Shohei Ohtani contract: Agent says deferrals were Ohtani's idea, Dodgers reportedly included spending promises

Ohtani is deferring $680M of his $700M contract, Nez Balelo says it's the 'epitome of thinking about others'

The baseball world is buzzing from the record-shattering contract Shohei Ohtani signed with the Dodgers this past weekend. The deal was announced as 10 years and $700 million, but we also found out he's only making $2 million per season during the course of the contract and then $680 million in deferrals, without interest. Here's more on that aspect of the unique deal.. 

In an interview with Tom Verducci this week, Ohtani's agent Nez Balelo explained why his client agreed to the unprecedented structure. Per Balelo, the deferred payments were Ohtani's idea, and he wanted the deal structured this way to give his team a better chance to win by enabling them to spend more present money on others. 

"Nobody should be surprised," Balelo says. "Everything he does is unique and impeccably well thought out. Who in their right mind gets to this level and decides he wants to help the team and the city compete above all else and basically says, 'I don't need it.' Nobody does that. But there is nobody like him. This is the epitome of thinking about others, of pure intentions.

"This is who he is, who he always has been. He is coming in not as someone above all others, but as a complementary player to help the team win."

Sure, this definitely appears to be helpful to the Dodgers in the short term and Ohtani certainly deserves credit for deciding to take this path, but we could probably dial down the "epitome of thinking of others" stuff along with acting like Ohtani is saying he doesn't need the money. He's still getting 700 million freaking dollars. There's nothing at all wrong with him getting his and hoping to not cripple the team, of course. It seems like Ohtani found a good avenue through which to accomplish both, too. I'm just saying let's be real and avoid the hyperbole that puts him on level with a non-profit charity or something. 

As for the remarkable amount and percentage of deferral ... 

"Nobody at the top of their sport has ever done anything like this," Balelo says about how Ohtani came up with the idea of deferring the bulk of his salary. "No way. When he brought it up, I looked into it. Nothing comes close."

This is true. Max Scherzer's 50 percent deferral with the Nationals was the previous record, so that means Ohtani is not only deferring the most money anyone ever has, but he's also deferring the highest percentage of his contract. 

Let's also keep in mind that Ohtani did leave tens of millions, at least, on the table by coming to Major League Baseball for the 2018 season before he had enough service time in Japan's NPB to be posted. In tying this together with what he's doing on his current contract, he does seem less selfish about his money than some others. But, again, he's also making more in the next 20 years than anyone else ever has on a player salary in sports. 

Verducci also reports that Ohtani has "language in his contract that assures the club will make good on its promise to use the savings he created to build a competitive team around him." It's unclear exactly what that language is, and Balelo declined to comment on it.

On balance, it seems like Ohtani came up with a great idea for his new team and he should be praised for that without going overboard and acting like he's playing for free even the league minimum. I don't blame his agent for overdoing said praise, but we can be impartially fair here. 

Anyway, once the season starts everyone should forget about this anyway. Ohtani is the most talented player we've ever seen in Major League Baseball, seems to be pretty universally liked by his peers and also has an impeccable off-field record.