"Unfortunate loophole that hurts the game" - Fans worried over Dodgers owing nearly $1 billion in deferred payments to Shohei Ohtani, Blake Snell & Co

There was immense backlash all around the baseball community when the Los Angeles Dodgers completed their $700 million deal with Shohei Ohtani as more than 97% of the sum was deferred. That sentiment resurfaced as the Dodgers managed to employ a similar formula while signing Blake Snell to a five-year, $182 million contract.

When teams defer money, they create volume for themselves in the Competitive Balance Tax columns. Staying within the CBT is what teams look for, but that often becomes a major obstacle in securing the best players.

The Dodgers have been the sole master of this art so far. LA has dished out deferred contracts of nearly $1 billion, $964 million to be precise, that includes Ohtani and Snell's along with top stars - Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith. Their first payments will start in 2028 when Freeman's contract is up.

This practice has angered rest of the teams' fans. They feel that Los Angeles is bullying the system, even though it is within the rules set out by the MLB, that there is no limit to how much a player can defer his own contractual money. Fans took to X (formerly Twitter) to voice their opinions.

"It’s an unfortunate loophole that hurts the game imo," one fan opined

"I feel like the dodgers are gonna find them selves in a mini dynasty then absolutely financially screwed when all those deferrals hit," another fan said.

"Let’s hope this matters 5, 10 years from now," an user wrote.

More fans chipped in with their opinions.

"It’s actually crazy that only the dodgers want to exploit this loophole," another fan wrote.

"MLB is gonna lose more fans," a fan said angrily.

"I mean, good for them but bad for baseball. MLB probably will need to do something eventually to curb that," a fan chimed in.

How have the Dodgers used deferrals to their advantage?

Deferred money leaves any organization with an advantage to add more resources. The Dodgers signed Ohtani last year and only have to pay him $2 million annually. Despite that, the true value of the deal came to $46 million for the CBT deductions.

If the Dodgers hadn't deferred the money, they would have had to account for $70 million in CBT deduction. The difference of $24 million was enough to sign another star player. Their one year contract with Teoscar Hernandez, who was an important addition to their World Series winning batting lineup, amounted to $23.5 million.

However, it should be said that Los Angeles isn't the only team with such type of contracts. The Red Sox and the Mets have deferred $75 million and $50 million from Rafael Devers and Francisco Lindor's contracts, respectively. More of these deferred contracts are likely to follow across the league.