Shohei Ohtani can opt out of his Dodgers contract under only one circumstance
Shohei Ohtani’s $700-million contract with the Dodgers does include an opt-out clause after all, albeit one that can be triggered only under specific circumstances.
According to details of the 10-year contract filed by the Major League Baseball Players Assn., the deal states that, “if specific change [occurs] in Dodger personnel, [Ohtani] may opt out of contract at end of season the change occurs.”
In other words, if a predetermined member (or more than one member) of the organization leaves during Ohtani’s time with the Dodgers, he would have the ability to opt out of the deal before its completion.
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While neither the Dodgers nor Ohtani’s agency, CAA Sports, have said whom the clause refers to, the Associated Press reported that president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and owner/chairman Mark Walter are the people in question.
Per the AP, if either Friedman or Walter loses his role with the organization, Ohtani would have the ability to leave the club too.
Such clauses — known as “key-man” clauses — are believed to be uncommon in player contracts, but aren’t unheard of in the sport. For example, former Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon was believed to have a similar clause in his deal regarding Friedman. That’s why when Friedman left the Rays for the Dodgers in 2014, Maddon was able to opt out of his deal and become manager of the Chicago Cubs .
In Ohtani’s case, if he were to opt out, he still would receive all the deferral payments he had earned up to that point.
The Dodgers are hoping things never come to that. They came to their agreement in hopes of building a super team in Los Angeles. As they work toward accomplishing that this winter, here are some other notable details in Ohtani’s deal:
By union calculations, Ohtani’s deal is actually worth only about $437.8 million in present-day value. That differs somewhat from the league’s calculation of a roughly $460-million present-day value (the number used to come up with Ohtani’s roughly $46-million annual luxury tax hit). The reason for the difference is the league and union use different accounting methods.
Ohtani was given full no-trade protection , which is believed to be the first time the Dodgers have included such a protection in a player contract since Friedman took over as the top executive.
Ohtani was guaranteed an interpreter ; he has used Ippei Mizuhara ever since coming to MLB.
Ohtani will have a stadium suite at all home games.
Ohtani will “donate to club charity [an] amount not to exceed 1%.”
The $68-million deferral payments Ohtani will receive after the contract ends are scheduled to be paid out on July 1 of every year from 2034 to 2043.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
