The Los Angeles Dodgers have now crossed a financial milestone no MLB team has hit before — they’ll owe more than $1 billion in deferred salary payments to current and former players stretching all the way out to 2047.
The figure jumped past the billion-dollar mark after the Dodgers signed star closer Edwin Díaz to a three-year deal late this week that pushes his pay out over the next two decades. Under the terms, a portion of Díaz’s roughly $69 million contract won’t be paid until 2036–2047, joining the long-term obligations the club already has for players like Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Blake Snell, Freddie Freeman and others.
To put it in perspective: this isn’t cash due next season — the Dodgers are contractually required to pay hundreds of millions decades from now, with peak years in the late 2030s and beyond where well over $100 million a year is owed.
The strategy helps the club manage payroll and luxury-tax calculations today, but it also raises eyebrows about how long-term financial commitments will play out in baseball’s future — and whether other teams will follow the Dodgers’ ‘defer now, pay later’ blueprint.
