The Los Angeles Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani to a 10-year, $700 million contract, which is the largest deal in professional sports history, but it also included numerous other unique details.
Ohtani’s contract with the Dodgers has unprecedented deferrals that will pay him just $2 million per season over the life of the deal. Ohtani will then receive the remaining $680 million from 2034-2043.
Ohtani reportedly has a full-no trade clause, which is the first one given out under Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman. The two-way star also has the ability to opt out if owner Mark Walter or Friedman are no longer associated with the Dodgers.
Another key detail of Ohtani’s record-setting contract is that longtime interpreter Ippei Mizuhara will be sticking around, per Jack Harris of the L.A. Times:
Ohtani was guaranteed an interpreter; he has used Ippei Mizuhara ever since coming to MLB.
Mizuhara has served as Ohtani’s interpreter since his rookie season with the Los Angeles Angels in 2018 and was present at the 29-year-old’s introductory press conference earlier this month.
The Dodgers also guaranteed Ohtani a suite at Dodger Stadium for all of the team’s home games:
Ohtani will have a stadium suite at all home games.
As part of Ohtani’s contract, he will additionally donate 1% of his salary every season to the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation.
Dodgers hopeful Shohei Ohtani will continue recruiting free agents
Ohtani’s top priority is winning a World Series, and he has already played an important role this offseason in helping recruit Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto to the Dodgers.
“We like to have all of our players be involved in different conversations, and we feel like there’s star power across our team so hopefully he’ll be a part of that moving forward, just like we’ve had other guys chime in,” Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said of Ohtani recruiting players.
“All of our guys want to win a World Series, so everybody is very aligned.”
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