The numbers have never quite encapsulated Shohei Ohtani. Historic greatness doesn’t fit neatly into a spreadsheet. To observe that he ranks third in baseball in ERA (2.84) among starting pitchers over the past three years while also ranking second in OPS (.964), while true, does not at all capture the feeling of watching him spin a sweeper past a baffled hitter for strike three, then trot to the plate two and a half minutes later and blast a home run that leaves the outfielders standing slack-jawed.
Still, if you had to pick a figure that summed up the most talented player in the history of the sport, $700 million is as good as any. On Saturday, Ohtani posted to Instagram that he had agreed to terms with the Dodgers; his agent, Nez Balelo, confirmed that he will make $700 million over 10 years, the largest contract in sports history. A person familiar with the deal said it included unprecedented deferrals, which he added were Ohtani’s idea and which are designed both to confer tax benefits to him and to lower his luxury-tax hit so the team can maintain payroll flexibility.
Ohtani is expected to serve as the team’s designated hitter immediately while he rehabs the left ulnar collateral ligament he tore on Aug. 23 and on which he had surgery on Sept. 19. (He has declined to name the procedure, but the Los Angeles Times has reported that it was his second Tommy John surgery.) Balelo has said Ohtani will be ready to pitch again in 2025.
