Since we know that the Dodgers will not have to pay Shohei Ohtani a large amount for the next 10 years, we have heard a lot of criticism.
For example? We can hear that the Dodgers are profiteers and that they are circumventing the luxury tax by paying $680 million of $700 million after the end of his contract.
Besides the fact that it is within the rules of the art, I do not agree when we talk about the Dodgers as the profiteers in the story.
First, Ohtani proposed such a structure to everyone. But also because without that, he would not have had $700 million: he would have had less. The net present value of the contract is effectively $460 million.
Ohtani asked for such a structure to win on the field (and surely to pay less taxes, too) and that is to his credit.
And since the Dodgers already have big commitments for the next 20 years, they're going to end up paying anyway.
And as for the team being rich or not: Ohtani will bring in tens of millions of dollars to his team, which will have years to generate interest before paying him large amounts.
Rich team or not, it's a format that was not good that for teams like the Dodgers. But this is the club that Ohtani chose.
I also want to say that the rich teams of 2023 really haven't always been successful. Besides Rangers, big clubs have been bad. Money doesn't buy everything.
But OK. That being said, rich club or not, Ohtani did this to win and not to be the reason he wouldn't be surrounded if he took all the money available.
But I don't just want to talk about money. I also want to talk about the clause that if the owner or president of the club leaves, Ohtani gets an exit option in his contract.
The owner has probably already made $20 million (what the Japanese will earn in the next 10 years) since Saturday, just with the signing. The boss won't leave within 10 years, that's for sure.
But President Andrew Friedman? Let's just say he's just secured superb job security. No other president has as much freedom as he does for 10 years.
In addition to Shohei Ohtani and Andrew Friedman, Freddie Freeman is there for a bit and Mookie Betts too. The club will be dominant in the long term and that is attractive for a free agent.
If we compare to the Mets, who could lose big names (Pete Alonso and Kodai Senga) next winter, this is an advantage for the Dodgers.
This is why the president of LA can potentially offer 10 years to Yoshinobu Yamamoto if he wants: he is protected, he has financial resources and his club will be good in the long term.
David Samson may cry that it's not fair, but hey: we don't care about his opinion.
The effect of Shohei Ohtani's contract, which will be presented to the press in the next few moments, is therefore even bigger than we thought.
- Speaking of Yoshinobu Yamamoto: he's talking to the Phillies today.
