New Dodger Shohei Ohtani speaks on his new contract and expectations for the season. photo by Kirby Lee
How the Los Angeles Dodgers shadily construct contracts to ruin the MLB.
This past Major League Baseball (MLB) season had Los Angeles Dodger fans cheering for their success. From winning the 2024 World Series to signing one of the best baseball players of all time, the Dodgers have themselves a dynasty. However, fans of other teams around the league are skeptical of the way the Dodgers went about achieving this success.
The creation of the dynasty began in December of 2023 when the baseball world finally got the answer to the long awaited question of where star Shohei Ohtani would sign. The reigning MVP, who was signed with the Los Angeles Angels at the time, is considered a “unicorn” in the baseball world. Ohtani had a rough start to his career, playing mediocre baseball and riddled with injuries. In 2021, everything clicked and the star was born. Ohtani is one of the best hitters in the MLB, with a .257 batting average, 100 runs batted in (RBI) and 46 home runs (HR). These above-average hitting stats are impressive, but Ohtani also pitches. A two-way player of this caliber hasn’t been seen in the MLB since 1935 when Babe Ruth retired. Ohtani went 9-2, with a 3.18 earned run average (ERA) and 156 strikeouts, according to Baseball-Reference.com. This propelled Ohtani to win his first unanimous MVP award and start his one-of-a-kind career. So where do the Dodgers come in? On December 11th 2023, Ohtani signed with the Dodgers for a record-breaking 10 year, $700 million contract being the largest contract in the league at the time. But the Dodgers deferred the contract, and many in the MLB community were skeptical and disapproved of this move.
Deferred contracts are something the Dodgers have started implementing into all of their high-end contracts. Ohtani is making $2 million a year for the next ten years, but is deferring $68 million each year to be paid after his contract ends. This system has also been implemented into the contracts of new Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell and returning infielder Tommy Edman. In total, the Dodgers have deferred over $1 billion to seven players in the last year. The reason this is so controversial is because of the financial benefits this gives the Dodgers. Instead of money being a factor in signing players, when the team is not able to afford contracts of big names they can defer the payments and instead pay the star and MVP free agents as if they were just signing them for a one-year deal. They are able to sign some of the best players for cheap and ultimately build a super team. Much of the MLB fan base sees these moves as very unfair and detrimental to any other team who cannot afford to do this. These kinds of contracts have never happened before, and many in the baseball community are scared for what is to come—unless they’re a Dodgers fan, of course.
As a Colorado Rockies fan, I have watched a below average team for a long time now. The Rockies are a young team with many high draft picks and stars on the rise, and as a fan can’t help but look ahead into the bright future. But this bright future is fogged by the storm cloud that is the Dodgers. Because of the Dodgers, the Rockies will never be able to succeed in this era of baseball. There are many factors that go into why they can’t, but one of the biggest is the strength of the Dodgers.
I am a biased Rockies fan who despises the Dodgers, but this goes beyond the livelihood of a Colorado native; it’s not good for the game. Baseball has become extremely expensive both in and out of the MLB, and this has taken away from the entertainment value and traditional beauty of America’s favorite pastime.
