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Rockies will finally stop paying a pitcher they signed in 2001

Chris Cwik
Staff writer
The Rockies are almost done paying Mike Hampton. (AP Photo)
The Rockies are almost done paying Mike Hampton. (AP Photo)

Mike Hampton hasn’t played for the Colorado Rockies since 2002, but he’s still cashing their checks. Hampton’s mega deal with the team contained $19 million in deferred payments, the final of which will be paid out Saturday, according to Fancred’s Jon Heyman.

Hampton infamously signed an eight-year, $121 million deal with the Rockies in 2001. It was the most expensive deal in baseball at the time.

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It didn’t work out. Hampton put up a 5.75 ERA in two seasons with the Rockies. He was traded to the Florida Marlins in 2002, and was flipped to the Atlanta Braves two days later. Hampton finished out his contract in 2008, and remained in the league until 2010.

Despite Hampton changing teams, the Rockies remained on the hook for his deferred payments. It’s Colorado’s version of the Bobby Bonilla contract. Bonilla still gets a $1.1 million check from the New York Mets every July 1 due to a similar agreement.

Bonilla and Hampton are even more connected, though. The reason the Mets parted ways with Bonilla and set up a deferred salary payment plan with him was so that the team would have more money to bring in players free agents. Take one guess at which player they acquired with that money?

It was Hampton. In his only season with the Mets, Hampton went 15-10, with a 3.14 ERA, over 217 2/3 innings. He helped take the team to the World Series, where it lost to the New York Yankees. Hampton then became a free agent and signed with, you guessed it, the Rockies.

It was a mistake the team is still paying for today … though that won’t last much longer. If you still want to celebrate players getting money long after they’ve left the game, don’t be sad. The Mets still have to pay Bonilla through 2023.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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