Ideas

California Is Taking a Page From Shohei Ohtani’s $700 Million Deal

Newsom’s Proposed State Budget Has More Deferrals Than the Baseball Star’s Contract

Baseball player Shohei Ohtani smiling at the camera. He wears a white Dodgers jersey and a blue L.A. cap.

Shohei Ohtani is famous for being the world’s best baseball player, the only major leaguer of the past century who can both hit and pitch at an elite level.

Perhaps he should take charge of California’s state budget too.

I say that because of his new contract. This winter, Ohtani signed a deal to play with the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was initially reported as a 10-year, $700 million contract, but baseball writers quickly discovered that its real details were quite different.

Ohtani had agreed to collect just $2 million a year for …

by Joe Mathews |

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