But Ohtani isn't actually getting more in present-day value by structuring the contract his way; he's actually getting less. Then again, as more information becomes available, maximizing salary doesn't appear to be Ohtani's main goal. If it had, maybe he would have accepted Toronto's (unlikely) offer of $600 million, although we don't know if that contract would have contained deferrals as well. It's hard imagine him in a Blue Jay uniform, but he certainly could have maximized his brand in Canada since Blue Jays games are broadcast throughout the entire country.
Still, as has been reported, Ohtani wanted a deferred payment structure so as to ease the Dodgers' immediate CBT obligations. As I said earlier, this sort of like NFL teams spreading signing bonuses out as much as five years on a long-term contract, or adding voidable years to ease present cap burdens (with obvious differences). More importantly, the Dodgers will now have immediate use of those funds, so they've really got the best of both worlds in this instance. What's kind of ironic, though, is that the signing of a two-way superstar didn't address the Dodgers' most pressing need--bolstering the starting rotation.
I've not claimed that the contract structure gives Ohtani more present day value, I've shown example numbers of how 10/$700M heavily deferred could be equal NPV to a 12/$528M offer without deferrals. I don't think he took any less money to go to the Dodgers, I think he took the largest offer he got, and then allowed the Dodgers to structure it however he liked. Ohtani and his agents surely understand that $700M paid over 40 years (or whatever it is) is equivalent value to $550M paid over 12 years (again, whatever the math works out ot). I don't think the Dodgers offered 20% more NPV than everyone else.
The reporting is lazy work from people who don't understand how time value of money works or the CPT or maybe both. Deferring money doesn't give the Dogers a CPT advantage compared to an equivalently valued non-deferred deal. It does give them an advantage over paying the same total amount over less time, but that's not an equivalent value.
If Ohtani went to the Dodgers for less money (in NPV, not in total dollars paid) than he was offered by other teams, then he is doing them a favor. We haven't heard what the other teams offered, but even if we do it'll be hard to know we're comparing apples to apples with the impact of deferred money, incentives, and other non-cash value considerations like opt-outs.
