Dodgers Notes: James Outman Sent to Minors, Ex-Dodger Signs With Rival, LA Interested in 3 Japanese Players

The Los Angeles Dodgers are 2-0 so far in the 2025 regular season. As the team returns from a successful run in Japan, three players were optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City — and James Outman, despite a push this spring to return to the majors, is one of them.

Additionally, an ex-Dodgers pitcher has decided to sign with the rival Arizona Diamondbacks on a minor league deal. He only made four appearances for L.A. in 2024, but that is enough for him to have secured a World Series ring and forever be considered a champion.

And finally, a recent Dodgers exec revealed that there are at least three Japanese players potentially planning a jump to MLB that they are interested in over the next five years.

A look at Ohtani’s earning power off the field, plus more about his home run Wednesday at the Tokyo Dome and the impact of the Dodgers & Cubs playing in Japan.

The global appeal of Shohei Ohtani was on display this week, including headlining the Tokyo Series between the Dodgers and Cubs and his first-ever MLB games played in Japan. But also came word that Ohtani in 2025 will make over $100 million in endorsements alone.

From Kurt Badenhausen at Sportico, which unveiled the top 15 highest-paid MLB players in 2025 on Wednesday:

Ohtani has been deemed a unicorn for his ability to impact baseball games at the plate and on the mound, but it also applies to his off-field game. Before Ohtani, endorsement earnings for MLB players peaked around $10 million for Derek Jeter and Ichiro Suzuki. Ohtani’s $100 million in estimated endorsement earnings is a threshold reached by only three athletes ever in Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and Stephen Curry, who each did it one time.

The 10-year contract Ohtani signed with the Dodgers calls for him to be paid $2 million per year, with $68 million deferred 10 years into the future. Ohtani getting paid an estimated $102 million per Sportico makes him the second-highest-paid player in the sport in 2025, behind only Juan Soto.

Interestingly, Blake Snell checks in at No. 3 in MLB, thanks in large part to his $52 million signing bonus, plus $12.8 million of his salary he’ll be paid in 2025 and, per Sportico, another $750,000 in endorsements.

Links

• Ohtani’s home run on Wednesday against the Cubs capped off “The Week of Ohtani” in Tokyo, writes Dylan Hernández of the Los Angeles Times.
• Ohtani’s home run fell back onto the field after a fan tried to catch it, and Cubs centerfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong tossed the ball back into the stands. A 10-year-old fan, Sota Fujimori, ended up with the ball. Fujimori told reporters, per Stephen Wade of Associated Press, “I couldn’t believe it. I’m going to keep it as the family treasure.”
• Japanese baseball great Sadaharu Oh talked with reporters on Tuesday, from Michael Clair at MLB.com: “I never remember seeing this level of excitement from fans and players. … Now coming here, I get to see directly the old timers’ impact and, with all the other players here, a new level of excitement. It’s really exciting for me to have been there before and now be here seeing everything unfold.”

• MLB commissioner Rob Manfred earlier this week told Evan Drellich of The Athletic, “The Tokyo series is going to be the biggest standalone international event in the history of Major League Baseball.”
• The annual ranking of starting pitchers, sorting aces and near aces, is up at The Athletic, from Andy McCullough, Will Sammon, and Sahadev Sharma. Yoshinobu Yamamoto (No. 10 overall) and Blake Snell (No. 15) were rated in their third-highest tier of starters.