2023/24 Blue Jays Off Season Thread

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Ohtani is making 45M a year in endorsements alone.

This just keeps him in that stratoshphere for years after he is done playing.

And is very tax advantageous assuming he doesn’t have endorsement income
Post playing career

[Senator Clay Davis]

So....2026 lockout, here we come?

[Kasi]

So question that came up on another board? Is this enough to boo Ohtani? For me that’s a silly question it’s sports you don’t need a good reason to boo a player. But I have to admit there is a stink here of being played and I won’t have an issue booing him. Like not ARod or Oder level or anything but say garrit cole level. Nice guy I’m sure but on a team I don’t care for.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

So....2026 lockout, here we come?

You’re looking at it wrong. Owners won’t have a problem with this. Players, agents and the union may have a big problem with their big guy taking less than he’s worth.

[flames_fan_down_under]

So he does the Dodgers a solid by deferring millions. I can’t believe I deluded myself into thinking he would be a Blue Jay. What a circus. Use the Jays as a pawn to get maximum leverage, employ the media as your tools to improve your salary, but at the same time say “hey no worries , pay me later”. #### this guy.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

You’re looking at it wrong. Owners won’t have a problem with this. Players, agents and the union may have a big problem with their big guy taking less than he’s worth.

Yes I'm sure the small market teams who have less of a chance to compete than ever before will simply shrug their shoulders. Would be a fun lockout though, you'd have 5-8 teams on the players side because they never want a hard cap.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Yes I'm sure the small market teams who have less of a chance to compete than ever before will simply shrug their shoulders. Would be a fun lockout though, you'd have 5-8 teams on the players side because they never want a hard cap.

You're not making sense. Any small market team would love to be able to get a free agent for 2/3s their value. Most players just aren't going to take that though. If he got 70/year straight up, then that is a whole lot harder for small teams to compete with.

The only problematic part for other teams (and maybe the union) is he took a pretty big pay cut to go to the Dodgers. And then there is the whole tax evasion question.

[Fire]

Originally Posted by Scornfire

What a broken ass league, sorry, but that's the absolute dumbest thing I've ever heard of in "competitive" sports

Yup this contract being allowed is gross and instantly makes me less interested in caring about the MLB. They need a hard cap asap. The league is a joke.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

You're not making sense. Any small market team would love to be able to get a free agent for 2/3s their value. Most players just aren't going to take that though. If he got 70/year straight up, then that is a whole lot harder for small teams to compete with.

The only problematic part for other teams (and maybe the union) is he took a pretty big pay cut to go to the Dodgers. And then there is the whole tax evasion question.

Any small market team can't afford the deferrals. Thinking the Rays or A's can pay him $68 million a year for 10 years to not play is insane. This level of deferral is only something the richest teams can afford. And seeing as this reduces the Dodgers luxury tax hit those same small market teams get less money in the end. If this were a small portion of the contract being deferred, that'd be one thing, but it's literally 97% being deferred. Good for the Dodgers exploiting the rules, but like most things where exploiting the rules are possible it's mostly the richest that can do it.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Any small market team can't afford the deferrals. Thinking the Rays or A's can pay him $68 million a year for 10 years to not play is insane. This level of deferral is only something the richest teams can afford. And seeing as this reduces the Dodgers luxury tax hit those same small market teams get less money in the end. If this were a small portion of the contract being deferred, that'd be one thing, but it's literally 97% being deferred. Good for the Dodgers exploiting the rules, but like most things where exploiting the rules are possible it's mostly the richest that can do it.

There's no exploiting. Take a finance course. It's a 46m/year contract. Anyone who can afford to pay him that can afford this contract. If a team doesn't want the bank end liability, then invest 46m/year during the playing years to pay it out, which is exactly the same thing as paying him 46 million/year in cash.

[GirlySports]

Yeah definitely boo him in April, not watching this guy.

[nfotiu]

Here's the truly controversial part of this:

https://twitter.com/user/status/1734388249001623756

It doesn't help avoid federal taxes, and probably wouldn't have been a benefit to take a contract of this structure in Canada.

[Jiggy]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

So....2026 lockout, here we come?

When A-Rod signed his 10 year 252 million dollar deal it didn't lead to a lockout. Why would this one?

[flames_fan_down_under]

Enjoy everything that California has to offer, just don’t pay your fair share of taxes, leave that silly stuff to the fans watching you in the stands.

[flamingred89]

Originally Posted by flames_fan_down_under

So he does the Dodgers a solid by deferring millions. I can’t believe I deluded myself into thinking he would be a Blue Jay. What a circus. Use the Jays as a pawn to get maximum leverage, employ the media as your tools to improve your salary, but at the same time say “hey no worries , pay me later”. #### this guy.

Yep. Seriously #### this guy. I really hope this blows up spectacularly and we'll be laughing about Shohei day for years to come.

[Jiggy]

Originally Posted by flamingred89

Yep. Seriously #### this guy. I really hope this blows up spectacularly and we'll be laughing about Shohei day for years to come.

He will have a ton of pressure on him. And how will his teammates react when they keep doing media while he prefers not to and is getting paid like no other player has.

What happeneds if he has another UCL injury?

Lots of things can blow up in the Dodgers and Shohei's face.

[Caged Great]

If I was a jays pitcher I’d have a hard time not throwing at him at least once just for the whole situation. Everything he did was so outside the lines of the code. Like even culturally Japanese people typically conduct business in a very straightforward and direct way and this might be the slimiest interaction I’ve seen anyone act.

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

If I was a jays pitcher I’d have a hard time not throwing at him at least once just for the whole situation.

Every single time I play him on MLB The Show I'm aiming for his head. No matter how many pitchers get thrown out.

[Slava]

If you’ve seen what Todd Boehly has been doing with Chelsea in the Premier League, you kind of see his fingerprints on this Ohtani deal. He has signed longer duration contracts there also, which lets them defer costs and spread it over a longer period of time. He’s 20% owner of the Dodgers, so I just thought that was an interesting connection.

[Kasi]

The dodgers already did deferred with Betts and Freeman. Between 2034-2043 those contracts will cost them between 79-84 millions per year. That is ten years that a quarter or more of their payroll goes to players who won’t be playing anymore.