By now, everybody knows that Shohei Ohtani is baseball's $700 million man. The Los Angeles Dodgers forked over a king's ransom, the GDP of several small nations, for the right to secure the services of the most skilled player baseball has ever seen. Ohtani's immense value is his ability to be an ace pitcher and an incredible power hitter blessed with absurd speed on the basepaths. And the Dodgers paid him each of those services. Ohtani's $700 million deal dwarfs one of the next largest contracts in MLB history.
No one in the history of MLB has the skills and abilities Ohtani has, so it does make sense. But who has earned the next largest contract in MLB history after Shohei Ohtani's $700 million deal? How much do the single-position stars get paid compared to Ohtani? Are they pitchers? Infielders? Outfielders? Interestingly, they are all very recent deals because of inflation and how money in sports increases. The game has changed since Alex Rodriguez's then-record $252 million deal. In fact, Ohtani's deal beat the previous record deal by more than A-Rod's original record value. Here are the next five biggest deals in MLB history after Ohtani's.
1. Mike Trout: $426.5 million
The biggest deal in MLB history before Shohei Ohtani belonged to his former teammate. Mike Trout was the near-consensus best player in baseball for nearly a decade before the arrival of Shohei Ohtani. Trout signed his deal for 12 years, $426.5 million, starting back in the 2019 season. In the better part of the decade prior, Trout had been an All-Star in each of his seven full seasons in MLB. Led the AL in WAR five times, MLB four times, won two MVP awards, finished in the top four in MVP voting every year, and only finished outside the top two once. To the chagrin of many baseball fans, Trout hitched his wagon to the Angels for the rest of his foreseeable career signing this deal.
While there was hope they might be able to become a real team with the addition of Ohtani, the front office still struggled to make a competent team around the two best players in baseball. Trout won his third MVP in the first year of his deal but has struggled with various injuries in many of the seasons since. At least Trout and Ohtani gave birth to one of the best sports memes ever. Long live Tungsten Arm O'Doyle and the Akron Groomsmen:
every time I see an Angels highlight it's like "Mike Trout hit three homes runs and raised his average to .528 while Shohei Ohtani did something that hasn't been done since 'Tungsten Arm' O'Doyle of the 1921 Akron Groomsmen, as the Tigers defeated the Angels 8-3"
— ℳatt (@matttomic) May 18, 2021
2. Mookie Betts: $365 million
Unsurprisingly, the Los Angeles Dodgers are to thank (blame?) for two of the three largest contracts in MLB history. Back in February 2020, when Betts was in his last year of team control for the Boston Red Sox, they traded him to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Betts signed his 12-year $365 million extension a few months later in July. Betts had been one of the best players in all of baseball with the Red Sox and wanted to be there for a long time. The Red Sox were concerned about his impending Free Agency, trying to cut their payroll, and had several extension offers rejected. So they traded Betts for an underwhelming return. Betts continued his high-level play, and the Red Sox haven't really recovered since.
As a Dodger, Betts won the 2020 World Series, has three All-Star game appearances, two Silver Slugger and Golden Gloves, and three top-five MVP finishes. In the four seasons since Betts' departure, the Red Sox have made the playoffs once. In 2021, they made it to the ALCS. But in every other season since they traded Betts, they finished last in the AL East. Not exactly a successful move, even if the Dodgers had to make Betts the third-highest-paid player in MLB history to keep him.
3. Aaron Judge: $360 million
If you put together the greatest offensive season since the height of the steroid era, you're going to get paid. And when you do it in a contract year, you'll also set a record for the most money given to a free agent in baseball history. (Obviously, that number now also belongs to Ohtani). Judge's 2022 was absolutely transcendent. He broke Roger Maris' AL home run record with 62 home runs. He blew a fully realized two-way Shohei Ohtani season out of the water. And he finished that year leading nearly every major batting stat in the MLB.
And for his services, the New York Yankees re-signed a free agent Judge to a nine-year $360 million deal. Judge backed up his otherworldly 2022 with a very good 2023 campaign and is off to a good start on his new deal. In every deal on this list, teams throw a lot of money at players for a long time. Judge's deal is, of course, no exception. Like many of his well-paid peers, he will be 39 when his deal ends, asking a lot of questions of his (and everyone else's) ability to play elite baseball well past the standard athletic prime.
4. Manny Machado: $350 million
Even in the wild scale of time and money that these modern superstar deals represent, Manny Machado's 11-year $350 million deal with the San Diego Padres is an exception. Machado's deal will end when he is 41, meaning that there is an extremely high chance Machado will end up as a dead weight for the Padres or whoever ends up with him in the mid-2030s. You know, old man Albert Pujols style. Machado started his career in Baltimore with the Orioles. After a brief stint in Los Angeles as a Dodger rental, he signed with the Padres as a free agent. He then extended his deal in February for 11 years and $350 million.
Machado has been very good during his time in San Diego. High MVP finishes, a multi-time All-Star, and the Padres locked down one of the cornerstones of their franchises. They reloaded with the idea of a core of Machado, Juan Soto, and Fernando Tatis Jr. Obviously, that didn't pan out last year, as Tatis was suspended for PED use, and the Padres never got going. Now Soto is gone, and the future is a little up in the air. Who knows where Machado will be by the end of his deal?
5. Francisco Lindor: $341 million
Francisco Lindor signed his ten-year $341 million extension in the spring of 2022 which will last until 2033. The New York Mets will have a long time to make something work with Lindor. Last year wasn't exactly what the Mets were hoping for. That would even be an understatement. They spent big, and they had to sell some of the biggest parts of their planned core in Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander at the trade deadlines. Lindor was still very good last year, finishing ninth in MVP voting despite the Mets' disappointment. He will “only” be under contract until 37, so in theory, it may not become as “bad” of a contract towards the end.
Lindor was excellent during the beginning of his career in Cleveland and then was shipped out in early 2021 as Cleveland began to rebuild. He was coming off a career-worst year in the 2020 shortened season, and it took a bit to get going, but it has been very good for the Mets since. It's unclear if he'll hit the form that the others on this list and Shohei Ohtani, of course, have displayed. And with the Mets' recent track record of success on their big contracts, could Lindor be moved if they continue to flounder in 2024? Who would take on his contract, though? These are all intriguing situations surrounding the star infielder, and his aging curve will be tracked with great interest.
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