paying someone to go away

The best part about being a pro athlete in baseball is that every contract is guaranteed.

The New York Mets in 2009 signed a pitcher by the name of Oliver Perez  to a 3-year, $36M contract.  In the first two years of the contract, Perez' record was 3 wins and 9 losses.  Today, the Mets decided to release Perez, and to pay him $12M to do anything but pitch for their team this year.

former Mets' pitcher Oliver Perez

A lot of times when teams sign players to long-term contracts, they expect the first few years to be good ones, but are willing to accept that the player might not live up to their bargain on the back end of the deal.  In that instance, they just cut the player and move on.

This issue of cutting a player they paid big money for is especially sensitive to the New York Mets.  The reason is that their ownership group is struggling because of its close financial relationship with Ponzi scheme organizer Bernie Madoff.  Because of this close relationship with Madoff, the Mets ownership has become subject to lawsuits that might force them to sell a significant portion of the team......as well as paying off Oliver Perez.