Dodgers News: MLB Commissioner Speaks Out on Salary Deferrals

Valentina Martinez | 10 Hours Ago

Oct 29, 2024; New York, New York, USA; MLB commissioner Rob Manfred before game four of the 2024 MLB World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Dodgers have earned a reputation surrounding the organization's use of deferrals. Although the team has received some praise for their efforts to be creative, the Dodgers have also received much criticism for deferred contracts.

When MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred spoke about deferrals, he didn't sound like he was the biggest fan.

“Deferrals at some point can become problematic,” Manfred said to Chris O’Gorman. “Historically, we did have one franchise, Arizona, that got itself into financial difficulties as a result of excessive deferrals. We’ve strengthened our rules in terms of the funding of deferred compensation in order to avoid that kind of problem. But, you know, look, obviously the bigger the numbers get, the bigger the concern.”

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman had a simple explanation as his defense for using deferrals.

“I think we’re rewarding our incredibly passionate fans,” Friedman said.

The most shocking deferred contract is Shohei Ohtani's $700 million deal he signed with the Dodgers. A jaw-dropping 97 percent of Ohtani's contract was deferred.

“I think the Shohei one is just jarring to people because it’s so different, and I think the others just unfairly get lumped into that,” Friedman said. “But I think it’s kind of a lazy narrative … the rest are within the norm and standard operating procedure that a lot of teams have done.”

Friedman also explained that not every contract includes deferrals, but the topic is brought up in negotiations. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is a prime example of a player that received a deal with no deferrals from the Dodgers. He signed a 12-year, $325 million contract.

“I mean, it’s just a lever,” Friedman said. “We’ve talked about this. We’ve done deals recently that don’t have it. We’ve done deals that do.

“In a negotiation, I think it’s always challenging and so you’re looking to any lever you possibly can to help get to a point where there is overlap. There are times where that deal lines up in a more straightforward way. There’s times where it’s less straightforward. Including deferrals helps as a lever to find that overlap. It’s been a useful tool for us. … We just like to get deals done.”

Most recently, it was reported that free agent Teoscar Hernández does not want any deferrals in his contract. While that may not be the most important factor for the Dodgers, it is something interesting to note as he deferred his contract last year with the team.

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