Sorry, Toronto (and San Diegans).
Shohei Ohtani and the Blue Jays never made sense.
Spending $700 million doesn’t make much sense, either. But if someone was going to break the bank, it was going to be the team biding its time for years in hopes of landing this generation’s greatest free agent.
The Blue Jays over Dodger Blue?
The Great White North over Hollywood?
Clawing in the AL East over reigning in the NL West?
Yeah, Ohtani was never getting on that plane to Toronto on Friday, as much as San Diegans would have loved that outcome.
A.J. Preller had already punted Juan Soto and his $30 million-plus salary over to the Yankees. As hard as that might be for the Friar Faithful to stomach, it would have gone down easier had Ohtani stiff-armed the Dodgers in favor of a quieter life north of the border.
Shoot, Ohtani doing his best to lift the Giants out of mediocrity would have been a heck of a lot better than folding him into a lineup that already has Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy and a rotation that in 2025 could feature Ohtani, Walker Buehler, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin and perhaps what’s left of Clayton Kershaw’s left arm.
Even the so-called upside evaporated before the ink dried.
An Ohtani contract, combined with nine-figure contracts for Betts and Freeman, should have pushed the top of the market beyond even the Dodgers’ means. But Ohtani has agreed to defer the majority of his money, making it easier for LA to build the team around the two-time AL MVP.
The exact details are not yet known, but Ohtani’s generosity could cut the Dodgers’ luxury tax hit from $70 million to $35 million or $40 million, depending on how far the can is kicked down the road, according to ESPN.
Put quite simply: A dollar 10 years after Ohtani’s career ends isn’t worth nearly as much as a dollar is worth today.
At some point, the commissioner’s office ought to take a look at how teams are tripping over themselves to invent new ways to exploit luxury tax rules. Maybe the Dodgers saw what the Padres did with Xander Bogaerts’ and Manny Machado’s deals and quadrupled down on the strategy. The more pressing concern in San Diego is the realization that the Dodgers will still be in on every free agent or every trade scenario, despite signing Ohtani.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto could still be a target. They’ve talked about trading for Dylan Cease and Tyler Glasnow, all of whom should be in the Padres’ sights now that they can spread Soto’s salary across the entire roster. Corbin Burnes would certainly look good atop the Padres’ rotation in 2024; of course, the Dodgers — with an equally deep farm system — are likely saying the same thing.
Shoot, the Dodgers could flirt with Jung-Hoo Lee if they wanted to make life absolutely miserable for the Padres.
Why the heck not? It’s only money, and Ohtani gave them bargain on the $700 million deal (if such a thing is possible).
Ohtani’s deferrals mean nothing is off the table, even with the Dodgers handing out the richest contract in North American professional sports history on the heels of winning 10 of the last 11 NL West titles.
How can anyone compete with that?
Yes, the Padres have done it before, slaying Peter Seidler’s so-called dragon en route to the 2022 NLCS and they had the team to do it again in 2023.
But this — this will be different.
Or perhaps all too familiar ‘round here if Preller doesn’t play the cards in his farm system and money he’s allowed to spend absolutely right.
