Shohei Ohtani, the two-time phenom who has been baseball’s most valuable player the past three seasons, has signed a free-agent deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, he announced via Instagram on Saturday.
The deal is for 10 years and $700 million, according to what she said ESPN’s Jeff Passan, breaking the MLB record for total value in a contract and average annual value in a contract. Ohtani’s former teammate Mike Trout held the previous overall record at $426.5 million, while Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer tied the AAV record at $43.3 million.
according to MLB.com Mark FeinsandThe deal includes what is described as “unprecedented postponements” that include the majority of Ohtani’s salary, at the player’s request. Ohtani reportedly sought to mitigate the competitive balancing tax and cash flow burden his deal would cause.
There is, too It said There is no opt out of the deal.
The 29-year-old Ohtani is expected to spend the first season of his Dodger tenure as a full-time designated hitter, after undergoing an unspecified elbow procedure to repair a torn MCL, before attempting to return to the mound in 2025.
That surgery obviously didn’t stop him from shattering all expectations in what was already the most anticipated free agency in recent MLB history.
The Dodgers get their man
Twenty-four hours before Ohtani announced his decision, he appeared to be headed to the Toronto Blue Jays — literally, if you believe flight trackers, fan speculation and a Dodgers reporter.
Rumors swirled Friday that Ohtani was on a private plane from Anaheim to Toronto, with one reporter claiming Ohtani was on his way to Canada and another saying Ohtani had decided to sign with the Blue Jays. The first was refuted by several other reporters within hours, while the second was refuted by Ohtani himself. In the end, all these rumors were probably just an additional power play.
The Dodgers have long been viewed as the first to hire Ohtani. Not only did they have the financial muscle, but they also had ample reason to look for any way to make a leap after a decade of regular season dominance and just one World Series title. They also seemed to approach last season conservatively, as if they were diverting resources in order to make a huge swing at the new face of baseball.
There was, of course, concern that they would be missed. The buzz that came from inside and outside the Dodgers organization after manager Dave Roberts confirmed that they had only met with Ohtani and considered him a “top priority” showed concern that they might interfere with Ohtani’s privacy, something that was said to be important at the beginning of his free agency. In the end, this doesn’t seem to be a problem.
In the near term, Ohtani will be designated designated hitter, replacing All-Star free agent JD Martinez. After that, he’ll be set to join the Dodgers and see if he can provide value at $35 million per year for a hitter and $35 million per year for a pitcher.
Shohei Ohtani’s unprecedented career got him out of Anaheim
Ohtani signed with the Angels on December 8, 2017, after spending five seasons as a doubles infielder with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball League. He arrived too late to take advantage of the highly lucrative posting system for young players, turning Ohtani’s sweepstakes from a bidding war into something closer to baseball’s version of “The Bachelor.”
Teams presented their stadiums and showed him what they could offer and were slowly eliminated until Ohtani made the decision to head to Anaheim. Despite years of disappointing results, the Angels received a generational talent, with six years of team control, for a signing bonus of $2.3 million.
The Angels paired Mike Trout, the best player of his generation, with Ohtani, arguably the most physically gifted player in baseball history, and they made the playoffs zero times, though it wasn’t for Ohtani’s lack of success.
From the beginning, Ohtani was advertised and more, although it took some time for him to become a true crossover star. He won Rookie of the Year honors in 2018, though that season ended on a low note when he required Tommy John surgery. He played 2019 as a designated hitter only and struggled mightily on both sides of the ball when he returned to the mound in 2020, sending his career to the bottom.
Ohtani’s 3-year run as a two-man superstar ended with elbow surgery
Ohtani entered 2021 healthy for the first time since his rookie season and proceeded to make history. Not only did he record the best season of his career and win the AL Most Valuable Player Award, but he also surpassed anything Babe Ruth had ever done as a two-way player. Comparisons to Ohtani were common for Ruth for obvious reasons, but Ruth was a two-way player for only a season and a half in 1918 and 1919. Those campaigns were impressive, although Ruth’s 2.97 ERA in 1919, the first year he recorded more than 400 plate appearances, was about league average in the dead-ball era. For his part, Ohtani outperformed the rest of the league in both regions in 2021.
Ohtani was arguably better in 2022, though he missed back-to-back MVP awards due to Aaron Judge’s 62-homer campaign. Then came 2023, which was shaping up to be Ohtani’s masterpiece — as he stunned the baseball world both on the field and on the mound — until the NLCS unraveled things for the second time in his career. However, Ohtani was named unanimous AL Most Valuable Player for the second time during his three-year career as a two-way star.
As things stand in Ohtani’s career now, it’s clear that he’s more than just a generational talent. When healthy, he almost automatically becomes the most valuable player in baseball. But what’s less clear is whether his body will be able to keep up when he enters his 30s.
Now approaching 30 years old, Ohtani has an innings high of 166 in 2022, and his next high is 132 last season. The exact nature of the surgery Ohtani underwent in September remains unknown, but multiple surgeries on the same torn ligament often lead to brutal rehabilitation processes, with no guarantees that a pitcher will ever be the same.
However, there is still confidence that Ohtani will become a historically elite player after a second surgery. The Dodgers are certainly betting on it.
The baseball world is buzzing with excitement as news has surfaced that Shohei Ohtani, the multi-talented Japanese sensation, has signed a monumental 10-year, $700 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Ohtani’s decision to join the Dodgers has sent shockwaves through the sport, solidifying the team’s roster with one of the most versatile and dynamic players in the game. With his exceptional pitching and hitting abilities, Ohtani’s arrival in Los Angeles has created high expectations and anticipation for what he will bring to the team in the coming seasons.