In An Unprecedented Move To Make The Dodgers The Best They Can Be Right Now, Shohei Ohtani Will Defer $68M Of The $70M He's Earning Per Year With LA To The 2030s and 2040s

Thearon W. Henderson. Getty Images.

Three words - Holy Fucking Shit

When Shohei Ohtani signed with the Dodgers over the weekend we got wind that he would have an unprecedented amount of deferrals to go with this deal. I don't think anyone anticipated he'd be making $2M a year for the rest of his baseball playing days. 

Advertisement

In an effort to enable the Dodgers to continue spending around stars Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, Ohtani agreed to defer all but $2 million of his annual salary — $68 million of his $70 million per year — until after the completion of the contract. The deferred money is to be paid out without interest from 2034 to 2043.

You thought Bobby Bonilla Day was cool? Shohei Ohtani day in the 2030s and 2040s is gonna be epic. 

I mean what the fuck are we doing here? How is this legal? We've seen major deferrals recently, with Mookie Betts' Dodger deal earning him $115M after his playing days, but this? This is insane. It feels like it should be against the rules, but somehow it's not. 

Ohtani gets the best of both worlds here. He gets his money, still reels in a reported $50M in off the field partnerships, and allows the Dodgers to build an even better contender right now with him there. The Angels really broke this man. He obviously was after his money and got that, but winning is a must now. When you're making that kind of money, who cares about an extra 60+ as long as you get it eventually? From what you read about the guy he comes off as a guy who really doesn't spoil himself with much. All he cares about is baseball and his dog. 

MLB Photos. Getty Images.

Entering today I felt very good about the Yankees chances at landing prized 25 year old Japanese star Yoshinobu Yamamoto. I no longer feel that way. The Dodgers need pitching, especially in the immediate with Ohtani's right arm sidelined in 2024, and Yamamoto would certainly fill a big void for them. This deferral nonsense will only count Shohei $46M against their yearly luxury tax bill. It won't be free, but that means they're very much in business to acquire a Yamamoto, Glasnow, Bieber, or Cease. Maybe multiple. Who the fuck knows? Goddammit. 

Obviously deferrals were a known thing in baseball, but I bet there were other GMs and executives who didn't know you could take it to this extreme. Baseball is an extremely stupid sport so it's naive to assume they'd cap such a number, and of course they did not.

Advertisement

Do we see more of this in the future? I mean there's a decent chance Andrew Friedman is with another organization or retired by the time those deferrals come around, so it wouldn't even be his mess to handle. We also could all be dead by then. Why would any current GM worry about that kind of future problem right now? As long as the player is cool with it and there's no interest like in Ohtani's situation, what's to stop you. I guess not every free agent is a global mega star who has those kind of off the field earnings, definitely makes this decision easier to follow through with. Either way I'm furious, upset, and jealous.

P.S. Accounting friend of mine told me that deferred compensation works differently and if you defer it for a period of over 10 years then it’s taxed in the state of residency at the time you receive it and not where you earned it. So if Shohei moves out of California after his Dodger days he’ll make more on it. The man is a genius.