Seven hundred million dollars is a lot of money.
By now, most sports fans are familiar with the contract that shattered the previous record for salary. Star two-way player and two-time MVP Shohei Ohtani had tantalized the teams in contention for his services—The Dodgers, Blue Jays, Angels, and Giants—and upset the reporters involved even more.
On December 8th, it was reported that Ohtani’s signing was “imminent”. Then, later that day, it was reported that Ohtani had boarded a flight to Toronto, pretty much confirming that Ohtani was to become a Blue Jay. After the media explosion that took place for the next hour, it was reported that Ohtani was, in fact, not on a plane and was at his home in southern California. Everything died down for about a day before the real news broke: Shohei Ohtani was signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers for $700,000,000.
Ohtani made his debut in the bigs in 2018, heralded as the best two-way player—both a pitcher and hitter—since Babe Ruth. His rookie campaign was expected of a first-year player, not outstanding but promising. He hit .285 with 20 home runs and was solid on the mound to the tune of a 3.31 ERA before getting injured after ten starts. After missing the entirety of 2020 and struggling mightily in 2020, there seemed to be cause for concern within the organization. In 2021, all of LA’s worries were erased.
Ohtani had an MVP season in ’21, hitting .257 with 46 home runs while also starting 23 games and sporting a 3.18 ERA. He set the world and the internet on fire with his play, doing something unparalleled by being a dominant hitter and a successful pitcher at the same time.
After a non-MVP but still incredible season (34 homers, 2.33 ERA in 28 starts), Ohtani returned with a vengeance in his contract year, batting .304 with 44 home runs and going 10-5 with a 3.14 ERA, ending his season early with some elbow surgery. It was said that the injury would hurt his market, given that Ohtani will not be pitching for all of 2024, but that was not the case. Ohtani’s deal was for ten years and $700 million, destroying the previous record.
There was a specific part of Ohtani’s contract that caught everyone’s attention: The deferred payments. Ohtani gets paid $2 million a year in the next ten years with LA and then will get paid $680 million from 2034 to 2043. It’s reminiscent of Bobby Bonilla, who is getting paid a million dollars every year on July 1st from 2011 until 2035. The strange structure of the contract has stood out, as Ohtani is the 17th-highest-paid player on the Dodgers this season.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have created a super team. Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman were both MVP candidates in the 2023 season, and adding a two-time MVP to that mix can only improve the situation. Now the pressure’s on for LA, even more than before. They’ve come up short in nearly every strong season that they’ve had, and continuing to struggle with Ohtani in that lineup could spell disaster for the coaching staff. It’s now or never for the Dodgers.
