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In an unprecedented move, Shohei Ohtani has decided to defer over 97% of his contract until after it expires in 2033.
The two-way superstar signed a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, by far the largest contract ever in North American sports. That's stunning enough.
But when it was announced that Ohtani would defer $680 million of that until the contract expired, people gritted their teeth. That means Ohtani will only make $2 million per year for his unprecedented baseball talent (we still assume he'll be fine on that salary, though).
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Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels speaks to members of the Chicago White Sox sitting in their dugout after hitting a single in the eighth inning of a baseball game on Wednesday, June 28, 2023, in Anaheim, California. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
To be clear, based on deferred payment calculations, Ohtani will still be a $46 million cap hit for the Dodgers, so it's not like the Dodgers are completely freaking everyone out here.
But of course, Ohtani isn't the first to sign a contract where he gets paid long after the deal is signed. Here are some infamous deferred deals.
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Ken Griffey Jr.
The Hall of Famer hasn't played in the major leagues since 2010, but he was still the Cincinnati Reds' fourth-highest paid player in 2023.
Griffey was traded from the Seattle Mariners to the Reds in 2000, where he signed a nine-year, $116.5 million contract. However, this deal included $57.5 million in deferred payments starting in 2009 at a 4% interest rate.
Since then, the Reds have paid Griffey $3,593,750 every year. Next year will be Griffey's last year earning that nice paycheck from the Reds.
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In fact, Cincinnati owed Mike Moustakas $7 million that year after he was released by the team before the start of the season. So the Reds paid two players over $10 million not to play for them.
Ken Griffey Jr. of the Cincinnati Reds watches his grand slam go over the fence for his 401st career home run in the fourth inning against Gabe White #36 of the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado. (Brian Bahr/ALLSPORT)
Chris Davis
After his 47-homer, 117-RBI campaign in 2015, the Baltimore Orioles re-signed the then 29-year-old to a seven-year deal worth $161 million, but it was arguably the worst contract in MLB history, and even after his retirement things look even worse.
From 2017 to 2020, he didn't appear in 130 games each season and hit just .185 with a .615 OPS while hitting in 37.4% of his plate appearances. In 2019, he experienced a 54-0 defeat. He hung up the boots in 2021 after missing the entire season due to multiple injuries.
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The Orioles decided to defer the final $17 million of his contract, but his original contract already contained deferred payments.
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So the Orioles will pay Davis $9.16 million per year from 2023 to 2025, followed by payments of $3.5 million from 2023 to 2032, and from 2033 to 2037, Davis will be paid $1.4 million -earn dollars per year.
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Oh, and according to MetsMerized, the O's also have to pay Alex Cobb $1.8 million per year through 2032. He hasn't played for them since 2020.
Chris Davis of the Baltimore Orioles walks to the dugout after striking out in the seventh inning against the Houston Astros at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland on August 9, 2019. (Greg Fiume/Getty Images)
Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg
Max Scherzer is currently being paid by not one, not two, but three teams.
When Scherzer signed his $210 million contract with the Washington Nationals before the 2015 season, half of it was deferred until the contract expired in 2021. So the Nats will pay Scherzer $15 million per year starting last year and continuing through 2028.
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Scherzer signed a three-year contract with the New York Mets, but when they traded him to the Texas Rangers at this year's trade deadline, they agreed to pay about 75% of the remaining $58 million on his contract, while the Rangers would pick up the rest.
As for Strasburg, the Nationals signed Strasburg to a record $245 million contract in 2019. Since then, he has only made eight starts due to various injuries, and the contract ultimately ends in 2026.
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Well, $80 million of that is deferred, with him set to make over $26 million each year from 2027 to 2029. They will also give him a separate payment of $10 million every July 1 starting in 2024 and continuing through 2030.
Washington Nationals starting pitcher Max Scherzer throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins at Nationals Park, Sunday, May 2, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Bobby Bonilla
Here's what you've all been waiting for. And yes, we did it last to dispel the idea that the Mets are the only team to have done this (and to show that some have done much worse).
Long story short (you can read the full story here): Instead of paying Bonilla the remaining $5.9 million on his contract, the Mets and Bonilla negotiated a deal to run from 2011 to 2035, if Bonilla so will do to make annual payments of $1,193,248.20 on July 1 of each year 72, which included a negotiated share of 8%.
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The Mets have Bernie Madoff to thank for this. Then-owner Fred Wilpon had invested in Madoff and expected a double-digit return on the deal, but that didn't happen and Wilpon ended up losing out.
There are many misunderstandings surrounding the deal. The biggest reason is that he was anathema to the Mets. But some of it worked in their favor.
Contrary to popular belief, Bonilla was not a bust with the Mets. By waiving Bonilla's immediate payout, the Mets also freed up money to take on the contract of left-handed pitcher Mike Hampton, who was an integral part of their rotation in 2000 and helped them to the World Series that year.
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Infielder Bobby Bonilla of the New York Mets in action during a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California. (Stephen Dunn/Allsport)
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Hampton only spent one season in New York, but his departure in free agency resulted in a first-round draft pick that emerged as a franchise icon in David Wright.
Ironically, the Mets aren't even the only team deferring payments to Bonilla. He also receives a whopping $500,000 from the O's on July 1st every year, and those payments started back in 2004.