It’s that time of the year again, where Bobby Bonilla collects two big* paychecks from the New York Mets and Baltimore Orioles for playing baseball despite the fact that he’s 62 years old today and hasn’t played baseball since 2001; and I trot out this annual post to put on blast just how stupid and egregious that baseball salaries continuously escalate.
*$1,193,248 from the Mets and $500,000 from the O’s; paltry in the grand spectrum of MLB salaries, but still tremendously more than what successful doctors, teachers and actual essential personnel in the real working world make
It’s funny this year, because of the Dodgers’ absolute bonkers spending spree, and spamming of salary deferral, the whole concept of deferring salaries has come under a massively public microscope. Most old nerdy fans like me know it’s all well within the rules and that any team in the league can employ it, and as I’ve documented, many have throughout the years, but nobody has really done it to the effect of the Dodgers have over the last offseason, promising out over a billion dollars to several players that will be paid out mostly between the years of 2030 through like, the end of the human race, at the rate we’re going.
But even in spite of the Dodgers’ deferral spree they went on this year, in the grand spectrum of the 2025 season, the Dodgers are but just a mere blip on the radar in the master list of deferrals, as well as dead money throughout the league. Granted, this will change dramatically in the 2030’s, when Bobby Bonilla’s contract finally ends, and the Dodgers’ deferrals start to kick in and I’ll probably have to change the name of these posts from “Bobby Bonilla Day” to “the Dodgers present,” but until then, there’s still a lot of life in this little exercise continuing to be named after Bobby Bo.
Anyway, on with the show.
In the 2025 season, there are 24 players making deferred monies, according to Spotrac, spread between 14 teams. Compared to last year, this is one less player and one less team, primarily on account of Ken Griffey Jr. finally coming off the Cincinnati Reds’ books despite not having played since 2010. I made a joke last year that it was perfect that it was 25 players, since rosters (used to be) are 25-man rosters (with a 26th injured reserve spot).
However, in spite of the one fewer player and one fewer team, these 24 players are making an estimated $83.156M, which is a higher payroll than three teams’ total payrolls: the Chicago White Sox, Miami Marlins of course, the Oakland the Sacramento The A’s. Barely avoiding the embarrassment of being outspent by a roster of deferred salaries are the Tampa Bay Rays and Pittsburgh Pirates.
Once again, the Washington Nationals are the leaders of deferred monies, with a total of $25M being given to two players in 2025, with starting pitchers Max Scherzer camping $15M and Patrick Corbin account for $10M. Neither player is actually on the Nationals anymore, with Corbin having taken his talents to the Texas Rangers and Scherzer having gone to the North up in Toronto where he’s already on the injured list for an ouchie on this thumb.
Also you can’t mention Max Scherzer in this context without bringing up that in 2024, the man received three eight-figure paychecks from three different MLB ballclubs, a year removed from him getting absolutely carried to a World Series ring. The Mets and Rangers came off the books this year, and presumably the Blue Jays are only on the hook for this season, but the Nationals still owe two more years at $15M, and in 2028, Max gets a deferred payment from who else, the Dodgers, for whom he played with briefly in 2021.
The man is truly on a god-tier of doing little for insane amounts of money.
An interesting thing, and it seems to continuously be heading in this direction, is that among these 24 players making deferred monies, eight of them are not yet retired or out of the league yet. In prior years, deferring money used to be this way for teams to finagle their way out of paying a certain amount in the present by pushing it off into the future, presumably when the players were already out of the game, with the implied promise that by breaking it up into smaller chunks with interest or a pre-determined amount set, it acts like a cushy retirement fund for these players to enjoy in the later years of their lives.
Like in the case of Bobby Bonilla, it’s kind of funny how his agent kind of low-key suspected that Bonilla might be broke in ten years after he closed the book on his playing days, and that the payments of his legendary deal would begin in 2011, long after he was done playing. But nowadays, teams are signing guys while in their prime to blockbuster numbers, and as is the escalating case, their deferrals are all starting while they are still active players, allowing for them to in some cases, double- and triple-dip paychecks from multiple teams, and in some case, get two paychecks from the team they’re playing for.
That being said, when constructing my annual All-Bonilla team, I felt the need to disqualify any active players from the lineup card, and I have this feeling that in future years, I might not be able to do this exercise consisting of solely retired and out of the league players, given the way the game is (d)evolving.
So without further ado, let’s unveil the 2024 All-Deferred, All-Retired** Starting Lineup, presented by Bobby Bonilla Day
| Pos. | Name | Salary | Team | Retired |
| C | NONE, still | |||
| 1B | Chris Davis | $9.1M | BAL | 2020 |
| 2B | Dustin Pedroia | $2.5M | BOS | 2019 |
| 3B | Ryan Braun | $1.8M | MIL | 2020 |
| SS | Didi Gregorius | $2.0M | PHI | 2020 |
| OF | Bobby Bonilla | $1.7M | NYM/BAL | 2001 |
| OF | Lorenzo Cain | $1.0M | MIL | 2022 |
| OF | Matt Holliday | $1.5M | STL | 2018 |
| DH | Manny Ramirez | $2.0M | BOS | 2011 |
| SP | Madison Bumgarner | $5.0M | ARI | 2023 |
| SP | Zack Grienke | $12.5M | HOU | 2023 |
| SP | Adam Wainwright | $1.0M | STL | 2023 |
| RP | Mark Melancon | $1.0M | SFG | 2022 |
| RP | Bret Saberhagen | $250K | NYM | 2001 |
| Reserves | ||||
| UT | Vinny Castilla | $106K | COL | 2006 |
| 1B | Jose Abreu | $1.0M | CHW | 2024 |
**whether by choice or degradation of talent
bold denotes first time on the list
Yes, I know Ryan Braun was primarily an outfielder, but for need of a retired third baseman, he broke in as a 3B
Once again, we have no catcher for the team, and even looking at guys who were making deferred money and still actively playing, there’s just no catchers that any teams want to invest a deferred money deal to… yet. In 2026, JT Realmuto will making deferred money from the Phillies, but as mentioned before, this roster is currently consisting of solely retired players, and if I’m a betting man, Realmuto is still playing next year and several years to come.
We’ll see how I feel this time next year when gathering all the intel for this post.
Fun fact: Matt Holliday, who hasn’t played since 2018, will be making twice the money that his son, budding Orioles superstar Jackson Holliday will be making in 2025.
There were only two new players to the list this year, with pitcher Madison Bumgarner and first baseman Jose Abreu being included to the lineup. And with the seemingly decline of actual retired guys getting paid, I have this feeling that this time next year, I’ll have to change the rules of the exercise and we’ll start to see incorporation of active players making the lineup, out of necessity.
But speaking of Abreu, he’s an interesting case. His skills fell off a cliff and absolutely no team wanted him, but he’s still making a ton of money in 2025. More than Chris Davis, technically, it’s just his deferred pay is only $1M from the Chicago White Sox, but he’s still going to be making $19.5M from the Houston Astros, who are retaining his salary on account of him last being there before getting outrighted, but because we’re only talking about deferred, he rides the bench behind Davis.
As I stated last year, and as I’ll probably state every year where deferred money deals continue to be a noteworthy thing, I sure hope these guys all reward their agents, and send them a really nice gift basket or something, every single year.
In conclusion, Bobby Bonilla Day remains as relevant as ever, but it’s only a matter of time before the circumstances of this exercise will demand some change. I have no doubt that I’ll be able to generate a post like this every year, but there is a finite amount of time left that we can continue to name it after the man, the myth and the legend himself. But fewer things embody the American dream than putting one’s self into a situation where you can do absolutely no work at all, but can get paid like a champion all the same.
Until next year, Bobby Bonilla Day fans!
