Details have emerged regarding the deferred money in Shohei Ohtani's 10-year, $700 million contract. With $68 million being deferred each year of the deal, the luxury tax calculation for the deal drops down to $46 million from the expected $70 million when the deal initially broke, allowing the Dodgers to spend more on other players to help the team compete. Some have questioned whether MLB will deny that type of structure for Ohtani and the Dodgers, and the answer is vehemently no, according to Article XVI—Deferred Compensation in the CBA.

“There shall be no limitations on either the amount of deferred compensation or the percentage of total compensation attributable to deferred compensation for which a Uniform Player's Contract may provide,” the CBA reads, as shared by Jeff Passan of ESPN.

Some will bemoan the Dodgers and Ohtani being able to pull off this type of deal, but it is allowed under the new collective bargaining agreement that was struck ahead of the 2022 season. It is a potential huge deal that could change the way free agency works.

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With players like Juan Soto hitting free agency soon, it will be interesting to see if he or any other superstar players sign up to receive deferred money to help their teams spend more in other areas.

The Dodgers have that type of contract in place with Mookie Betts, but Shohei Ohtani's contract is arguably a bigger example of it.

It will be interesting to see who else the Dodgers bring in. They are heavily rumored to be interested in Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto.