Ohtani's Dodgers contract reportedly includes $680M US deferred to 2034 and beyond

Shohei Ohtani will receive just $20 million US of his $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers over the next 10 years, with $680 million payable from 2034-43 in an unusual structure that gives the team greater payroll flexibility in coming seasons.

Ohtani's record-setting deal, agreed to Saturday, calls for annual salaries of $70 million, according to details obtained by The Associated Press. Of each year's salary, $68 million is deferred with no interest, payable in equal instllments each July 1 from 2034-43.

For purposes of baseball's luxury tax, the contract is valued as a yearly addition to the Dodgers' payroll of about $46 million. Under the collective bargaining agreement, for the calculation of a team's tax payroll the value of deferred money is discounted at the federal mid-term rate. For all agreements this offseason, the discounting will be at the October 2023 rate of 4.43 per cent.

Betts has a $365 million deal covering 2021-32 that includes $115 million in deferred salaries payable from 2033-44 and has the final $5 million of his signing bonus payable from 2033-35.

Freeman has a $162 million, six-year deal for 2022-27 that includes $57 million in deferred money payable from 2028-40.

Los Angeles' high points of the deferred payments are 2038 and '39, when the trio will be owed $83 million, and 2040, when they will be due $84 million.

Ohtani's total dollars are 64 per cent higher than baseball's previous record, a $426.5 million, 12-year deal for Angels outfielder Mike Trout that began in 2019.

His $70 million average salary is 62 per cent above the previous high of $43,333,333, shared by pitchers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander with deals they struck with the New York Mets. Ohtani's average salary