New York Mets: The one contract that may be worse than Bobby Bonilla’s

More than two decades ago, the New York Mets made a move that, in hindsight, ended up costing them millions of dollars for decades.

Mets primary owner at the time, Fred Wilpon, decided to release veteran infielder Bobby Bonilla after public spats with manager Bobby Valentine and a poor season after the 1999 campaign (.160 average and a .579 OPS). However, he was still owed $5.9 million in the 2000 season.

Bonilla’s agent, Dennis Gilbert, negotiated a deal with Wilpon where the payment to Bonilla would be deferred to 2011 and run through 2035.

As Darren Rovell explained for ESPN in 2016, it could have been good at the time. However, since Wilpon had a lot of money involved in Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, the house of cards fell into on Wilpon. As a result, the Mets are universally laughed at on July 1, when Bonilla is paid $1.19 million by the organization.

However, the New York Mets may be universally laughed at over a contract that is even worse.

The New York Mets traded for Cleveland Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor this past offseason. The Mets, then, extended Lindor to a 10-year contract for $341 million ($1 million more than Fernando Tatis, Jr.’s contract extension with the San Diego Padres).

But Lindor has been a total dud for the New York Mets … and we should have seen it coming.

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In 2021, heading into Tuesday’s action, Lindor has hit .227/.317/.385 with an OPS+ of 94. He was a key figure of the Mets’ idiotic attempt to show disapproval of their own fans for “booing” the Mets atrocious part and, thus far, has not shown that he can deal with the bright spotlight of New York City.

Lindor admitted that he “got tired” and “didn’t give it my best” in 2020 for Cleveland and they were quickly dispatched by the New York Yankees in the best-of-three Wild Card round. Overall, he didn’t have a great 2020 season, as he hit .258/.335/.415 with an OPS+ of 103. In his final 23 games of the season, though, Lindor hit just .214 with an OPS of .666.

In the two Wild Card games, he went 1-for-8.

Lindor also finished the 2019 season by hitting just .189 with an OPS of .612 in his final 18 games while Cleveland was desperately trying to get into (and failing) into the postseason.

So what has Lindor got the Mets? So far, he helped them remain the laughingstock of baseball and helped them get to a 69-69 record on September 7.

If that’s what the Mets are going to get for the next nine years, they will have massively overpaid for a player who hasn’t fared well on any level during his time in Queens.

In other words, Lindor very well may personify the Mets in a nutshell: a walking dumpster fire for years to come unless something drastically changes this offseason.