Andrew Friedman: Shohei Ohtani Increased Dodgers’ Willingness To Spend

When Shohei Ohtani signed his record-setting 10-year, $700 million with the Los Angeles Dodgers, he agreed to defer all but $2 million of his annual salary after the team promised they would use the savings to continue adding elite talent around him.

The Dodgers have certainly held up their end of the bargain, adding the likes of Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tanner Scott, Edwin Díaz and Kyle Tucker since Ohtani officially joined the team.

The Dodgers won the World Series in each of Ohtani’s first two seasons with the team and now are projected to have another luxury tax payroll of more than $400 million this year.

President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said the Dodgers have been more willing to spend aggressively because of Ohtani, via Jack Harris of the California Post:

“The moment that we signed Shohei, it was important to back that up and continue to show our commitment to winning and reinvesting in the team,” Friedman said in a recent interview with The California Post. “How that has played out, in conjunction with having Shohei, I think has increased (our willingness to spend) and made it an even more aggressive plan than we initially thought. But again, we didn’t sit down and say, ‘OK, now it can be X instead of Y.’ It was more like, let’s be more aggressive. And as we’ve done that, aggressiveness has beget more aggressiveness.”

The Dodgers understandably want to maximize their time with Ohtani, who has transformed the team in more ways than one.

Ohtani is a complete game-changer on the field due to his two-way ability, with 50 home-run power and a fastball that can exceed 100 mph.

The 31-year-old is also the most popular player in baseball and has generated millions of dollars in extra revenue for the team from sponsorships, ticket sales and TV ratings.

Shohei Ohtani among Dodgers reporting early to Spring Training

Ohtani was among the Dodgers who reported to Camelback Ranch early for Spring Training as a result of his participation in this year’s World Baseball Classic.

Ohtani is representing Samurai Japan as they look to defend their title, but will only be hitting as he reportedly couldn’t get insured to pitch.