Shohei Ohtani to Sign 10-year, $700 Million Deal with the Dodgers

The Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes have come to an end and they have done so at a comically high contract number. According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Ohtani is signing a 10-year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the dollar amount he has signed for will blow you away.

Shohei Ohtani's deal with the Dodgers is for 10 years and $700 million.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 9, 2023

Passan also notes that Ohtani’s contract will include significant deferrals, which will lower his luxury tax number to allow the Dodgers to build a competitive team around him for years to come.

We all thought Shohei Ohtani was going to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers when this process began, but all of the rumors and speculation over the last few days started to cast some doubt. Then of course you had manager Dave Roberts announcing that they had met Ohtani and the sideshow of reports that followed it, that really put his signing with the Dodgers in question.

Now here we are. Ohtani will in fact move from Anaheim to Los Angeles to become a Dodger, where he will be paired with Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman for the foreseeable future.

Until we have the full contract details, it is pretty hard to comprehend what a $70 million salary will look like on the Dodgers books, or how these deferrals truly will play into the matter. Is Ohtani signing a deal that will have him paid out for the next 50 years?

It is a fair question to ask based on the little reporting we have seen about this so far.

The bottom line though is the Dodgers have finally landed their guy. They have been planning to sign Ohtani for years now, clearing there books by only signing shorter-term deals, outside of Betts and Freeman.

They let superstar players like Corey Seager and Trea Turner walk in free agency and stood by while other stars like Aaron Judge signed with other teams. It was all for this moment. Where they could make Ohtani the highest paid athlete in the history of North American sports.

What a crazy deal. What a crazy day.

Now the question is what will unfold from all of this. With this signing official, we can only guess what the next domino is to fall. At least for now, we have the answer to the biggest question of the offseason. Shohei Ohtani is a Los Angels Dodger.