A few days ago, the New York Mets officially re-signed closer Edwin Díaz to a five-year deal worth $102 million, the largest contract ever for a reliever, by a wide margin. The details of Díaz’s contract are as follows:
- Díaz will receive a $12 million signing bonus, payable as of January 2023.
- Díaz will earn a salary of $17.25 million in both 2023 and 2024.
- He’ll make $17.5 million in 2025.
- The star reliever will have an $18.5 million player option for both 2026 and 2027, but must decide on both before the start of the 2026 season.
There’s also a tidbit about how the Mets can also exercise a sixth-year team option that would pay Díaz $17.25 million in 2028. Should they forego that option, New York would owe their closer a $1 million buyout.
Now, with a normal contract, this would be the end of the discussion, but this is the Mets we’re talking about. According to reports, the Amazins will also be paying Díaz $26.5 million between 2033 and 2042 on top of his $102 million (potentially $118.25 million) contract.
If this sounds like it has happened before, it’s because it has. In 2000, the Mets infamously offered to pay Bobby Bonilla’s $5.9 million contract over 25 years with eight percent interest starting in 2011, hoping that the money they invested in Bernie Madoff would pay off enormous dividends. Spoiler alert! It didn’t. The infamous Ponzi scheme fell apart, and in the 11 years since…
