The county voted 5-2 to approve spending about $312.5 million for its share of the ballpark costs from revenue generated by a bed tax that can only be spent on tourist-related and economic development expenses. The St. Petersburg City Council approved spending $417.5 million for the stadium earlier this month.

The $1.3 billion ballpark will guarantee the team stays put for at least 30 years. It’s part of a broader $6.5 billion redevelopment project that supporters say would transform an 86-acre (34-hectare) tract in the city’s downtown, with plans in the coming years for a Black history museum, affordable housing, a hotel, green space, entertainment venues, and office and retail space. There’s the promise of thousands of jobs as well.

“This is so much more than a baseball stadium. It is poised to become, if we do it right, a world-class tourist destination,” said Commissioner Janet Long. “It’s more than about the baseball stadium. It’s a transformational, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,”

The linchpin of the project is the planned roofed stadium, scheduled to open for the 2028 season. It caps years of uncertainty about the Rays’ future, including possible moves across the bay to Tampa, or to Nashville, Tennessee, or even to split home games between St. Petersburg and Montreal, an idea Major League Baseball rejected.

The rest of the project would mainly be funded by a partnership between the Rays and the Houston-based Hines global development company. It will take decades to complete.

The site, where the Rays’ domed, tilted Tropicana Field and its expansive parking lots now sit, was once a thriving Black community displaced by construction of the ballpark and an interstate highway. St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch says one of his priorities is to right some of those past wrongs in what is known as the Historic Gas Plant District.

The Rays typically draw among the lowest attendance in MLB, even though the team has made the playoffs five years in a row. This year, the Rays have a 54-52 record, placing them fourth in the American League East division.

The ballpark plan is part of a wave of construction or renovation projects at sports venues across the country, including the Milwaukee Brewers, Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars and the Oakland Athletics, who are planning to relocate to Las Vegas. Like the Rays proposal, all the projects come with millions of dollars in public funding that usually draws opposition.

A citizen group called No Home Run and other organizations opposed the deal, with the conservative/libertarian Americans for Prosperity contending the track record for other publicly financed sports stadiums is not encouraging.

County Commissioner Chris Latvala said he’s a huge baseball fan and recounted many fond memories of following the Rays, but he still voted against the project.

“I want professional baseball to stay here, I want the Rays to stay here, but at what price?” he said. “This will be a $1 billion publicly funded subsidy to a billionaire. I’m not willing to put my name on that.”

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Don’t.

“Go ahead and have your burger, have your hot dog, have your couple of slices of pizza,” LaFata said.

LaFata — the director of performance and nutrition for the NBA’s Phoenix Suns — says her advice is simply practical and based on her own appetite. Over the past 20 years, the culinary game across the baseball landscape has exploded, with offerings like The Renegade in Pittsburgh, The 4 Bagger in Atlanta or a Polish Sausage topped with smoked brisket and spicy BBQ sauce in Chicago.

Even glancing at the pictures feels like it can raise cholesterol.

Yes, there are a few health(ier) options, particularly in places like San Francisco, where the Giants have a place called The Garden that highlights “sustainability, urban farming, and healthy eating.” Most parks and arenas have a handful of areas that offer salads, gluten free or vegan offerings if fans are willing to hunt a little.

But the vast majority of people attending baseball games aren’t necessarily looking to eat healthy.

The food offerings reflect those cravings.

Baseball occupies a unique space in the sports food world because of a few factors. For one, the 162-game regular season means each team has 81 home games, so there are lots of opportunities to sell. There’s also the sport’s relatively slow pace, which permits plenty of time to down a hot dog or five.

Juan Villegas Sr. walked through the Chase Field concourse — home of baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks — with a big tray carrying two items called an XL Footlong Sonoran Style Dog and some Korean Pork Belly Nachos.

“Usually, I’m more of a classic guy, you know, like a regular hot dog,” Villegas said. “But me and my son had to give these a try. I’m about to devour them.”

LaFata said she likes to use an 80/20 rule when it comes to a diet, eating healthy 80% of the time while indulguing in some comfort food for the other 20%. The nutritionist said if a person knows they’re going to a sporting event, they should spend the previous few days eating healthy so they can enjoy themselves.

That means plenty of veggies and lean meats like fish.

“This is going to be my 20% day, or my junk food day,” LaFata said. “Thoughout the whole week, you’re eating your 80%, you’re eating clean, you’re eating often, you’re doing all the good things you need to do for your body.”

Most customers aren’t counting calories at the ballpark — and in fact, calorie counts frequently aren’t even posted. Diamondbacks executive chef Stephen Tilder said Chase Field offers a handful of healthy options, but the top five sellers are almost always some variation of hot dogs, chicken tenders, popcorn, soft pretzels and nachos.

“That’ll be 90 percent of your sales at any stadium and arena, because that’s just traditional fare,” he said.

There do seem to be a few exceptions in places like San Francisco, but most cities are more like Milwaukee.

“We had Impossible (Meat) at our taco stands, and we just found that it wasn’t very successful,” said Loren Rue, the executive chef at the Milwaukee Brewers’ ballpark. “We offered it at multiple locations, and the sales just weren’t there to prove that it was worth keeping on.”

Even so, Rue said people don’t have to pack on the pounds when watching the Brewers.

“It’s not that we’re trying to limit those options,” she added. “We still have veggie dogs. We still have veggie burgers. There are options that are available to our guests. It’s just making sure the menu speaks to what the fans want.”

LaFata — the nutrionist — said there are some tips for those who don’t want to pig out while watching a baseball game. Among them, it’s a good idea to walk a few laps around the park, getting an idea of the selection and what options might be better than others.

Healthy options are usually clustered in a few parts of the venue.

She also suggested eating before attending the game, so you’re not starving when staring at a display for an Apple Pie Chimichanga.

Though there are certainly ways to cut caloric corners, LaFata suggests it’s better to quit worrying. Those who have paid to attend a sporting event might as well spend their money on the good stuff.

“Sure, we could do a bunless hot dog, or a bunless burger, and that might save 100, 150 calories if we’re looking to do it that way, or if we’re following a specific paleo or keto type diet and trying to cut the carbs,” LaFata said.

“Or you can just take away the bun to make room for your beer!”

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Interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, 39, was let go from the team Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker. The team is in Seoul, South Korea, this week as Ohtani makes his Dodgers debut, and Mizuhara was in Los Angeles’ dugout during their season-opening win.

Mizuhara was seen regularly chatting with Ohtani, who was the Dodgers’ designated hitter, seemingly discussing his at-bats over a tablet computer.

“In the course of responding to recent media inquiries, we discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft and we are turning the matter over to the authorities,” law firm Berk Brettler LLP said in a statement Wednesday.

Sports gambling is illegal in California, even as 38 states and the District of Columbia allow some form of it.

Mizuhara is a familiar face to baseball fans as Ohtani’s constant companion, interpreting for him with the media and at other appearances since Ohtani came to the U.S. in 2017. He even served as Ohtani’s catcher during the Home Run Derby at the 2021 All-Star Game. When Ohtani left the Los Angeles Angels to sign a $700 million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers in December, the club also hired Mizuhara.

The Dodgers said in a statement they were “aware of media reports and are gathering information.

“The team can confirm that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara has been terminated,” the statement said. “The team has no further comment at this time.”

On Tuesday, Mizuhara told ESPN that his bets were on international soccer, the NBA, the NFL and college football. MLB rules prohibit players and team employees from wagering — even legally — on baseball and also ban betting on other sports with illegal or offshore bookmakers.

“I never bet on baseball,” Mizuhara told ESPN. “That’s 100%. I knew that rule … We have a meeting about that in spring training.”

The Associated Press could not immediately reach Mizuhara for comment Wednesday.

Mizuhara was born in Japan and moved to the Los Angeles area in 1991 so his father could work as a chef. He attended Diamond Bar High School in eastern Los Angeles County and graduated from the University of California, Riverside, in 2007.

After college, Mizuhara was hired by the Boston Red Sox as an interpreter for Japanese pitcher Hideki Okajima. In 2013, he returned to Japan to translate for English-speaking players on the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. That’s where he first met Ohtani, who joined the team that same year.

After Ohtani signed with the Angels in 2017, the team hired Mizuhara to work as his personal interpreter. ESPN said Mizuhara told the outlet this week he has been paid between $300,000 and $500,000 annually.

ESPN said it spoke to Mizuhara on Tuesday night, at which point the interpreter said Ohtani had paid his gambling debts at Mizuhara’s request. After the statement from Ohtani’s attorneys saying the player was a victim of theft, ESPN says Mizuhara changed his story Wednesday and claimed Ohtani had no knowledge of the gambling debts and had not transferred any money to bookmakers.

Mizuhara said he incurred more than $1 million in debt by the end of 2022 and his losses increased from there.

“I’m terrible (at gambling). Never going to do it again. Never won any money,” Mizuhara said. “I mean, I dug myself a hole and it kept on getting bigger, and it meant I had to bet bigger to get out of it and just kept on losing. It’s like a snowball effect.”

It would be the biggest gambling scandal for baseball since Pete Rose agreed to a lifetime ban in 1989 after an investigation for MLB by lawyer John Dowd found Rose placed numerous bets on the Cincinnati Reds to win from 1985-87 while playing for and managing the team.

The MLB gambling policy, posted in every locker room, prohibits players and team employees from wagering — even legally — on baseball and also bans betting on other sports with illegal or offshore bookmakers. Betting on baseball is punishable with a one-year ban from the sport. The penalty for betting on other sports illegally is at the commissioner’s discretion.

Ohtani’s stardom has spread worldwide, even as the two-way player has remained largely media-shy. The news of his recent marriage to Mamiko Tanaka shocked fans from Japan to the U.S. While he underwent surgery on his right elbow last September and will not pitch this season, he will be used as a designated hitter and there is a possibility he could play in the field. He went 2 for 5 with an RBI in his first game, the season opener against the San Diego Padres in Seoul.

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That’s one reason why the Texas Rangers right-hander thinks Major League Baseball needs to look a lot deeper than a roster limit if it wants to return starting pitching to prominence.

“I became a better pitcher once I went through three times in the lineup and was failing on that third time through the lineup,” the 39-year-old Scherzer said. “That’s every young pitcher’s struggle, is learning how to pitch three times through a lineup. … We’re so scared now to let guys fail.”

The state of starting pitching has the attention of MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, who said in October the league is considering lowering the maximum of 13 pitchers per team to 12 possibly as soon as the 2025 season — with the goal of placing a greater emphasis on starting pitchers.

Big league starters averaged 15.4 outs and 85.1 pitches last year, according to Sportradar, and 15.6 outs and 84.9 pitches in 2022. But the numbers were 17.4 and 93.1 as late as 2015, and 17.8 and 98.6 in 2000.

“I grew up a fan of the game, and me and my dad used to pick Astros games based on when Roy Oswalt was pitching,” Chicago Cubs right-hander Jameson Taillon said. “We would look at pitching matchups, that’s what we would do. Nowadays, I feel like that allure is gone a little bit.”

MLB wants to put that allure back in the game, but it’s a tricky, multifaceted issue.

Pitching prospects are closely monitored on their way to the majors, and deviating from the organization’s plan could put the careers of minor league managers and coaches at risk. There is more arm talent in big league bullpens than ever before, and reams of data that illustrate the danger of leaving a pitcher in for too long.

“From a fan perspective, yeah, to see a guy in there to go seven, eight innings, I absolutely get it,” Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Doesn’t necessarily help you win baseball games, and I’m in the business of winning games.”

While a 12-pitcher limit could incentivize teams to let starting pitchers go deeper into games, it would add more stress to bullpens. It also could prompt teams to shuttle their middle relievers from the majors to the minor leagues even more — regardless of their performance.

The long-term answer most likely lies in the lower levels of the minors and how baseball develops its next generation of starters.

“It starts with training in the minor leagues,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “That’s where it all begins. It’s hard to do it when guys are coming up. They’re not trained to do that. Now you’re going to ask them to get you deeper in the games and now you’re risking injury. So you got to be smart about that.”

The focus in the minors is more on stuff, Taillon said, and trying “to raise guys’ ceiling at a young age.”

“You see guys nowadays get called up who’ve never thrown five innings in their life,” he said. “It’s crazy.”

Pitch counts, especially for baseball’s top prospects, prevent pitchers from working deep into games in the minors.

Scherzer, who threw at least 95 pitches in 15 starts last year, thinks more latitude in the minors would help.

“I’ve been developed to throw, call it 105, 110 pitches on a five-day rotation,” he said. “It’s the rest. It’s more about the pitch count and then getting the appropriate amount of the rest. I don’t understand why we keep cutting that pitch count lower and lower, especially for the guys who are being developed.”

Scherzer called a 12-pitcher roster limit “a terrible idea,” but he agreed that it would take some sort of action to reverse the current trend with starting pitching.

“We need to incentivize keeping the starter in the game longer,” he said. “We’re going to have to come up with rules to do this. It’s not going to self-correct.”

Once pitchers make it to the majors, they are often pulled before the lineup turns over a third time because of statistics that show hitters typically have more success in their third plate appearance against the same pitcher.

It could be an ace right-hander rolling along with a low pitch count — with no sign of trouble — and the manager makes the move because it’s easier to address why he took him out than why he left him in for too long. That’s an attitude that would be difficult for Major League Baseball to take out of the game.

“Trusting what you’re seeing, trusting your eyes and knowing when those times are to be able to let them go, I think you might start to see that come back a little bit more,” Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said. “There’s no refuting the numbers. It’s just like being able to recognize when it’s time to let them let them go.”

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He just wants to see it thaw as quickly as possible.

“Those guys should be in camp,” Vogt said. “I don’t know who is at fault, I don’t know why, I don’t need to know. But our game’s at its best when the best players are on the field.

“I hope those guys sign soon.”

The guys Vogt is referring to are a half-dozen high-quality free agents who remain unsigned as the calendar nears March.

The resumes are impressive: two-time Cy Young Award-winning lefty Blake Snell, former MVP Cody Bellinger, six-time All-Star J.D. Martinez, four-time Gold Glove third baseman Matt Chapman, two-time All-Star shortstop Tim Anderson and left-hander Jordan Montgomery, who helped the Rangers to a World Series title last fall.

Vogt — of course — doesn’t make front-office decisions. However, 15 of the 30 general managers who do were at Cactus League media day on Tuesday.

Nobody seemed particularly desperate to make moves.

“It ebbs and flows, but there have been years, like I remember I was in Cleveland, and we signed Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn late in camp,” Cubs general manager Carter Hawkins said. “So it’s not out of the ordinary.”

This year’s free-agent market peaked in December, when the Los Angeles Dodgers spent more than $1 billion to sign two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani and right-handed pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The defending National League champion Arizona Diamondbacks were also among the teams active early, signing lefty Eduardo Rodriguez to an $80 million, four-year deal.

D-backs general manager Mike Hazen said he didn’t want to speculate on other teams’ strategies.

“I can’t answer for everybody else,” Hazen said. “I feel like we’ve made a decent amount of transactions. We’re looking to help build our team any way we can and we’ve ended up getting a couple of deals done.”

The Los Angeles Angels and San Diego Padres are two teams that have spent big in the past, but seem to be taking a more cautious approach in 2024. The Boston Red Sox have been fairly quiet, too, and third baseman Rafael Devers said Tuesday his team could use some help.

“Everybody has a different perspective,” Angels GM Perry Minasian said. “Every offseason is different. I don’t think there’s any offseason that’s the same, because it’s a different pool of players. For me, we’re worried about what we have, not what we don’t have.”

The Padres had the third-highest payroll in baseball last season at $258 million, but finished 82-80 and missed the playoffs. The franchise has been in cost-cutting mode since.

San Diego still has a talented roster with a lineup that includes Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts. General manager A.J. Preller seems content to see where that group leads the Padres this summer, even though the team hasn’t ruled out adding players.

“That’s a pretty good place to start,” Preller said. “From our standpoint, it’s a good foundation.”

The 39-year-old Vogt is just two seasons removed from his 10-year playing career and has some personal experience with late signings. He signed with the Giants just as spring training began in 2019 and signed with the A’s a week before the season started in 2022.

“It’s weird,” Vogt said. “You feel like you’ve got to hurry up and get there. You feel like you’ve missed the 8-ball. You believe you’re going to get a job, but there’s also that ‘What if I never get the call?’ It can weigh on you.

“There’s a lot of good players out there who are probably thinking the same thing.”

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But there’s still plenty of talent available — especially considering its mid-February.

Two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, lefty Jordan Montgomery, third baseman Matt Chapman, slugger J.D. Martinez and former MVP Cody Bellinger are all still looking for homes as camps got underway.

Eighteen teams start workouts on Wednesday and the final 10 begin Thursday. The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres began early because of their March 20 opener at Seoul, South Korea.

After a flurry of big signings early this offseason — most notably Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Aaron Nola — MLB’s hot stove cooled.

Soler’s deal with the Giants was confirmed by a person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal was pending a successful physical.

The veteran provides the Giants with a formidable power threat. He made his first All-Star team with the Marlins last season, hitting .250 with 36 homers, and led the American League with 48 homers in 2019 while with the Royals.

The well-traveled Cuban was the 2021 World Series MVP for the Atlanta Braves after hitting .300 with three homers. He also won a championship with the Chicago Cubs in 2016.

San Francisco hopes to contend in the NL West after hiring Bob Melvin from division rival San Diego to replace Gabe Kapler following two straight years missing the playoffs. The Giants won a franchise-record 107 games and the division crown in 2021.

CAVNAR HIRED BY A’S
Jenny Cavnar is the new primary play-by-play announcer for the Oakland Athletics, hired by NBC Sports California.

Cavnar becomes the first woman to handle primary play-by-play duties in major league history — set to be the voice for most of the A’s games during the upcoming 2024 season.

She has covered baseball for 17 of 20 years in the media business, most recently calling Colorado Rockies games the past 12 years as a backup play-by-play announcer while also hosting pregame and postgame shows and regional coverage.

She became the first woman in a quarter-century to handle play-by-play for an MLB game in 2018. She is a graduate of Colorado State.

DÍAZ BACK FOR METS
New York Mets closer Edwin Díaz will be brought along slowly as he finishes his recovery from a torn patellar tendon in his right knee sustained last March 15 while celebrating Puerto Rico’s win over the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic.

“He’s doing great to begin with,” new Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said Tuesday at spring training in Port St. Lucie, Florida. “He’s got a smile on his face.”

A two-time All-Star who turns 30 next month, Díaz had a 1.31 ERA and 32 saves in 35 chances in 2022, then agreed to a $102 million, five-year contrac t that calls for the Mets to make deferred payments stretching to 2042.

“He’s probably going to be doing a lot of back field work first,” Mendoza said. “And then we’ve got to get him on the main stage.”

Mendoza was Aaron Boone’s bench coach with the New York Yankees before replacing Buck Showalter as Mets manager in November.

“It’s exciting to be able to put on a big league uniform as a manager for the first time.” Mendoza said. “I’m really. really excited. It was a long three months.” University and former college lacrosse player.

BARD INJURED
The Colorado Rockies said reliever Daniel Bard will have surgery Wednesday to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee.

There’s no timetable for Bard’s return. Rockies pitchers and catchers report Wednesday for physicals before the start of spring training, a day ahead of Colorado’s first workout.

Bard got hurt last week during a throwing session, according to The Denver Post. Bard is entering the the final season of a $19 million, two-year deal.

“I was playing normal catch stuff and I moved a little awkwardly and I felt something pop,” Bard told the Post, the first to report his injury.

The right-hander appeared in 50 games last season, going 4-2 with a 4.56 ERA and one save. Bard missed time at the start of the 2023 season due to anxiety, which he said he experienced both on and off the field.

RANGERS ADD SAMPSON
Right-hander Adrian Sampson has agreed to a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers and will report to big league spring training with the World Series champions.

Sampson is returning to the Rangers for the first time since 2019. The 32-year-old didn’t pitch in the majors last season after right knee surgery in May while in the Chicago Cubs organization.

After going 6-11 with a 5.64 ERA in 40 games (19 starts) with Texas in 2018 and 2019, Sampson spent one season with the Lotte Giants in South Korea. He went 5-7 with a 3.03 ERA in 31 games for the Cubs in 2021 and 2022.

Sampson is 11-19 with a 4.43 ERA in 44 starts and 28 relief appearances over five big league seasons.

RODRÍGUEZ CONTRACT DETAILS
Cuban pitcher Yariel Rodríguez’s $32 million, five-year contract with the Toronto Blue Jays contains options, escalators and performance bonuses that allow the 26-year-old right-hander to earn up to $47.5 million as a starter and $37.5 million as a reliever.

Rodríguez gets an $8 million signing bonus payable upon approval of the deal by the commissioner’s office, according to contract terms obtained by the AP.

His deal, announced Friday, calls for salaries of $2 million this year, $5 million each in 2025 and 2026 and $6 million in 2027. Rodríguez has a $6 million player option for 2028 and if he declines that option, the Blue Jays have a $10 million club option.

MAKING MOVES
— The Phillies claimed RHP Kaleb Ort off waivers from the Marlins and also agreed to a minor league contract with RHP David Buchanan. Ort has pitched parts of the past three seasons with the Red Sox. Buchanan pitched for the Phillies in 2014 and 2015 and has spent the past seven seasons pitching in either Japan or South Korea.

— The Yankees claimed INF Jordan Groshans off wiavers from the Marlins. The 24-year-old played 17 games for the Marlins in 2022, batting .262 in 65 plate appearances.

— The Reds claimed OF Bubba Thompson off waivers from the Minnesota Twins. The 25-year-old played parts of the past two seasons with the Rangers.

— The Astros acquired minor league OF Oliver Carrillo from the Padres for international bounus pool allotment.

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Franco appeared before prosecutors while accompanied by two lawyers, days after not showing up for a meeting with prosecutor Olga Diná Llaverías, according to the official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the case. The official said the interview lasted nearly three hours.

Llaverías had originally requested Franco appear Dec. 28, two days after prosecutors and police visited two of Franco’s properties in Baní, the All-Star player’s hometown some 37 miles (60 kilometers) southwest of the capital, to request his appearance. They did not find the 22-year-old player there.

Authorities have released little information about the case because it involves a minor.

Franco must be brought before a judge within 24 hours, according to Dominican law. Franco’s U.S. attorney, Jay Reisinger, declined comment. The AP was not able to reach Franco’s attorneys in the Dominican Republic.

The Dominican Republic’s prosecutors’ office said on Aug. 14 that Franco was under investigation because of postings on his social media channels suggesting he had a relationship with a minor. The AP has not been able to verify the reported posts.

Franco was placed on administrative leave by Major League Baseball in August under its the joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy with the players’ association. He was paid and received service time while on administrative leave. There is no timetable for a conclusion of MLB’s investigation and whether the results of the probe might lead to discipline by MLB.

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A total of $680 million — 97% of the money — was deferred until 2034-43 with no interest.

Had the Dodgers invented some kind of contract voodoo new to Major League Baseball?

Not really. But it appears to be a team-friendly deal that also has benefits for Ohtani as the Japanese superstar departs the Angels, heads 30 miles up Interstate 5 and establishes a new home with the Dodgers in Chavez Ravine.

“Thanks to his endorsements and other off-the-field revenue streams, he has the luxury to defer compensation,” said Michael Rueda, head of the U.S. division of sports and entertainment at Withers law firm. “But there’s always some risk.”

Part of Rueda’s job is giving financial advice to high-profile sports stars and celebrities. He said the Ohtani-Dodgers deal looks like a solid arrangement, even if there are tradeoffs for both sides.

Make no mistake, the 29-year-old Ohtani is a rich man and will be rich long into the foreseeable future, but money promised later is never the same as money in hand.

One example of Ohtani’s risk: Former Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Mario Lemieux was out about $26 million in the 1990s when the franchise was in financial trouble and couldn’t pay the money it owed the hockey legend in a deferred deal.

Things eventually worked out. Lemieux converted his deferred salary into equity with the team, then partnered with Ron Burkle to pull the club out of bankruptcy. They eventually made a windfall after selling part of their stake in 2021 — but it’s a reminder that financial circumstances can change when 20 years pass. The Dodgers were certainly a fan-drawing juggernaut in 2023, but 2043 doesn’t come for a long time. LA, after all, is only 12 years removed from filing for bankruptcy protection itself under former owner Frank McCourt.

There’s also at least some risk for the franchise: The New York Mets famously deferred $5.9 million that slugger Bobby Bonilla was owed in 2000 and — thanks to an 8% interest rate — will end up paying nearly $30 million total in annual installments until 2035. The Mets have leaned into the self-own in recent seasons, with owner Steve Cohen celebrating the July 1 payment that Bonilla is due each year.

Of course, Ohtani’s deferred pay comes with no interest. That’s a potentially monstrous savings — we’re talking billions — on a deal that could have been much more costly. Ohtani’s deal with 8% interest would come out to nearly $3 billion by 2043.

“It’s interesting to me that the deferred money comes with no interest, from what I’ve read” Rueda said. “That’s giving up a lot of money.”

Ohtani’s other potential advantage from the contract is he receives $680 million of the $700 million after he’s done playing, which means he might not be living in California, where taxes are relatively high. Depending on where he lives from 2034-43, that could lead to sizable savings.

Rueda said the issue isn’t black and white and there are lots of variables, particularly if he goes back to Japan.

“Tax is always a big part,” Rueda said. “The concept of moving to a different jurisdiction and avoiding the California state tax — yeah, that could be accurate.”

For purposes of baseball’s luxury tax, the contract is valued as a yearly addition to the Dodgers’ payroll of about $46 million instead of $70 million. Under the collective bargaining agreement, for the calculation of a team’s tax payroll the value of deferred money is discounted at the federal mid-term rate.

Arizona Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick — who talked about the contract at length earlier this week — said his understanding is the deal will save the Dodgers somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 million each season because of the competitive balance tax savings — the exact amount depends on how often the Dodgers exceed the tax threshold and by how much.

“They’re playing by the rules,” Kendrick said. “They got a great player, who is going to be an addition that makes them more competitive. But the economics are not so tilted in a way that puts them at an incredible advantage over the rest of us.”

Kendrick said he believes one major misconception of the deal is that the Dodgers are saving $68 million each season from 2024-33 that they can use to pursue other free agents. Baseball’s labor contract calls for the deferred money to be set aside by the second July 1 after the season it is earned, at the then-current present-day value discounted by at least 5% annually.

Rueda agreed.

“They have to demonstrate that they have that money,” Rueda said. “You can’t write checks that you can’t cash.”

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“They had told us it would be between 6:30 and 7:15,” he said, “but I thought when I didn’t get it by a quarter to 7, it wasn’t going to happen, so I went up just to rest a minute, kind of get my thoughts together.”

Just then, as son Pat arrived upstairs, the phone rang. Hall chairman Jane Forbes Clark was on the line and Leyland had been voted in, two weeks shy of his 79th birthday.

“There was definitely a tear in my eye,” Leyland said.

An entertaining and at-times crusty manager who led the Florida Marlins to a World Series title in 1997 and won 1,769 regular-season games over 22 seasons, Leyland received 15 of 16 votes Sunday from the contemporary era committee for managers, executives and umpires. He becomes the 23rd manager in the hall.

Honest, profane and constantly puffing on a cigarette, Leyland embodied the image of the prickly baseball veteran with a gruff but wise voice. He is 18th on the career list for manager wins but is second behind Joe McCarthy among those who never played in the major leagues. He also was ejected 73 times, tied with Clark Griffith for 10th in major league history.

Leyland’s players included Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield, Larry Walker, Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer.

“I think young people, young players are searching for discipline,” Leyland said. “So we all have our insecurities and I think even sometimes players do, even though they’re great players. And I think that they’re always looking for that leadership. I tried to impress on them what it was to be a professional and how tough this game is to play. And I also told them almost every day how good they were.”

Former player and manager Lou Piniella fell one vote short for the second time after also getting 11 in 2018. Former player, broadcaster and NL President Bill White was two shy.

Managers Cito Gaston and Davey Johnson, umpires Joe West and Ed Montague, and general manager Hank Peters all received fewer than five votes.

Leyland managed Pittsburgh, Florida, Colorado and Detroit from 1986 to 2013. He will be inducted into the Hall on July 21 along with players voted in by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, whose balloting will be announced on Jan. 23.

Adrián Beltré, Joe Mauer, Chase Utley, David Wright, José Bautista and Matt Holliday are among the players eligible for the BBWAA ballot for the first time in the current vote. Holdovers include Todd Helton, who fell 11 votes short this year, and Billy Wagner, who was 27 shy.

Leyland grew up in the Toledo, Ohio, suburb of Perrysburg. He was a minor league catcher and occasional third baseman in the Tigers organization from 1965-70, never rising above Double-A and finishing with a .222 batting average, four homers and 102 RBIs.

“Being not a very good player myself, I realized how hard it was to play the game,” he said.

Leyland coached in the Tigers minor league system, then started managing with Bristol of the Appalachian Rookie League in 1971. After 11 seasons as a minor league manager, he left the Tigers to serve as Tony La Russa’s third base coach with the Chicago White Sox from 1982-85, then embarked on a major league managerial career that saw him take over the Pirates from 1986-96.

The Pittsburgh Press was said to have run a headline: “Jim Who?”

“Yeah, it was `Jim Who?’ when I got here and, you know, I’m still here,” Leyland said. “At least people know me a little better than they did when I first got here.”

Pittsburgh got within one out of a World Series trip in 1992 before Francisco Cabrera’s two-run single in Game 7 won the NL pennant for Atlanta. The Pirates sank from there following the departures of Bonds and ace pitcher Doug Drabek as free agents, and Leyland left after Pittsburgh’s fourth straight losing season in 1996. Five days following his last game, he chose the Marlins over the White Sox, Red Sox and Angels.

Florida won the title the next year in the franchise’s fifth season, the youngest expansion team to earn a championship at the time. But the Marlins sold off veterans and tumbled to 54-108 in 1998, and Leyland left for the Rockies. He quit after one season, saying he lacked the needed passion, and worked as a scout for the St. Louis Cardinals.

“I did a lousy job my last year of managing,″ Leyland said then. ”I stunk because I was burned out. When I left there, I sincerely believed that I would not manage again. … I always missed the competition, but the last couple of years — and this stuck in my craw a little bit — I did not want my managerial career to end like that.”

He replaced Alan Trammell as Tigers manager ahead of the 2006 season and stayed through 2013.

Leyland’s teams finished first six times and went 1,769-1,728. He won American League pennants in 2006, losing to St. Louis in a five-game World Series, and 2012, getting swept by San Francisco. Leyland was voted Manager of the Year in 1990, 1992 and 2006, and he managed the U.S. to the 2017 World Baseball Classic championship, the Americans’ only title.

Now he’s alongside the elite.

“It’s the final stop,” Leyland said. “To land there in Cooperstown, it doesn’t get any better than that. I mean, that’s the ultimate. I certainly never thought it was going to happen. Most people probably don’t. But it did, and I’m sure I’m going to enjoy it.”

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The people spoke on condition of anonymity following an owners’ meeting because the decision was not announced publicly.

MLB and the players’ association agreed to the Paris games in their March 2022 labor deal and incorporated them as an attachment to the collective bargaining agreement. The people familiar with the decision said it became apparent in recent months that no progress was being made to make the games work financially.

MLB played in London for the first time in 2019 when the New York Yankees swept two games from the Boston Red Sox at West Ham’s Olympic Stadium. A planned two-game series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs in 2020 was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, and the Cardinals and Cubs split a two-game series this past June. The New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies are scheduled to play there next June 8 and 9.

Regular-season games will be played in Seoul, South Korea, for the first time when the Los Angeles Dodgers open the season against the San Diego Padres on March 20 and 21. In addition, the Houston Astros and Colorado Rockies play at Mexico City on April 27 and 28.

The collective bargaining agreement calls for a Tokyo opener in 2025 along with regular-season games in Mexico City and San Juan, Puerto Rico. The labor deal includes 2026 games in London, Mexico City and San Juan.

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