Shohei Ohtani News: Business Writer Calculates $700 Million Worth for Angels Superstar’s Next Contract
If there's one thing that's not up for debate about Angels' superstar Shohei Ohtani, it's that he's the most unique player in baseball history.
The sport's been around since the 19th century, but approximately nobody in all that time has ever seen a player like Ohtani, who's proven himself to be one of the most feared hitters in the game and one of the better pitchers in the sport -- all on a full-time basis.
Yes, the legend that was and is Babe Ruth tried to do both early in his career, but he quickly transitioned to be just a full-time hitter.
Ohtani's adjusted to MLB, kept the full-time job going, and shows no signs of slowing down as he recently earned a third trip to the All Star Game and is the leading candidate for the American League MVP Award, in what would be his second honor in just three full seasons of play for the Los Angeles Angels.
He's reached heights in the sport that we've never seen before -- and likely never will again -- and the specter of his upcoming free agency begs the question of "what could the two-way phenom command on the open market?"
$400 million seems like a given. $500 million? Probably.
But Orange County Register business writer Jonathan Lansner sees Ohtani reaching into a different stratosphere entirely, not only signing the biggest contract in US professional sports, but shattering it with a deal that reaches north of $700 million.
So he deserves to be paid for double duty: the average pay for premier batters plus what top-shelf pitchers make. Assuming a 10-year deal, the spreadsheet says Ohtani should get a $664 million package, or roughly $66 million a year.
Nice pay, but wait … there’s more! Half of these 10 top money deals I studied were made in 2021 or earlier. The newer deals were 5% pricier.
Yeah, ballplayers get wage inflation, too! Add in that pricing factor and the spreadsheet says Ohtani’s worth $701 million over 10 years. That’s $70 million per season.
Lansner has a point, as a player as good as Ohtani is on both sides deserves to be paid the equivalent of what a top hitter and starting pitcher would make.
That said, his Angels teammate Mike Trout is the current owner of the biggest contract in MLB history with his 12-year, $426,500,000 deal, good for an average annual value of about $35.5 million per season.
As excellent and unique a player as Ohtani is, I can't see him getting a contract worth $70 million per year. There are limits to everything, even when it comes to Ohtani, and the penalties that a team would incur in that scenario would be too great.
I can see him getting a $600 million deal when he reaches free agency at the end of this season.
A deal like that would give Ohtani a salary in line with his talents, while also not completely hamstringing whichever team he signs with, Angels or otherwise.
Assuming the 29-year-old Ohtani inks a 12-year deal -- Trout signed his 12-year contract at 27, before reaching free agency -- that would give Ohtani an average of $50 million per season, still good enough to shatter the MLB record for AAV of $43.3 per season, signed by the Mets Max Scherzer in 2021.
Either way, Ohtani is set to completely blow the doors off any MLB contract ever signed by a player in a league that's been around for over 120 years.
And that's something that arguably the most skilled player in the sport's long history is more than deserving of.
