Every year, without fail, a deposit hits Bret Saberhagen’s bank account — courtesy of the New York Mets. Not for pitching, not for coaching, not for being on any roster. Just because in 1992 he signed a contract that New York structured in a very specific way: deferred payments, arriving every 12 months, all the way through 2028.
That’s $250,000 a year, 25 consecutive checks for a career that ended decades ago.
Bobby Bonilla Gets the Headlines, But Saberhagen Was First
Bobby Bonilla has become the unofficial mascot of MLB deferred money — his $1.19 million annual payment running through 2035 gets trotted out every July 1st like clockwork. But Saberhagen’s deal predates the Bonilla arrangement, and it’s been quietly paying out since 2004 with almost none of the fanfare.
Saberhagen pitched for the Mets from 1992 to 1995. A two-time Cy Young Award winner and World Series champion, he arrived in Queens at 29 with plenty left in the tank — at least on paper. Injuries and inconsistency got in the way. Over four seasons with New York, he went 17-18 with a 3.80 ERA. Solid, but not what the franchise had envisioned when they brought in a pitcher of his caliber.
The contract, though, was the contract. And deferred money is deferred money.
How the Mets Made Deferred Payments a Habit
The Mets didn’t invent deferred compensation, but they leaned into it hard during the mid-90s. The franchise didn’t have the liquidity to cover full salaries upfront, so they made a deal with their players: you’ll get paid later, but you will get paid. No interest adjustments, no inflation clauses. Just a promise that the checks would clear — years, sometimes decades, down the road.
It was a way to hold onto talent when cash was tight. The players accepted it. The lawyers signed off. And now, more than 30 years later, those agreements are still very much alive.
Two Years Left on the Clock
As of 2026, Saberhagen is still collecting. The final check is scheduled to arrive in 2028 — 36 years after he last took the mound for New York. Bonilla, for his part, keeps going until 2035.
Together, they’re a reminder that a contract signed in the early ’90s isn’t just a historical footnote. It’s a legal obligation that follows a franchise across generations. A $2 million deal in 1992 didn’t always mean $2 million in 1992 — sometimes it meant a promise stretched across three decades.
Saberhagen isn’t the villain or the hero of this story. He negotiated the best deal he could at the time, and he’s collecting what he’s owed. The Mets, to their credit, keep honoring it. When that last payment lands in 2028, it’ll close the books on one of the quieter — and longest-running — financial arrangements in baseball history.
