Shohei Ohtani Is the Highest Paid MLB Player With a 700 Million Contract Deal

On Saturday, the Los Angeles Dodgers reported that Ohtani is set to ink a groundbreaking 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers. This historic deal positions Ohtani as the highest-paid athlete in North American professional sports.

Nevertheless, how he receives the money will be significantly distinct. According to Jeff Passan, an MLB insider for ESPN, it was disclosed that Ohtani’s annual compensation will amount to only $2 million over the next decade, while the remaining sum will be deferred until the conclusion of the contract.

Upon reaching free agency last month, Shohei Ohtani inquired with his agent, Nez Balelo, about the possibility of deferring his entire salary to enhance his team’s competitive edge.

Balelo delved into the language of the collective bargaining agreement and discovered that there was no specified limit on the salary a player could defer. The only stipulation was that a player must still receive at least the minimum salary.

Ohtani requested and consented to defer 97% of his salary, which amounts to $680 million out of the total $700 million in the 10-year contract. This deferred amount will be paid without interest over 10 years following the expiration of his playing contract.

“Nobody should be surprised,” Balelo stated according to ESPN. “Everything he does is unique and impeccably well thought out. Who in their right mind gets to this level and decides he wants to help the team and the city compete above all else and basically says, ‘I don’t need it.’ Nobody does that. But there is nobody like him. This is the epitome of thinking about others, of pure intentions.

“This is who he is, who he always has been. He is coming in not as someone above all others, but as a complementary player to help the team win.”

Even the San Francisco Giants presented three offers to Shohei Ohtani, with the last proposal described by the president of baseball operations, Farhan Zaidi, as “very comparable if not identical” to the record-setting $700 million, 10-year contract that the Japanese two-way star ultimately agreed to with their rival, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Balelo achieved a substantial victory on the financial front by securing Ohtani the most lucrative contract in the history of sports, surpassing the $674 million deal awarded to soccer sensation Lionel Messi by FC Barcelona. 

The Dodgers also triumphed because of Ohtani’s innovative approach of deferring a significant portion of the money. They acquired the game’s preeminent international star and the greatest two-way player in the history of the sport, all while maintaining a yearly average value close to the previous record set by Max Scherzer—a remarkable $43.3 million for a 39-year-old pitcher.