Darryl Strawberry's deferred salary sold at auction

An anonymous buyer has purchased the deferred salary the New York Mets owe former outfielder Darryl Strawberry, according to the Associated Press. 

The IRS had announced in December that the contract would be sold at auction.

The IRS sold the money at auction in order to cover Strawberry's unpaid taxes. The buyer, who paid $1.3 million, will receive $8,891.82 every month from the Mets for over 18 years, a total of nearly $2 million. 

The money comes from Strawberry's 1990 team option. According to ESPN's Darren Rovell, $700,000 of Strawberry's $1.8 million option was placed in an annuity with a 5.1 percent interest rate.

The government sued Strawberry in 2007 for $500,000 he owed in backed taxes from 1989, 1990, 2003 and 2004. Strawberry's ex-wife, Charisse, also sued for a portion of the deferred money when she filed for bankruptcy, Rovell reports, but the IRS ruled the funds were owed to the government.

Strawberry has struggled with drug and alcohol abuse and has also been treated for cancer twice.

- Dan Gartland