Ken Griffey Jr. is making Bobby Bonilla jealous
So much is made about the deferred money the Mets are paying Bobby Bonilla, but he's surely jealous of what Ken Griffey Jr. is getting from the Reds.
July 1 has become “Bobby Bonilla Day” in the baseball, as Bonilla collects his annual deferred payment from the New York Mets. He will collect that annual payment of just under $1.2 million until 2035.
2023 MLB Opening Day is Thursday. Ken Griffey Jr. has not played a major league game since 2010, and his last game for the Cincinnati Reds was during the 2008 season.
Griffey signed a nine-year, $112.5 million deal with the Reds in 2000, shortly after they acquired him from the Mariners. The contract included deferred payments from 2009-2024, at $3.59 million per year.
With that, and a bit of housecleaning last offseason, Griffey is the Reds’ fourth-highest paid player this year. He was “just” the sixth-highest paid guy on the Reds’ payroll going into the 2022 season.
Only Joey Vottto ($25 million), Mike Moustakas ($22 million) and Wil Myers ($6 million) will count for more on Cincinnati’s payroll this year. Votto’s peak years are behind him, Moustakas is no longer on the team and Myers was just signed this winter.
On the bright side for the Reds, they only have one more deferred payment to make to Griffey.
