Dodgers Ohtani Baseball

Shohei Ohtani’s record-setting $700 million deal with the Dodgers includes $680 million in deferred payments. Ashley Landis/Associated Press

NEW YORK — Shohei Ohtani will receive just $20 million of his $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers over the next 10 years, with $680 million payable from 2034-43.

Ohtani’s deal, agreed to Saturday, calls for annual salaries of $70 million, according to details obtained by The Associated Press. Of each year’s salary, $68 million is deferred with no interest, payable in equal installments each July 1 from 2034-43.

For purposes of the luxury tax, the contract is valued as a yearly addition to the Dodgers’ payroll of about $46 million.

Ohtani’s contract, combined with those of Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, raises the Dodgers’ total of deferred money owed to the three to $857 million from 2033-44.

Betts has a $365 million deal covering 2021-32 that includes $115 million in deferred salaries payable from 2033-44 and has the final $5 million of his signing bonus payable from 2033-35.

Freeman has a $162 million, six-year deal for 2022-27 that includes $57 million in deferred money payable from 2028-40.

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Los Angeles’ high points of the deferred payments are 2038 and ’39, when the trio will be owed $83 million, and 2040, when they will be due $84 million.

By receiving the vast majority of the money when he presumably will not be living in the United States, Ohtani also figures to have a tax benefit. California’s top tax rate for residents is 13.3%.

• Reliever Joe Kelly is switching uniform numbers after finalizing his $8 million, one-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, opening No. 17 for Shohei Ohtani.

Kelly will wear No. 99 with the Dodgers. Ohtani’s 10-year contract with Los Angeles – worth a record $700 million – was announced by the team on Monday night. The two-way star wore No. 17 with the Los Angeles Angels.

Kelly wore 58 when he started his major league career with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2012. He was No. 56 with the Boston Red Sox from 2014-18 and No. 17 with the Dodgers from 2019-21 and again last season. He also was No. 17 with the Chicago White Sox in 2022 and ‘23.

• The Dodgers acquired shortstop prospect Trey Sweeney from the New York Yankees for left-hander Victor González and infielder Jorbit Vivas, opening roster spots for Ohtani and Kelly.

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Los Angeles’ 40-man roster was full before the trade and the Dodgers needed to open two spots.

The 23-year-old Sweeney was selected by the Yankees with the 20th overall pick in the 2021 amateur draft. He hit .252 with 13 homers, 49 RBI and 20 stolen bases last season at Double-A Somerset.

González, 28, was 3-3 with a 4.01 ERA in 33 relief appearances and one start for the Dodgers this year, striking out 33 and walking 10 in 33 2/3 innings. He averaged 94.6 mph with his sinker and also throws sliders and changeups.

Vivas, a 22-year-old second baseman and third baseman, hit .280 with 12 homers, 54 RBI and 21 steals in 109 games at Double-A Tulsa this year and batted .226 with one homer, nine RBI and four steals in 26 games at Triple-A Oklahoma City.

OBIT: Vic Davalillo, a two-time World Series champion who spent 16 seasons in the major leagues and won a Gold Glove in 1964, has died. He was 84 or 87, depending on conflicting sources.

Davalillo died in Caracas after an emergency surgery due to an intestinal obstruction and renal insufficiency, daughter Helga Davalillo said.

Baseball Reference lists his date of birth as July 30, 1939, but Davalillo considered July 31 his birthday and Asdrúbal Fuenmayor wrote in a 2006 biography that Davalillo was born in 1936. The 1969 Sporting News Baseball Register also used 1936.

BRAVES: Atlanta filled three openings on its coaching staff by promoting Matt Tuiasosopo and Tom Goodwin from the minor leagues and hiring Erick Abreu.


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