DALLAS — When the news broke, the number was staggering, its enormity difficult to wrangle.
Only 366 days have flipped by since the Los Angeles Dodgers and Shohei Ohtani agreed to a 10-year, $700 million contract. At first glance, the figure was mind-boggling, headline-catching. It was also, far and away, the largest outlay in MLB history, shattering the 12-year, $426 million extension Mike Trout had inked with Ohtani’s former club, the Los Angeles Angels, less than five years earlier.
But as details trickled out, the agreement assumed a more complex sheen. A whopping $680 million — $68 million per season — would be deferred until the 10 years were up.