Phillies Don’t Pony Up For Ohtani

Well, the Philadelphia Phillies can officially put to bed any Shohei Ohtani rumors that had been linked to them throughout portions of the offseason. The Japanese phenom signed a historic 10-year, $700 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers that will hand out the most guaranteed money to a single player in North American sports history. Knowing the contract that Ohtani received, it now makes sense as to why the Phillies seemed further and further away from signing the superstar after each passing week.

Philadelphia will carry a salary of roughly $223 million during the 2024 season according to Spotrac. That puts them as having the second-highest payroll of any team in Major League Baseball. Signing Ohtani to a contract of that magnitude would have made it very difficult for them to address other needs the roster has now and in the future. President of baseball operations, Dave Dombrowski, said he doesn’t think the Phillies have too many holes heading into the new year after getting Aaron Nola back on a seven year deal. But, there’s no doubt that every baseball executive would have liked to add Ohtani if they could.

He’s the best player in the sport, excelling at both pitching and hitting.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan makes an interesting note about how the Dodgers are structuring the superstar’s deal. “Shohei Ohtani’s contract has significant deferrals that include most of his salary — an idea, a source said, that was Ohtani’s. In deferring the money, it reduces the cost of the competitive-balance-tax hit and will allow the Dodgers to build a better team around him,” he reports. Knowing this, would Philadelphia have been more aggressive in their pursuit of the phenom? Potentially. They would have been able to remain competitive and add future pieces if necessary under this structure of Ohtani’s contract.

Still, adding a historic deal to an already high payroll might have been too much even for owner John Middleton’s aggressive spending.