During the 2024 offseason, one of the biggest stories in Major League Baseball was which team would sign Juan Soto after he became a free agent from the New York Yankees.
In the end, Soto agreed to a historic contract with the New York Mets—15 years worth a total of $765 million, the largest deal in the history of professional sports.
Soto is a young, immensely talented player who has consistently delivered strong performance.
However, it is widely believed that such a massive contract was influenced by Shohei Ohtani’s deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the previous offseason—10 years, $700 million.
At the time, nearly every team in Major League Baseball was eager to sign Ohtani.
The one exception was his former team, the Los Angeles Angels.
Even if they were to retain him, the Angels had no intention of offering a contract comparable to those from other teams.
Looking back on that time, Ohtani said:
“I felt that other teams, including the Dodgers, valued me more highly.
Rather than focusing on what the Angels would or wouldn’t do,
I was simply grateful that other teams evaluated me so highly.”
As reflected in his decision to defer 97% of his salary, Ohtani was not driven by a desire to receive a massive amount of money immediately.
What he truly sought was something else—
to be genuinely wanted by every team.
Source
This quote comes from a Japanese book published in Japan and is not currently available in English.
SHO-TIME 3.0: Shohei Ohtani’s Championship Journey in a New Team, p.44