Unbelievable Fortunes: Discover the MLB Players Who Shattered Pay Records Forever
The Mets landed the biggest free agent of the 2024 offseason, with New York and Soto agreeing on a massive 15-year, 5 million deal. Unlike Shohei Ohtani’s groundbreaking contract during the previous offseason, Soto’s deal contains no deferred money but includes escalators that can push the contract beyond 0 million and an opt-out after the 2029 season. It became the largest contract in the history of professional sports.
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The Largest Contracts in MLB History
Years: 2022-31; Average Annual Salary: ,500,000; Signing Age: 27
1. Juan Soto, New York Mets – $765M (15 years)
Guerrero Jr.’s extension in Toronto in 2025 allowed him to avoid free agency while securing the third-largest contract in MLB history. Unlike some others on this list, Guerrero Jr.’s deal includes no deferred compensation and provides him with a no-trade clause.
2. Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers – $700M (10 years)
Years: 2020-26; Average Annual Salary: ,000,000; Signing Age: 29
Years: 2016-23; Average Annual Salary: ,000,000; Signing Age: 30
3. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Toronto Blue Jays – $500M (14 years)
Years: 2024-33; Average Annual Salary: ,350,000; Signing Age: 26
Yankees fans booed Joe DiMaggio to start the 1938 season, even though a year earlier he hit .346 with career highs in hits (215), home runs (46), RBIs (167), runs (151), total bases (418) and slugging percentage (.673).
4. Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels – $426.5M (12 years)
The signing of Yamamoto out of Japan in December 2023 occurred during a signing spree by the Dodgers, who had been ousted by the rival Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2023 playoffs. They inked Ohtani to a historic deal, traded for and then signed Tyler Glasnow, and added the best free-agent pitcher out of Japan in Yamamoto. The contract offers the 5-foot-10, 176-pound ace opt-out opportunities after 2028 and 2032. The three moves totaled an eye-popping .1 billion.
Years: 2023-33; Average Annual Salary: ,818,182; Signing Age: 30
5. Mookie Betts, Los Angeles Dodgers – $365M (12 years)
Years: 2019-28; Average Annual Salary: ,000,000; Signing Age: 26
There was quite a stir when it was mistakenly reported that Ohtani was headed to Toronto to play for the Blue Jays. A day later, Ohtani announced he was simply going across town to trade in Angels red for Dodgers blue. The contract terms were indeed staggering, surpassing what most people estimated would be a 0-600 million deal. It was the largest contract in sports history, eclipsing Lionel Messi’s 3 million contract with FC Barcelona, until a year later when Soto set the new standard.
6. Aaron Judge, New York Yankees – $360M (9 years)
Years: 2023-31; Average Annual Salary: ,000,000; Signing Age: 30
This is the first of Machado’s two appearances on this list. This massive extension overwrites the 10-year, 0 million deal the star third baseman signed with the Padres in 2019. The deal came down after Machado announced he intended to opt out of the final five years (and 0 million) of the original contract after preliminary negotiations on an extension broke down.
7. Manny Machado, San Diego Padres – $350 (11 years)
To underscore salary escalation, consider this: In less than three years after Machado’s deal more than doubled the largest in Padres history, he went from having baseball’s highest free-agent contract to fourth, from having the second-highest contract behind Stanton to ninth, and even dropped to No. 2 on the Padres behind Tatis despite being at 0 million. The Padres extended Machado in 2023 before this deal came to an end.
Note: Traded to St. Louis Cardinals in 2021
8. Francisco Lindor, New York Mets – $341M (10 years)
(Via Spotrac; contract values do not include proration with the shortened 2020 season)
Years: 2023-32; Average Annual Salary: ,000,000; Signing Age: 29
9. Fernando Tatis Jr., San Diego Padres – $340M (14 years)
The rich got richer as the 2022 NL champions signed another star to team with Harper, Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto, Nick Castellanos, Rhys Hoskins, Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler.
Judge bet on himself in 2022, turning down a seven-year, 3.5-million deal before the season and later accepting this megadeal after hitting an AL record-tying 62 home runs. Cha-ching!
10. Bryce Harper, Philadelphia Phillies – $330M (13 years)
After trading for Betts from the Boston Red Sox in February 2020, the Dodgers inked the outfielder to a contract extension in July right before the start of the pandemic-delayed season. It included an MLB-record million signing bonus.
Years: 2020-26; Average Annual Salary: ,000,000; Signing Age: 31
T-11. Corey Seager, Texas Rangers – $325M (10 years)
Years: 2020-28; Average Annual Salary: ,000,000; Signing Age: 29
Years: 2024-34; Average MLB Salary: .25M; Signing Age: 23
T-11. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Los Angeles Dodgers – $325M (12 years)
After signing baseball’s then-richest contract following the 2014 season, Stanton played three more years with the Marlins before they traded him to the New York Yankees. While ridding themselves of the final 10 years of the deal, the Marlins agreed to pay million, which will be spread across 2026-28.
The Royals showed how a small market franchise will still go all-in with a young star, giving Witt a contract of 11 guaranteed seasons after just his second overall in MLB. Witt has four player opt-outs beginning after the 2030 season, but there’s also a three-year team option following the 2034 campaign that could extend the deal to 14 years, 7.7 million.
T-11. Giancarlo Stanton, Miami Marlins – $325M (13 years)
A-Rod re-signed with the Bronx Bombers after opting out of the final three seasons and million of a landmark 2 million deal (now No. 12) with the Texas Rangers in 2001, which had more than doubled the previous record contract (Colorado Rockies 2000 free agent signee Mike Hampton’s deal for eight years, 1 million).
Years: 2021-34; Average Annual Salary: ,285,714; Signing Age: 22
14. Gerrit Cole, New York Yankees – $324M (9 years)
Big-league players didn’t have a lot of bargaining power at that time, so DiMaggio was viewed negatively when he argued about his worth. Team owner Jacob Ruppert drew a line with a ,000 salary increase from ,000 from ,000, and did all the Joltin’ to Joe by publicly criticizing him.
The following are the largest contracts in Major League Baseball history. But don’t delay, because the list of the highest-paid baseball players is an ever-changing one.
15. Rafael Devers, Boston Red Sox – $313.5M (10 years)
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Note: Traded to New York Yankees in 2004
16. Manny Machado, San Diego Padres – $300M (10 years)
Before Harper’s contract was surpassed by Trout in the top-this spending spree prior to the 2019 season, it bettered Machado’s then-record total just one week earlier. It still ranks highest among baseball free agent contracts (non-extensions).
Trout’s contract, signed in March 2019, added two years to the star outfielder’s existing deal with the Angels and was the highest in MLB history. The amount was over 0 million higher than Bryce Harper’s then-No. 1 deal signed just weeks earlier.
17. Trea Turner, Philadelphia Phillies – $300M (11 years)
Cole and the Yankees made the math easy with a million base salary in each of the nine years of the free agent pitcher’s contract. Interestingly, Cole was the No. 1 pick in a 2011 draft top 10 that included Lindor, Anthony Rendon and Trevor Bauer.
The following are the largest contracts in baseball. But don’t delay, because the list of the highest-paid players in MLB history is an ever-changing one.
18. Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City Royals – $288.8M (11 years)
Seager and the Rangers beat the start of the lockout in December 2021 with the second-highest free-agent contract in major league history. The Rangers agreed to a seven-year, 5 million contract with Marcus Semien just 24 hours earlier, so they had a half-billion dollars worth of middle infield deals in a two-day span.
The spending spree continued at the 2022 Winter Meetings – in San Diego – when the hometown Padres stole Bogaerts away from the Red Sox on yet another megadeal. Several of the top contracts on this list were signed in the 2022 offseason.
19. Xander Bogaerts, San Diego Padres – $280 (11 years)
Years: 2001-10; Average Annual Salary: ,200,000; Signing Age: 25
Years: 2021-32; Average Annual Salary: ,416,667; Signing Age: 27
20. Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees – $275M (10 years)
Years: 2015-27; Average Annual Salary: ,000,000; Signing Age: 25
Years: 2023-33; Average Annual Salary: ,454,545; Signing Age: 30
21. Nolan Arenado, Colorado Rockies – $260M (8 years)
Years: 2026-39; Average Annual Salary: ,714,286; Signing Age: 26
Years: 2019-26; Average Annual Salary: ,500,000; Signing Age: 27
21. Alex Rodriguez, Texas Rangers – $252M (10 years)
Years: 2019-31; Average Annual Salary: ,384,615; Signing Age: 26
Years: 2019-30; Average Annual Salary: ,541,667; Signing Age: 27
23. Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers – $248M (8 years)
Years: 2022-31; Average Annual Salary: ,100,000; Signing Age: 27
T-24. Stephen Strasburg, Washington Nationals – $245M (7 years)
Rest assured, DiMaggio wouldn’t even recognize modern-day salaries, which have grown exponentially.
T-24. Anthony Rendon, Los Angeles Angels – $245M (7 years)
Years: 2023-33; Average Annual Salary: ,272,727; Signing Age: 30
Years: 2008-17; Average Annual Salary: ,500,000; Signing Age: 32
Years: 2024-35; Average Annual Salary: ,083,333; Signing Age: 25
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