July 1 brings the usual “Bobby Bonilla Day” chatter, but the Brewers have their own deferred-money bill to pay.
Ryan Braun and Lorenzo Cain have both been out of Milwaukee for years - Braun after the shortened 2020 season, Cain midway through 2022 - yet the team is still cutting checks to each former All-Star outfielder. Braun is receiving $1.8 million today, and that same payment will keep coming each year through 2031. Cain got $1 million, and he’ll collect that amount again next year before his contract is officially finished.
It’s a much smaller-scale version of the mess that made July 1 famous in baseball circles. The New York Mets have been paying Bobby Bonilla $1.19 million every July 1 since 2011, and that arrangement runs through 2035. Bonilla is 63 now, so by the time the deal is done, the Mets will still be writing that check to a 72-year-old former player.
Deferred money has become a more familiar part of the sport since that infamous Mets contract went sideways, even if no team wants to end up stuck in a Bonilla-style situation. The most eye-popping current example is Shohei Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million deal with the Dodgers, in which $680 million is deferred. From 2034 through 2043, Los Angeles will pay Ohtani $68 million a year, even if he is no longer on the roster.
For Milwaukee, the Braun and Cain payments are modest by comparison, but they still matter for a small-market club. A few million dollars going to players who no longer wear the uniform is not nothing.
The larger conversation around deferred money may be heading toward a real shift. In its latest proposal to the MLB Players Association during Collective Bargaining Agreement talks, the league included a clause that would remove teams’ ability to use deferred payments in new contracts. Players are expected to push back hard against anything that trims earning power, but the issue is viewed as one of the more workable compromises in the negotiations.
Even if that happens, the contracts already on the books would still be paid out. So “Bobby Bonilla Day” isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
It would remain alive until 2043, when Ohtani’s Dodgers deal finally runs out. And with the possibility of deferred payments disappearing in the next CBA, some teams may try to lock in extensions or free-agent deals now before that door closes.
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Woodford has struggled in both the majors and at Triple-A this year, and now the contract he signed gives the Brewers a decision they cannot avoid for long. If they do not add him to the big-league roster, the alternative would leave them without much control over what happens next, which is exactly the kind of late-summer bullpen wrinkle teams prefer not to have hanging over them. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Suddenly Have One More Deadline Question In The Outfield
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A right-handed hitting outfielder would give the Brewers another way to patch that split, whether the answer comes from the farm system or from the trade market. Prospect Luis Lara has given the organization something to think about with strong production against left-handers in the minors, and the front office will have to decide whether internal depth is enough or whether this is another spot that needs to be addressed before the deadline clock runs out. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Face A Brutal Jacob Misiorowski Decision As Stakes Rise
Jacob Misiorowski has become one of the most compelling stories in the National League, and the Brewers are now staring at the kind of decision every contender hopes to avoid. With the rookie right-hander in the mix for the NL Cy Young Award, Milwaukee has to weigh the value of pushing for individual hardware against the bigger priority of keeping his arm fresh for the stretch run.
That tension is what makes the second half so tricky. Misiorowskis workload has already climbed into territory that demands attention, and the Brewers know a cautious approach could leave him short of the volume that tends to sway award voters, especially when other top starters are piling up innings. For Milwaukee, it is a familiar front-office and dugout balancing act, but this one carries a little more weight because the upside is so obvious and the margin for error is so thin. [Read more 🡒]