3 more stars the Dodgers can sign with unlimited deferred money to break MLB

The debate on deferred money is running through the baseball world this winter. Last offseason, the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani to a mega-contract where $680 million of his $700 million was deferred, set to be paid out after the end of his ten-year deal. This season, the Dodgers went back to the well and signed ace Blake Snell to a massive deal with plenty of deferred money included.

That leaves the baseball world wondering at what point will the Dodgers be unable to use deferred money. And the real answer is that the Dodgers can continue to use this tool to build the biggest superteam possible as long as players are willing to accept that kind of payment. To this point, a lot of players are willing to (it does help their own tax situations, after all) so the Dodgers will continue to abuse this idea until they can't anymore.

Which stars could the Dodgers still sign thanks to the deferred money?

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3. OF Teoscar Hernández

The Dodgers are aggressively pursuing Juan Soto in free agency, but with Hal Steinbrenner of the New York Yankees and Steve Cohen of the New York Mets also aggressively pursuing the star outfielder, it's unlikely that Los Angeles will keep up as the bidding approaches $700 million.

If they pivot from Soto, they'll likely be pursuing a reunion with 2024 outfielder Teoscar Hernández in free agency. Hernández is expected to land a contract worth about $20 million to $25 million a season. He's already signed one contract with the Dodgers that includes a lot of deferred money, so there's nothing holding him back from doing it again.

The Dodgers are Hernández's preferred landing spot because of how much he seemed to enjoy playing in Los Angeles, as well as how successful he and the team were. If he can get himself a three-to-five-year deal worth around $20 million per year, the star outfielder would likely decline contracts worth a bit more with other teams just to win with the Dodgers.

If he re-signs on a $100 million deal, it's safe to assume a good chunk of that could end up being deferred money, which positively impacts the Dodgers more than anything.

2. RHP Corbin Burnes

The Dodgers have already added Snell to their rotation this winter. That means, when healthy, the Dodgers will have Snell, Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and a plethora of depth arms to fill the fifth spot. This gives them quite the dominant starting five, but that doesn't exactly mean they're not interested in adding more pitching. In fact, the Dodgers are still rumored to be in on the top pitcher in free agency, Baltimore Orioles ace Corbin Burnes.

Somehow, after signing Snell and extending infielder Tommy Edman, the Dodgers are believed to be one of the top teams in the Burnes sweepstakes. There are some other top spenders including the Red Sox, Yankees, Mets and Blue Jays in the mix, and things will really ramp up when the Soto sweepstakes end, but the Dodgers will be too.

If Burnes is willing to accept deferred money, things could get very interesting. In a straight up bidding war, the Dodgers would likely lose to the Mets, but no other team has shown the willingness to jack up the price on contracts with deferred money like the Dodgers. If Burnes is willing to take deferred money, we could see him joining the Dodgers too.

1. OF Juan Soto

The top sweepstakes of the offseason is the Juan Soto sweepstakes. Soto is expected to sign in the coming days, and there are only five teams confirmed to be left in the race for him, with the Dodgers sitting alongside the Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and New York Mets. But Soto has already said that he doesn't want a deal with deferred money in it. So why is he on this list?

Soto is on this list because the only reason the Dodgers are still in the hunt is due to the previous deferred money they've used in the past. The deferred money attached to the Snell and Ohtani contracts, as well as Hernández's 2024 contract, have cleared the money to allow them to be in this race. It's ridiculous that the Dodgers can find a way to offer Soto even $600 million.

The Dodgers will likely miss on Soto because they won't be able to bid as high as the Yankees and Mets, but the fact that they can bid higher than $600 million and make a real attempt at the superstar is incredible.

There really is no limit to these deferrals. If Soto was willing to take a shot at deferred money, the Dodgers would likely be seen as the favorites to land him.