There have been some crazy contract stipulations in the history of Major League Baseball.
Limo rides. Horse-riding lessons. In 1987, Astros reliever Charlie Kerfeld, a little miffed by what he felt were insufficient funds offered during a contract renegotiation, tried to stick it to the team by demanding 37 cases of orange Jell-O.
The more common stipulations involve, of course, money. Bonuses for reaching various markers, a portion of payments deferred to years after the player has retired.
Perhaps the most well-known example of this comes every July 1, when baseball fans get their annual reminder that you don’t actually have to play the game to get paid. You just have to be smart enough to sign the right contract.
It’s called Bobby Bonilla Day, and it’s turned into a sport unto itself. Every year until 2035, the Mets send Bonilla a check for $1.19 million even though he hasn’t taken a big-league at-bat since 2001. It’s a running joke, a meme, a cautionary tale about deferred money and magical math.
Jordan Montgomery Earns Bonus for Being Traded While Rehabbing Elbow
But Bonilla might need to make room at the table. Because this week, Jordan Montgomery just pulled off a modern version of baseball’s finest tradition: getting paid a whole lot of money to do absolutely nothing.
When Montgomery was included in a surprise deadline-day trade that sent reliever Shelby Miller from the Arizona Diamondbacks to the Milwaukee Brewers, it triggered a $500,000 assignment bonus in his contract. That’s half a million dollars — not for logging a quality start, not for racking up postseason innings, not even for warming up in the bullpen — but for being traded. Which is kind of wild, but not unheard of.
It does border on the absurd, however, given that Montgomery hasn’t thrown a single inning all season.
No minor-league rehab. No appearances in Arizona. Nothing but arm trouble, Tommy John surgery and a lengthy rehab. And yet thanks to a clause in the two-year contract he signed in March 2024 — part of a late-spring deal with the D-backs after a long winter of waiting — Montgomery gets a payday just for switching teams.
Jordan Montgomery’s Contract Clause Pales Compared to ‘Bobby Bonilla Day’
It’s hard not to admire it, in the same way fans admire Bonilla’s annual check or Chris Davis annually cash-grabbing from Baltimore. But it also raises questions about how baseball handles bonuses, roster manipulation, and injury limbo.
As FanSided put it this week, Montgomery somehow managed to discover perhaps the easiest way to be “a sneaky winner” of the MLB trade deadline. Milwaukee took on the $2 million or so of the $7.5 million Montgomery is still owed, so acquiring Miller cost the Brewers nothing but the infamous “player to be named later.”
Meanwhile, Montgomery will become an unrestricted free agent after the regular season ends. It could be an uncertain offseason for the 32-year-old left-hander, who will likely be still rehabbing when the 2026 season begins.
But at least Montgomery will be getting a nice chunk of change for his troubles. Because in the world of contract stipulations, being movable can be profitable.
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