Originally Posted by
Enscheff
Details of the Darvish contract from MLBTR: "$25MM in 2018, $20MM in 2019, $22MM apiece in 2020 and 2021, $19MM in 2022, and $18MM in 2023. That allocation means that Darvish will face at least a four-year, $81MM decision (depending upon escalators) when his opt-out opportunity arises."
It seems like the Cubs have front loaded the contract in an effort to persuade Darvish to opt out after 2019, and to mitigate the risk of him opting in.
I've seen folks here suggest front loading contracts with opt-outs, and that looks like exactly what the Cubs have done.