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s landmark contract with the Dodgers has prompted endle s discu sion, debate and criticism Maikel Franco Jersey due to the unprecedented scope of the deferrals it contains, but thats far from the only fascinating wrinkle of the 10-year deal. that the contract contains language that a sures the club will make good on its promise to use the savings he created to build a competitive team around him. Ohtanis agent, Nez Balelo of CAA Sports, tells Verducci that Ohtani asked him early in the free-agent proce s about whether it was po sible to defer the majority or entirety of his salary in order to give his club more present-day payroll flexibility. As far as we at MLBTR can tell, thats the first clause of its nature in any player contract. Further specifics of the clause and the manner in which it will be enforced remain unclear. The Dodgers reported pursuits of a involving and , plus their with , seem to signal that the team is indeed taking steps to satisfy that condition, though. The luxury-tax hit a sociated with Ohtanis contract is $46.06MM, according to Verducci, which sits roughly in line with expectations at the outset of his free agency. But, the manner in which the contract was announced has created substantial criticism. Its fair to wonder if, had the contract been announced as 10 years and $460MM deferred with interest, it would have invited the same backlash as the initial announcement of a $700MM deal which was later reported to be 97% deferred. The initial $700MM figure looks good in a recruiting pitch for future CAA clients, but the leagues approximate $460MM valuation of the net present value is a different story entirely. The MLBPAs valuations are a bit lower yet; Jon Heyman of the New York Post that the union values the contract at $437,830,563, but the luxury-tax hit will be based upon the leagues calculations. Theres been plenty of talk about the contract as a means of gaming the luxury tax system, although the $46.06MM CBT hit is in line with the leagues valuation of the deal. If anything, the contract is le s about circumventing the luxury tax and more about artificially tamping down the teams actual, bottom-line payrolls from 2024-33. Unprecedented contractual language doesnt stop with the competitive team clause. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic that the contract states the following: If specific change in Dodger personnel, player may opt out of contract at end of season the change occurs. The conditional opt-out is applicable to controlling owner Mark Walter and president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, . If either Walter or Friedman leave the organization, Ohtani would gain the opt-out po sibility. Alden Gonzlez of ESPN that would go into effect at the end of any season in which Walter or Friedman departed, so theres no po sibility of Ohtani opting out midseason. Its neverthele s a noteworthy inclusion, particularly in the case of Friedman. While the front office leader isnt in any immediate jeopardy based on the teams excellence over the course of his decade-long run, tying his contractual status to that of the teams best player for the next 10 years is a bold move by ownership. Friedman signed an extension of in November 2019. It isnt clear if he has signed any subsequent deals, though its hard to envision him departing the organization any time soon. Given the ma sive slate of deferred money Ohtani will be paid just $2MM annually from 2024-33, with the remaining $680MM paid out from 2034-43 its difficult to see Ohtani opting out at any juncture, unle s theres language that allows a portion of those deferrals to be paid out in conjunction with the opt-out. Its technically feasible that if Ohtani is able to return to the mound in 2025, he could reestablish himself as a viable top-of-the-rotation starter and have even greater earning power than the ~$460MM net present value of his current contract. However, if hes only been paid out around 1-2% of the overall guarantee at the time of a theoretical opt-out opportunity, itd still be difficult to walk away from the deal. Then again, Ohtani showed with his original move to MLB (and to a le ser extent with the eye-popping nature of his current deferrals) that money is not nece sarily his top priority in any contract. Hes also reportedly earning as much as $50MM annually in terms of endorsements and other marketing opportunities, so the notion that hed leave a staggering portion of his record contract on the table in order to pursue a return to free agency isnt as far-fetched as it would be for many other players. News of the (as we know it) unprecedented out clause in Ohtanis contract will invite ample speculation. Fans on social media have already wondered about ownership changes, front office changes, managerial changes or perhaps even trades of star teammates like and . With the contract itself not plainly spelling out the nature of the change, theres no way of knowing the specific nature of personnel change that would trigger this right for Ohtani, however. The clause is further proof of the lengths to which the Dodgers and presumably other teams were willing to go in order to secure the two-way stars generational talents. Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi that the terms of Ohtanis contract with the Dodgers were proposed by Ohtani and his agents, and that the Giants were comfortable effectively matching them. Presumably if Ohtanis camp included the stipulations about investing the present-day savings and the conditional out clause in the terms with the Dodgers, those factors were also present in discu sions with the Giants, Blue Jays and other finalists for his services. One other note from the AP: while the Dodgers have already announced the contract, it has not yet gone to MLB for official approval. As of Wednesday evening, the deal still takes the form of a letter of agreement between Ohtani and the Dodgers. Lucius Fox Jersey
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