By BETH HARRIS AP Sports Writer
INGLEWOOD — Shohei Ohtani could have pursued a 15-year contract through age 44, agent Nez Balelo said Thursday, explaining the two-way superstar didn’t want to risk a decline in his skills while under the big deal.
Balelo pulled back the curtain that shrouds Ohtani a bit when he spoke at Sportico’s Invest West conference featuring decision-makers in sports, entertainment and finance at the Clippers’ new Intuit Dome.
The $700 million, 10-year deal that Ohtani signed with the Dodgers in December 2023 was the largest in professional sports. He won his third league MVP award and first World Series title in his first season after moving from the Angels.
A year later, Juan Soto went even bigger. The left fielder landed a $765 million, 15-year contract with the New York Mets in which none of the money will be deferred.
“We wouldn’t do anything different,” Balelo said afterward. “He won a championship. He went to the right team. No regrets.”
Ohtani’s deal includes $680 million in deferred payments. Those deferrals reduce the net present value of the contract to about $461 million for baseball’s luxury-tax system, instead of an average of $70 million a year had there been no deferrals.
Ohtani will be 38 when the contract ends after the 2033 season.
“We could have went to 13, 14, 15 years,” Balelo said. “But Shohei wanted to always kind of keep the integrity of where he’s at as a player. He just didn’t want to have the end of his storybook career tail off and then on year 13, 14 and 15, it’s just like who is this guy? You can’t even run down first and he’s not a guy anymore.”
Balelo prefers operating behind the scenes and carefully controlling the narrative around Ohtani. But even he couldn’t tamp down a cottage industry of rumors about which team would land Ohtani and how much it would cost.
“It was quite a ride,” he said in a discussion moderated by Ben Verlander, MLB analyst for FOX Sports.
A social media frenzy ensued when it was reported Ohtani was on a plane to Toronto to sign with the Blue Jays.
“Well, that was reckless reporting. We actually tried to let the individual know, ‘No, we’re not on a plane,’” Balelo said. “I felt bad for the country of Canada. I felt horrible for the organization because clearly they knew we weren’t.”
Ohtani’s goals were to keep his new team competitive by allowing the club money to sign other players and to allow him to win championships and continue to be a two-way player.
“The Dodgers gave us their word that’s what they were going to do,” said Balelo, who works for CAA Sports’ baseball division.
Ohtani is MLB’s top endorser, with his earnings jumping from $65 million in 2024 to $100 million this year.
“Yeah, absolutely, those are real numbers,” Balelo said. “It continues to take on a life of its own.”
According to Balelo, Ohtani endorses just over 20 brands that are carefully vetted and chosen based on his use or belief in the product and the people behind it. His priority is his on-the-field performance and the training that goes into it.
“He takes that very, very serious and everything really becomes secondary other than his family,” Balelo said. “We just have to make sure that we don’t overexpose him or put him in a situation where it’s too heavy of a lift.”
Balelo first spotted the future superstar as a high school junior in Ohtani’s native Japan and followed him closely as Ohtani’s pro career began with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.
“There were some things that I did differently than I typically would when I recruit,” he said, declining to elaborate when asked afterward.
“It was definitely a battle, that’s for sure, but we came out on top and I was very fortunate.”