Shohei Ohtani to join Dodgers on 10-year, $700M contract

[Yavin4]

Source: ESPN

Shohei Ohtani signed a historic 10-year, $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday.

Ohtani posted to Instagram on Saturday saying he would play for his former team's crosstown rival starting next season after spending six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels.

"I pledge to always do what's best for the team and always continue to give it my all to be the best version of myself. Until the last day of my playing career, I want to continue to strive forward not only for the Dodgers but for the baseball world," Ohtani wrote.

Read more: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39076745/shohei-ohtani-join-dodgers-10-year-700m-deal

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This is a historic contract in US professional sports and is a valid LBN subject.

[brush]

1. The rich get richer. The Dodgers got him for cheap at ten years.

It was estimated he go for about 600k for 5-6 years.

[Roy Rolling]

2. Who's on first?

Do the LA Dodgers gave enough to pay $700 million?
Or will a $700 million salary to one player force the Dodger franchise’s current prices to immediately go up?

It’s business. But as a baseball fan, I hate the business of sport/entertainment/bad entertainment.

[Yavin4]

3. I guess they do.

It's the biggest media market in the country.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

4. Thank god the Cubs didn't get him.

Though I'd be really curious as to whether they genuinely tried. They certainly wanted the fans to think so.

[bahboo]

45. I agree...

too many holes to fill to put all your resources into one player.

[303squadron]

5. "There are only two tragedies in life

Not getting what you want, and getting what you want. "

Most studies of peak performance/age in baseball, including one by Bill James indicated that optimal age is 29. After that, baseball skills start to decline.

Ohtani is 29. Without pitching he won't produce 10 WAR a year like 2023 and by the time he comes back to the mound he'll be pushing 31.

The general manager in my head is challenged by this decision!

[C Moon]

25. 10 years of pitching through your 30's would be tough on a shoulder. Wow.

[JoseBalow]

6. Appx 3 Billion people worldwide live on less than $2 per day

This person will be making more than that per second, every second...

$700,000,000 for 10 years
$70,000,000 per year
$5,833,333 per month
$1,346,153 per week
$191,780 per day
$7,991 per hour
$133 per minute
$2.22 per second

[Sal_NV]

8. Ok, and?

[JoseBalow]

11. That's it

Have a nice day

[Whilex]

36. Some people are tone, deaf to inequality

The fact that a guy receives that amount of money for hitting a ball with a stick, seems totally fair to them.
It doesn’t occur to them to compare the salaries of nurses and teachers and rescue workers and other essential individuals to this guy hitting the ball with a stick.

[Sal_NV]

39. And some people, hint, hint,

don't know the intricacies of baseball.

The fact that a guy receives that amount of money for hitting a ball with a stick

You really think that's all there is to baseball?
You are wholly uninformed if that's what you believe.

[Whilex]

42. See, it's a fair salary, compared to nurses only if you know " the intricacies of baseball"

Comprehension and fairness are not the same, buddy.
A guy hitting a bong with a stick, making $700 million is not fair no matter how many times I read the ” intricacies of baseball” and understand it fully.

Knowing the mechanism whereby a guy hitting a ball with a stick makes $700 million doesn’t make it a fair salary.

[Sal_NV]

43. Apparently MLB disagrees with you as do the Dodgers and all the other teams that

were vying for his talent.

[Torchlight]

57. The appeal to popularity fallacy

is made when an argument relies on public opinion to determine what is true, right, or good.

The more we know.

[niyad]

61. Welcome to our DU family.

[democrank]

9. Thank you for posting this

Almost $192,000.00 per day? An obscene amount.

[Calista241]

10. He will pay north of 50% of that in taxes.

37% in income tax to the Feds.
12.3% in CA state income tax.

That’s before he pays any property taxes.

If there’s one thing our government can do with near 100% effectiveness, is make sure W2 employees pay all their taxes. I’m not saying he isn’t obscenely rich, but he’s not as rich as you think.

[Javaman]

16. He's as rich as I think

350 million(after taxes) is still ridiculous

We are so fucked as a civilization.

We pay people obscene amounts to celebrities and sport stars. But we pay the people that educate our children shit wages.

[speak easy]

24. And a parasite like Scooter Braun?

Who has made an estimated $2 Billion over 13 years including the proceeds of onselling Taylor Swifts back catalog? Funny how we resent flesh and blood salaries, but not the leeches sucking it up.

[Javaman]

63. he's a leach too.

I'm a pround Democratic Socialist.

Anyone one making that kind of money should be taxed to with an inch of their income.

we live in a obscene state of disparity. and those who could change things willfully sit on their hands because they are also part of the gilded nouveau rich.

[Yavin4]

40. How can he feed his (non-existent) kids on a measly $350 million a year?

Dude going to spend a lot of time clipping coupons.

[Sal_NV]

17. Plus he'll have to pay state taxes in every state he plays in

so if the Dodgers are playing the NY Mets in NY, he has to pay NY state taxes.

https://www.jacksonhewitt.com/tax-help/jh-tax-talk/do-baseball-players-pay-state-taxes/

Ten W-2 forms
A baseball player gets a W-2 for every state where he played during the season, showing taxable income and withholding. Just like any other job.

The jock tax
A baseball player pays income taxes not only in the state where he lives but in every state where he plays. But, since he doesn’t pay taxes twice on the same money, he’ll file a non-resident return for all those states and claim a credit from each state, to reduce the amount he owes to the state where he lives. This so-called “jock tax” has been around since the 1960s and, as you might guess, has never been very popular with players.

[Calista241]

18. It's proportional though.

So if they play a 3 game series in NY, he pays the NY state 10.9% income tax on 3 days worth of pay.

If his next 3 game series is in Atlanta, he’ll have to pay the 5.75% Georgia income tax on 3 days worth of pay.

[Sal_NV]

19. Exactly. nt

[DarthDem]

29. That offsets

As your link shows. So it's not really a "plus" situation.

[C Moon]

26. The one that is shocking to see is over $1,000,000 per week!

[Mosby]

7. MLB is a joke.

Hard to believe people still watch.

[lonely bird]

13. Eh

No more so than any other professional sport.

[Mosby]

15. The NBA has a salary cap.

You can't just buy a championship.

[Calista241]

20. You most certainly can buy a championship

Owners just have to pay a luxury tax if their player payroll is too high.

[lonely bird]

22. So

You prefer ownership to control wages?

[ificandream]

12. The Dodgers won't get their money's worth with this contract.

He's coming off his second UCL sprain. They're crazy to give him all that money.

[lonely bird]

14. If I understand correctly

It is heavily backloaded and deferred.

The Dodgers won’t suffer. Dodger fans will. A friend thinks that this will lead to more H.S. and college kids demanding to pitch along with playing the field or DHing.

[jmowreader]

30. I don't think they are

With him on the team, their advertising rates go up.

Another thing to consider is broadcast rights in Japan. The Japanese baseball fan LOVES Shohei Ohtani. The Dodgers know this and will ink a very lucrative Japanese broadcast contract.

[Tikki]

21. Dodger games draw a large fan participation.

The Chavez Ravine Stadium setting is breathtakingly beautiful.
If the team ever needs to expand the Stadium, I hope they will be able to do so on site.
We will see if it will be possible to get tickets early on this coming Season.

The Tikkis

[First Speaker]

23. This brings new meaning to the term "Co-Prosperity Sphere"...

[Gore1FL]

27. Fortunately as a job creator, he will have limited taxation.

Gotta love Reagan.

[usonian]

28. I'm wondering if the Dodgers are also trying to buy, cash on the barrel:

∙ Every MLB first starting pitcher.
∙ Aaron Judge
∙ Mike Trout
∙ Tesla Motors
∙ The State of Arizona, and
∙ Amtrak

I'll report back when I find out.

[bucolic_frolic]

31. Almost $1.35 million a week, year round, $430k per game

As a designated hitter, 4 at bats per game, $107,000 per at bat, maybe $30,000 per swing.

[Magoo48]

32. Much of the money is deferred. The Dodgers will recoup a great deal of the money in off field business opportunities.

I’ve loved baseball since I was a 10-year-old kid in 1958 and began listening to Vince Scully announce ballgames on the radio. I bleed Dodger blue. The money is what it is, and folks like me derive great pleasure the game.

Obscene money expenditures that don’t bring me pleasure:

Corporate CEO and upper management pay.
Military spending and MIC investment in killing and death.
The massive cruise industry which pollutes our Ocean.
The insane fossil fuels industry, and other extraction capitalism, killing our planet…

[twodogsbarking]

33. Watch TV? No wonder it is so fucking costly.

[flashman13]

34. This is utterly obscene. It's a kids game.

No wonder baseball is failing.

[Sal_NV]

35. Baseball is failing?

Don't think so..

Is MLB attendance down in 2023?
The total attendance of 70,747,365 in 2023 was a gain of over 6 million fans from 2022, when total attendance was 64,556,658.Oct 2, 2023

Good for Ohtani getting such a good contract.

[Whilex]

37. We used to not being sympathetic to one percenters

Now we congratulate them for getting a raise and becoming 0.5 percenters.

Times change I guess.

[Sal_NV]

38. I have no problem with someone who gets rich by their hard work

and talent, which Ohtani has done.

My problem is those that didn't earn their millions through their hard work and talent.

Ohtani is, in my opinion, worth every penny the Dodgers are paying him, although I do confess that my two favorite teams are the LA Angels and the LA Dodgers.

[flashman13]

46. Lets look at some more meaningful numbers.

These numbers pertain to the (U.S.) World Series:

In 2023 the average viewership on TV was 9.95 million
In 2001 the average viewership on TV was 24.5 million
In 1980 the average viewership on TV was 42.3 million

In 2023 the U.S. population is 332 million
In 2001 the U.S. population was 285 million
In 1980 the U.S. population is 226 million

Therefore:

Between 2001 and 2023 the population grew by 16.5% while viewership dropped by 60%
Between 2001 and 1980 the population grew by 47% while viewership dropped by 76.5%

Those numbers tell me baseball is failing. And BTW, TV revenue is also crashing. The only alternative is to raise in person ticket prices thus driving more average fans from the parks.

[flashman13]

51. Think about this. In 1964 Mickey Mantle, one of the true greats,

signed a contract with the Yankees for $100,000 per season. Taking inflation in account that is roughly $1,000,000. Ohtani will be paid $70,000,000 per season (assuming he lasts long enough to collect it all).

Do you think Ohtani is 70 times better than Mantle? I don't.

[Sal_NV]

52. Do you think Ohtani is 70 times better than Mantle? I don't.

Yes, I do.

[Yavin4]

41. The highest paid professional athlete in American history is a non-American.

Highest paid by far. Outside of American football, foreign born players are the best in their sports, NBA, NHL, and MLB.

I think that says something.

[Whilex]

44. Meanwhile, many hard-working parents cannot afford a babysitter

It’s the world we live in unfortunately

[Sal_NV]

48. And that has what to do with Ohtani earning what he's worked hard for?

[Yavin4]

54. We don't invest in our kids on the same scale that other developed nations do.

The best athletes in the world across multiple sports are not American. The same is also true for the better actors in the world.

[Jose Garcia]

65. Immigrants tend to be hardworking

[Yavin4]

66. That and we don't invest enough in our people.

Most immigrants (not counting migrants and the undocumented) who come here today are not poo and down trodden. They're a lot like Ohtani, super talented and already successful.

[Initech]

47. I'm an Angels fan. I'm still in mourning.

Fuck Arte Moreno. The sooner he rids the world of his evil existence, the better.

[Sal_NV]

49. Me too.

When the Angels play the Dodgers in inter league play, I always root for the Angels.

[Initech]

55. I went to an Angels - Dodgers game at Dodgers Stadium, wearing my Angels jersey.

I never feared for my life more than I did that night. I straight up thought I was going to be murdered that night. Dodgers fans aren't exactly the most welcoming fans in the MLB.

[miyazaki]

60. I would'nt go to that stadium for free

Angel Stadium on the other hand, great.

[IcyPeas]

50. What does one do with $700,000,000, I wonder.

It's like famous paintings that go for millions...it's worth whatever one is willing to pay I guess.

I don't follow sports... any sports, so I don't understand why someone is worth that much.

Corporate sponsors and marketing have taken over everything.

If only teachers could get corporate sponsors.

[Jacson6]

53. I remember when Detroit Tiger Al Kaline Received a Million Dollar Contract back in the 70's

I was six then. I thought that was absurd when my family lived off of a thousand a month. We need to bring back the 90% tax for those that earn more then ten million a year.

[Jacson6]

56. Taxes in CA for $700M

https://imgur.com/WvTnGh0

[Yavin4]

58. SS taxes on $700 million? $9932.40 LOL!!!

And we have Niki Haley getting praise for calling for extending the SS retirement age for young people!

[Owl]

59. Ridiculous amount of money.

[Snoopy 7]

62. proof

This should be obviously plain to you as the nose at the end of your face. This proves President Biden's economy is failing us all (yuck yuck). Don't forget that the two individuals running the corporation are trump supporters, financially and vote wise. These people want more money that is why they want trump in charge. Imagine spending one hundredth of that money on the people who keep the stadium running.

[Stuart G]

64. "MORE AND MORE"............................MONEY.........HONEY!!!!!

STUPID IS REALLY....................'STUPID' !!!!!!!

(if given to some ....FOOD SHELTERS ...around the country in large cities & towns............how many people would that money feed?}