Michael Baumann. He mentions that in theory Ohtani could retire and convert what's owed to him into an ownership stake (which is also how Mario Lemieux wound up as one of the Pens' owners when they were in bankruptcy).
Most important, it reduces Ohtani’s CBT hit from $70 million a season to just over $46 million, which isn’t some accounting loophole the Dodgers figured out. Paying Ohtani that money later genuinely reduces what this contract is worth to the player.
But whenever a star takes less money for the good of the team, it’s good to ask why it’s the player’s job to subsidize the rest of the roster and not the owner’s. Particularly on a team like the Dodgers in a league without a salary cap. If I were loaning my employer $680 million interest-free, I’d want concrete assurances that the savings would go toward materially improving the company. In Ohtani’s case, that means player salaries. Because with this much money deferred, the Dodgers are apparently still below the first tax apron, even with Betts and Freddie Freeman also on the roster.
