Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly spent an eye-popping £397million in the summer transfer window and so far it’s not working out particularly well.
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But that cautionary tale hasn’t stopped the billionaire LA Dodgers owner handing a mammoth $700m – worth £567m over here – to Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani.
They love to splash the cash in United States sporting circles but even by their inflated standards the ten-year contract given to the extraordinary 29-year-old batter and pitcher is still mind boggling.
To put it in perspective, it’s almost double the previous Major League Baseball record for a free agent set last December when the New York Yankees paid star slugger Aaron Judge $360m (£289m) to stay in the Bronx until the final swing of the 2031 campaign.
Ohtani played 28 miles down the freeway for the Los Angeles Angels this year, hitting the ball out of the park 44 times and eliciting excited talk that he would break Judge’s American League record of 62 home runs in a single season.
But he blew out an elbow in August after enjoying another stellar stretch as a pitcher.
His throwing stats, which included 167 strikeouts in 132 innings, also rank alongside the very best but it’s the second time he has undergone surgery to fix the injury and he won’t pitch again until 2025.
Boehly’s taking a gamble his expensive purchase will once again be an elite pitcher, lasting the course of his contract on the mound.
It’s widely regarded as worth the risk, though, and there were no shortage of suitors for a megastar considered the best baseball player in the 100 years since Babe Ruth.
Ohtani’s addition has seen the Dodgers become widespread 5/1 favourites to win the next World Series although BoyleSports are standing firm at 7/1.
That’s because unless LA make significant improvements to their pitching the Atlanta Braves, the 2023 champion Texas Rangers, the Philadelphia Phillies and possibly the Yankees, after they signed an even better generational hitter in Juan Soto, still look better bets at bigger prices.
Ohtani’s not banking $70m a year as payments are being deferred in an unprecedented scheme – he could receive $40m plus change for the next 17 years – so acquiring new arms is possible.
But as with Chelsea, Boehly must spend extensively if he is to turn the Dodgers into title winners.
• Tune into a Monday night belter at Fratton Park where League One leaders Portsmouth are 7/5 with Paddy Power, Betfair and bet365 to beat second-placed Bolton Wanderers.
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