Sports fans in Los Angeles shouldn't worry about Shohei Ohtani going anywhere if the Dodgers change hands.
The two-way superstar owns a "key man" clause in his contract that allows him to opt out if owner Mark Walter - who sold the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday - were to sell the Dodgers, or if president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman leaves the team. However, even if Walter does decide to sell his baseball club in the immediate future, Ohtani is unlikely to trigger the clause and become a free agent, a source told Sam Blum and Stephen J. Nesbitt of The Athletic.
Walter, the CEO of Guggenheim Partners, sold his majority stake in the Lakers to businessman Joshua Kushner and former Disney CEO Bob Iger for a North American sports-record $12.5 billion less than a year after purchasing the team. The 66-year-old Walter is being investigated for alleged tax fraud surrounding other properties under his control.
The Lakers were the only team that Walter sold his stake in.
"This is a Lakers story. It's not really a Dodgers story," Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten said Wednesday, according to The Athletic's Fabian Ardaya. "It really has nothing to do with the Dodgers. They're completely separate. So there are no changes here."
Walter and Guggenheim Baseball Management have owned the Dodgers since 2012. He hired Friedman away from the Tampa Bay Rays to oversee the team's baseball operations in 2014. The Dodgers have not missed the playoffs under their leadership, winning three World Series titles this decade, including back-to-back titles in the last two seasons while fielding record payrolls.
Ohtani joined the Dodgers on a historic 10-year, $700-million deal before the 2024 season. In addition to featuring the "key man" clause, his contract called for $68 million of his $70-million annual salary to be deferred and paid out from 2034-43. During his introductory news conference in December 2023, Ohtani discussed why the clause was included in his deal.
"Everybody has to be on the same page in order to have a winning organization," Ohtani said at the time through an interpreter, per Blum and Nesbitt. "I feel like those two (Walter and Friedman) are at the top of it and they're in control of everything, and I feel almost like I'm having a contract with those two guys. I feel like if one of them is gone, then, like I said, (we) might not be on the same page, things might get a little out of control. So, I just wanted, like, a safety net."
