mets outfielder is set to get paid.

Bonilla deferred part of his MLB contract with New York to be divvied out after his retirement. He gets paid nearly $1.2 million each summer through 2035. He’s now 15 payments down. There are still 10 more to go!

Bobby Bonilla is certainly the most notable MLB player to receive deferred paychecks. He’s not the only one, though.

Below is a list of nine professional baseball players who have been the beneficiary of deferred contracts.

Bobby Bonilla

We’ll start with the most famous of the bunch: Bobby Bonilla. The outfielder played 16 pro seasons with eight different teams. He signed with New York after four All-Star stints with the Pirates.

He, however, failed to live up to expectation in the Big Apple. The Mets bought out the remaining $5.9 million of his deal in 2000. Rather than make the payment up front, they agreed to the sign annual $1.2 million checks for 25 years.

Bernie Madoff had something to do with the decision, which in hindsight was a failure. Bonilla’s not complaining, especially since he’s still getting paid $500k per year by the Orioles, too. Not too shabby!

Bret Saberhagen

Bonilla is the most popular deferred contract, but Saberhagen is said to be the OG. In fact, the Mets modeled their plan with Bonilla after their previously agreed upon deal with Saberhagen.

His payments, however, are much lower at $250,000 per year. They started in 2004 and run through 2028.

Bruce Sutter

Sutter signed a $9.1 million deal with the Braves in 1985. He opted to take a $750,000 salary while pushing the majority of his deal to the back end.

His pact provided $4.8 million of deferred money at 13% interest. After it expired in 1990, he began getting $1.12 million payments from Atlanta for 30 years with a final $9.1 million installment in 2022.

Shoehei Ohtani

Ohtani signed a massive contract with the Dodgers worth $700 million over 10 years. He opted to defer $68 million of his $70 million annual salary.

He’ll earn $2 million per season over the life of the deal. He’ll then receive $68 million payments from Los Angeles each year from 2034-2043.

Chris Davis

Davis signed a 7-year, $161 million contract with $42 million to be deferred over a 15-year period.

He got $9.16 million payments in 2024 and 2025. He’ll soon receive $3.5 million payments through 2032, to be followed by $1.4 million checks from 2033-2037.

Manny Ramirez

Ramirez deferred $32 million of a deal with the Red Sox to be paid over 16 years. He’ll get money up through 2026.

The former outfielder will receive $2 million from the organization each year until he turns 54 years old.

Max Scherzer

Scherzer signed a massive deal with the Nationals in 2015 worth $210 million. He deferred salary between 2019-2021 totaling $105 million.

The pitcher started receiving $15 million payments from Washington in 2022. That will continue through 2028.

Freddie Freeman

Another recent Dodgers addition makes the list in Freeman. The first baseman left the Braves to join Los Angeles to the tune of a $162 million.

He’ll be owed $57 million to be divvied up between 2028 to 2040 – around $4 million per year!

Ryan Braun

Braun spent each of his 14 MLB seasons with Milwaukee. He signed a $105 million extension following an MVP campaign in 2011.

He’s now paid $1.8 million in deferred money each year through 2031. The payments started in 2022, two years after his retirement.