Remember when the baseball world loved to make fun of the New York Mets for owing Bobby Bonilla money every year? The Los Angeles Dodgers have said, “Hold my beer.”
The Mets owing Bobby Bonilla almost $1.2 million on July 1 every year (Bobby Bonilla Day) until 2035 now pales in comparison to what the Dodgers are doing.
After signing closer Edwin Diaz, the Los Angeles Dodgers now owe more than $1.06 billion in deferred salaries to nine different players. That’s billion with a “B.”
Diaz’s Dodgers three-year contract will pay him $69 million. $13.5 million of that salary will be paid in annual deferrals every year from 2036 to 2047.
According to Front Office Sports, there are eight other players that the Dodgers also will owe millions of dollars to, many well after they retire.
- Shohei Ohtani: $680 million between 2034 and 2043
- Mookie Betts: $115 million between 2033 and 2044, plus $5 million in signing-bonus installments from 2033 to 2035.
- Blake Snell: $66 million between 2035 and 2046
- Freddie Freeman: $57 million between 2028 and 2040
- Will Smith: $50 million between 2034 and 2043
- Teoscar Hernandez: $32 million between 2030 and 2039
- Tommy Edman: $25 million between 2037 and 2044
- Tanner Scott: $21 million between 2035 and 2046
Yes, the Dodgers won back-to-back World Series. They also are in the middle of a 25-year, $8.35 billion local media-rights deal with Spectrum. So, (a) their strategy is working, and (b) they have the money to spend.
The Dodgers will owe almost $100 million in 2037 to players who will be retired
That being said, let’s take a look at players that will be on the Dodgers’ payroll in the year 2037.
- Shohei Ohtani: $68 million
- Mookie Betts: $8 million
- Blake Snell: $5.5 million
- Freddie Freeman: $5 million
- Will Smith: $5 million
- Tommy Edman: $2.5 million
- Teoscar Hernandez: $2.35 million
- Tanner Scott: $2.1 million
- Edwin Diaz: $900,000
That’s $94.35 million that will be paid to those nine players, all of whom will be long retired, in 2037. Putting that number into perspective, that’s more money than the Rays, Pirates, White Sox, A’s, and Marlins each paid their entire rosters in 2025.
And that’s just as of today. Who knows how many more players the Dodgers will sign to deferred deals between now and then. The Dodgers’ current $342.2 million luxury-tax payroll for 2026 may look like chicken feed a decade from now.