The Dodgers officially introduced Shohei Ohtani during a press conference on Thursday afternoon, welcoming the two-way superstar to the franchise after signing him to a 10-year, $700 million deal in free agency.
The structure of Ohtani’s contract will see the 29-year-old defer $680 million of the $700 million until after the deal expires, which will be paid out from 2034 to ’43.
During the introductory press conference, Ohtani was asked about his decision to defer so much money in his contract with Los Angeles.
“I was aware of the deferral structure, and usually when there’s a big contract in MLB, I’ve heard from the past that deferrals are involved, not all the time, but a lot of the time,” said Ohtani through his interpreter Ippei Mizuhara.
“So, I was looking into it and doing some calculations, and I figured if I can defer as much money as I can, if that’s going to help the CBT and that’s going to help the Dodgers be able to sign better players and make a better team, I felt like that was worth it,” he added.
Rather than accounting for $70 million against the competitive tax balance, Ohtani’s deal is expected to carry a hit of around $46 million.
With that additional financial flexibility, Ohtani is hopeful the Dodgers can further bolster the roster and make a run at some of baseball’s other top free agents during the offseason.
In addition to the unprecedented deferrals in his deal, Ohtani’s contract also includes a clause that will enable him to opt out should president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman or controlling owner Mark Walter no longer hold their positions within the organization.
In regard to that decision, Ohtani explained that he wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page, calling it “kind of a safety net.”
