The Los Angeles Dodgers and Shohei Ohtani recently agreed to a record-breaking 10-year, $700 million contract in MLB free agency. The contract features lucrative deferrals as well. Regardless, Ohtani is set to join the Dodgers, as MLB insider Jeff Passan of ESPN announced that the contract became official Monday.
The contract impacts the entire MLB world. Obviously it has an effect on Ohtani and the Dodgers, but many different teams and players will feel the impact of Ohtani signing with Los Angeles.
Today, we are taking a look at the winners and losers of Shohei Ohtani's $700 million contract with the Dodgers.
WINNER: Shohei Ohtani
Ohtani is deferring $680 million of his contract until 2034, when he will begin getting paid $68 million per year until 2043. He will make $2 million per year while playing for the Dodgers. Ohtani, however, is going to make a lot more money in sponsorship deals. And of course, he will be set for life with the money he will receive in 10 years.
Of course, Ohtani is a winner for more than just financial reasons. He should finally get to play competitive baseball after spending his entire career with a Los Angeles Angels team that couldn't figure out how to build a winner around him and Mike Trout.
The game of baseball itself is a winner in a sense, since it will likely get to feature its best and most popular player in the playoffs. We saw a glimpse of postseason Ohtani in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and it was electric. Ohtani leading the Dodgers in the MLB playoffs should be extremely exciting.
LOSER: San Francisco Giants
The Giants and Ohtani reportedly discussed a similar contract to the Dodgers and Ohtani. San Francisco missed out on signing Aaron Judge and Carlos Correa last offseason, so they wanted to make a big splash this year.
The Giants still can make that splash, but adding Ohtani is now out of the question. Losing out on Ohtani wouldn't have hurt the Giants as much if he signed in any other division. The fact that Ohtani not only signed in the NL West, but joined the Giants' biggest rival was a gut-punch without question.
San Francisco can still salvage the offseason by adding a star player or two. Nevertheless, they will have to face Shohei Ohtani on the Dodgers for the next 10 years.
WINNER: Dodgers
Some have questioned LA's decision to sign Ohtani, who won't pitch in 2024 due to an elbow injury, to such a lucrative contract. But Ohtani is a historic talent who will make the contract worth it for the Dodgers.
He's going to expand the team's already impressive fanbase while bringing in more money through jersey sales and marketing. The deferred money will allow LA to remain aggressive in free agency in an effort to build around Shohei Ohtani.
Los Angeles has consistently been a playoff contender over the years, but they have just one World Series victory in the last 30 seasons. The hope for LA is that Ohtani can help the franchise reach new heights and develop a dynasty.
Winning at least two World Series during Ohtani's 10 years with the Dodgers should be the goal. Perhaps they can even win more, but earning a championship in MLB is difficult to say the least.
LOSER: San Diego Padres and the rest of the NL West
The Giants are the biggest loser in the NL West since they made a serious attempt to sign Ohtani. San Francisco's inability to land superstars in recent years has led to mediocre results on the field.
The entire NL West can't be excited to see the Dodgers add another superstar in Shohei Ohtani, however.
The Padres have challenged the Dodgers in recent years. Now, San Diego will have a difficult time doing so. The Arizona Diamondbacks defeated LA in the 2023 playoffs and likely felt as if they were close to catching the Dodgers in the NL West. In similar fashion to the Padres, though, Arizona will have difficulty attempting to win the division anytime soon.
Don't worry Colorado Rockies fans, your team is included as well. Any hope the Rockies have for the future amid their rebuild took a blow with the Dodgers-Ohtani contract. Unless the Rockies can build a super-team somehow, their primary hope will be to sneak into the postseason via the NL Wild Card within the next few years.
WINNER: AL East (except the Toronto Blue Jays)
The New York Yankees never seemed to be a serious contender to sign Shohei Ohtani. The Boston Red Sox may have had interest but nothing came to fruition. With Ohtani staying in the NL West, the entire AL East will benefit since they won't have to face him on a consistent basis.
Ohtani and the Toronto Blue Jays were reportedly in contract talks, though. This would have been a very different conversation if Ohtani had signed in Toronto. The other AL East teams have to be happy to see him sign in a different league and division.
Given how close Toronto was to signing him, however, they do not fall into the winner category.
LOSER: Blue Jays
A report surfaced on the day before Ohtani announced he was signing with the Dodgers that Toronto had agreed to terms on a contract with the superstar. That report ended up being false.
One can only feel for Blue Jays fans. Seemingly coming so close to seeing your team sign a franchise superstar, and even believing it was true for a few hours, only to see him agree to a contract with the Dodgers the very next day has to be a tough pill to swallow.
WINNER: Los Angeles sports media
The Los Angeles media is going to receive plenty of attention with Shohei Ohtani staying in the area and playing for the Dodgers. Fans are going to be interested in following him, so the LA sports media is going to be quite busy.
The media in any city in which Ohtani signed would have been a winner here. Fortunately for LA sports media, Shohei Ohtani agreed to join the Dodgers.
LOSER: Los Angeles Angels
The final loser we will discuss is the Angels.
Some have commended the Angels for not trading Ohtani and trying to win. But the Halos didn't add much star-power around Ohtani with the exception of already having Mike Trout.
The decision to not trade Ohtani and instead watch him leave in free agency will only net the Angels a compensatory draft pick. The Angels could have traded Ohtani this past trade deadline for a quality return. Or they could have dealt him away last offseason or the offseason before and received a massive haul of prospects to build around for the future.
Instead, the Angels don't seem to want to rebuild. Yet, their current MLB roster isn't ready to seriously compete. Los Angeles has been stuck in the middle of the AL West over the past eight years, and they just don't seem to realize that a rebuild is necessary in order to develop a winner.
The Angels are arguably the biggest loser. Perhaps they will prove me wrong and snap their playoff drought in 2024, but I wouldn't count on it.
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