Despite their high-spending ways and immense on-field success, the Dodgers managed to stay under the luxury-tax threshold in each of the previous three seasons. However, they’re going to surpass the limit in 2021. The mark stands at $210MM for this year, and Jason Martinez of Roster Resource/FanGraphs projects the Dodgers’ current tax payroll at almost $258MM. The Dodgers are on track to pay $13MM in taxes and go back 10 spots in next year’s draft, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register notes, though president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman revealed that ownership has not pressured him to cut payroll for the upcoming campaign.
While Friedman said he expects trade talks to happen during the spring, “moving money” isn’t at the forefront for the club. And though Friedman doesn’t think the Dodgers’ current payroll is sustainable, he added: “We don’t ever view our payroll at any one moment in time. We really view it over a two-, three-, four-, five-year period. So from where we are right now, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if this is where we finished the year. And we’re okay with it and factored it in.”
Even after winning a World Series title last fall, the Dodgers haven’t rested on their laurels this offseason. They signed the top free agent available, right-hander Trevor Bauer, to a three-year, $102MM guarantee and then re-signed third baseman Justin Turner to a two-year, $34MM pact earlier this month. But Bauer may not be on the team in a year because of the opt-out clause included in his deal; meanwhile, longtime ace Clayton Kershaw, shortstop Corey Seager, outfielder/infielder Chris Taylor, and relievers Kenley Jansen and Joe Kelly could all become free agents next winter, so the Dodgers will be in position to trim their payroll in 2022 if that’s their plan.
Second!
And then he said “yeh we have an unfair advantage. So what”
Having owners that aren’t cheap is unfair now?
Only to the whiners.
An ownership group that is smart, well funded and knows how to develop players. Sure, you could complain about how much financial power they wield. Or you could take a hard look at your own teams ownership and realize that the Dodgers aren’t the problem.
If you own a MLB team and you find yourself contemplating filing a complaint and suggesting relief of a salary cap, simply because large-market teams spend 3x the amount you do on payroll, first look internally at why you own a MLB team. Remember that teams pay players at the highest level of competition in the world to compete for you, your brand (team/city) and your fans.
Moreover, you may also consider that you compete, as an owner, against other owners for players whose career goal is to make the most money (or best contract) for their talent.
So, strip away the excuses and the emotional appeals, and your real complaint boils down to the fact that you own a team and don’t want to, or can’t, spend the requisite amount of money to build a winning team. Therefore, you want MLB to fix the game on everyone else (players, big-market teams, unions) to maximize your chances to sign players at a rate that you are comfortable with – and likely nets you the most profit.
Very well said Yankee Clipper, kudos to you my friend!
Do you think baseball ownership hasn’t already contemplated all of that Yankee Clipper? There are maybe 6 majors markets that can support a large market team. Should mlb contract to just 6 teams? New York(2), Chicago, LA, Boston and Houston? Do you think baseball would still be the $10 billion plus per year industry that it is today?
Let me ask you this Hudson, did you think before you posted this? What a marron, Ahahahaha!
Hudson6: How do you explain it working then? Please do, and let’s start with…… the Marlins championship team It’s apparent that it’s not limited to the six teams you cited because the WS winners {over large sample sizes} don’t line up with that historically. You can, however, pick a specific, and very limited period of time, during which it matches, but much like hitting, small sample sizes don’t necessarily tell us an accurate story.
Nice Post!
I want to see the best product possible on the field. That usually has little to do with market size of team, but in this case- it has everything to do with it. Dodgers are buying a dynasty. That’s wack and not good for the sport
Compare that to yanks dynasty a couple decades ago- they built that internally
Define “built internally.” I’m gonna bet you can’t.
You could not be more wrong, bot.
I can define it…it’s what the Dodgers have largely done through their farm.
How do I explain it working? The CBT and revenue sharing. The richest owners in the sport agreed to these things. Would they have done so if it WASN’T in their best interest? Perhaps they have a better idea of what is BEST for their own self interest than you do?
Wait what? The Yankees dynasty was built internally?
So why did the Yankees have the highest payroll in baseball during that time? If they build their team internally not like the Dodgers ?
In the end, building a winning team also doesn’t require breaking the bank. Ask Tampa
Hudson6: Even though I still disagree with the CBT, it is far from a hard floor and hard cap. The two are not even close.
Are you drunk bot!? Swap the names and you’re a heckuva lot closer to reality
Yes, JoeCarter, you’re correct. But building a perennial winner, without relying on long-term development, once the window closes does require financial commitment. In some cases, like Tampa, that window is one or two years as a playoff contender.
My question remains: Why should the teams like LAD be penalized if they choose to pay players more money for talent, so teams that claim they have less money due to popularity, tv viewing area, etc, spend a proportionate amount of money?
And everyone citing NFL/NBA has not provided me with any factual basis for how this will improve MLB. It’s an emotional appeal that it will be more competitive. That’s not an absolute fact simply because one states it. And if memory serves, isn’t the NFL trending downward, while pre-Covid MLB revenue was at an all-time high?
@YankeeClipper….The dynamics of a given team succeeding in each sport is complex. Yet anyone who tries to cite the NFL or NBA as a way for MLB to maximize the number of teams competitive year in and year out, it should be pointed out there are far more semi- dynasties (GSW,Lakers, Pats) over the last 20 years that MLB has had.
Maybe NYY, ATL, LAD, and SDP will change that narrative in the 20s.
Here! Here! Well played, Yankee Clipper.
What an idiot! Most are home grown or low risk like Turner and Muncy where-Do you actually know anything about baseball? Their home grown players make lots of money (Kershaw $30+, Kenley $20 million for example! They are spending on one fringe free-agent! If you break it down and had commonsense, you’d know that!
Except the sport exists because there is competition. Strip out small market clubs and the sport suffers as a whole. The problem is baseball is built on so many games and has to be regional. The NFL is the opposite, there are a fraction of the games so even small markets fill up larger stadiums and their real money is based on a national deal. Baseball needs a system that protects small market clubs and all players. The best system that theoretically works involves a payroll floor, true ceiling and a specified revenue percentage to the players. Unfortunately, there is no trust between the union and owners and without an “open books” policy, the owners can hide their true total revenue picture.
You do realize the Dodgers won last year with the most home grown players.
Bellinger, Seager, Buehler, Pederson, Barnes, Smith, Urias, Kershaw, Jansen, Gonsolin, all homegrown
Muncy, Turner, Hernandez cheap scrap heap guys who panned out huge
Betts cost homegrown Verdugo
Bauer signed now.
In short, TF are you even saying “bought” anything? Literally one guy, unless you want the coin flips in the bullpen like Joe Kelly or Jake McGee who is gone.
Unlike the other major sports leagues in USA, the large market teams have a distinct financial advantage over non-large market teams. And this won’t change until Owners & Players agree it’s in everyone’s best interest to share revenues and control costs by implementing a salary cap/floor.
That’s just the truth.
Scott, Its simply your opinion; but, then again, saying it’s just truth does not make it truth. Saying it’ll make it better doesn’t mean it will actually be better. Tell me how. You speak of advantages, where? I see people on these boards every day talking about how poorly run the Yankees organization is run because Tampa can do it better for 1/4 the cost. That tells me there needs to be no equitable distribution of salary through a floor/cap system because Tampa can do it below the floor and Yankees are only punishing themselves by going over the cap, which works in the players’ favor. Are you worried about the LAD’s and Yankees now?
Your whole proposal to fans, players, and ownership is: “Just because?!”
C’mon. We are intellectuals. We want to know why we should change our game fundamentally and how it would make it better before we consider such a drastic, sweeping change. Not just for the bottom third, not just because your opinion is it works “better” in the NBA, which is totally irrelevant even if true.
But there is zero substance outside of you saying it’ll work better. Well to that I respond, it won’t. It’ll be worse. It’ll hurt the game and won’t achieve the goals you champion in your utilitarian pipe dream system. If it’s so obvious, how can you not explain to me how it will be better other than to say it will?
And don’t forget, while you’re speaking about advantages that this is a competition, the very nature of which is to win.
Damn those Dodgers owners who invest money into their baseball team and hired the right guys to run a successful operation who knows how to draft and develop their own players.
About time huh, they were a laughing stock for many years, while the team was ran by FOX, and the Mc Courts. There was no reason for it, with the coin they bring in.
There front office is solid now, but even as good as they are, let’s give the credit to the new ownership group. When the owners took over, they paid for every position of need, and blew there payroll to record numbers. Thus allowed them years to stock pile the prospects. Only maybe a handful of teams could take this easy way out to rebuilding. The small market teams have to do the opposite, spend less and tank for top draft picks.
Under the Fox and McCourt ownerships the development side was ransacked. This is all under the waterline so it tends to go unnoticed until it’s seen in the farm system down the road. The new ownership invested heavily in rebuilding that part of the organization and it’s paid off.
Especially McCourt, that man is about as they come. His ownership seemed like the nadir in Dodger history.
Ironically the Dodgers were more successful as a team during the McCourt ownership than they were with Fox. At least McCourt understood he owned a baseball team. As far as Fox was concerned all they owned was broadcast content.
BlueSkies…Good point! The bad optics of McCourt maybe seems worse with recency bias and the excessive salaries paid out to his ex-wife and crony in that non-profit.
But Fox did trade the greatest hitting catcher…Maybe it was easier to despise McCourt more as he was one man.
Then again:
Tangentiallly, if it weren’t for Fox, Scioscia would have been the next Dodger manager instead of Davey Johnson and the Angels never win a championship.
Reminiscent ramblings aside, the Guggenheim Partners and Friedman have been excellent as owners and POBO, respectively.
Don’t get me wrong, the McCourts were a total train wreck. Even if we can ignore them making the Dodgers prisoners of their messy divorce they did drive the team into bankruptcy after all and somehow managed to walk away from it as billionaires and to this day own the stadium parking lots. Yet the teams weren’t terrible for the most part. Maybe they allowed the baseball people within the organization to do their jobs as best they could under the circumstances. This is where I think Ned Colletti is underrated by many fans. He had to be creative working under adverse conditions and he succeeded, mostly.
Dodgers finally win in a short 60 game season and all the simpleton fans think the game is so unfair that small market teams can’t compete even though mlb has the best parity out of all the leagues. That isn’t debatable just factual. If spending equals winning then the dodgers and Yankees would win every year.
Iverbure: Absolutely correct – the most substantive basis for your point is that you don’t get much more parity than having LAD v. Tampa!
The opposing argument falls flat on its face as evidenced in their own point about the LAD winning….. because they played the Rays for the WS.
It’s so sad that these ownership groups that have amassed wealth beyond all measure through fair and equitable competition in a well regulated market outside sports now have to face the scourge that is the Dodgers spending above the luxury tax ever 3 years or so. I feel horrible for them, at least the money that the Dodgers generate and spend will be redistributed to the less-rich rich guys or the rich guys less willing to spend.
Thankfully as a Dodger fan we’ve had free spending ownership groups like this one when they took over, McCourt, Fox, the O’Malleys that have constantly spent every red cent they could find year in and year out.
I am also tired of the players getting paid my and the other fans’ money we contribute through tv fees, ticket, merchandise and concession sales to entertain me – more of that money should go into the pockets of the owners. I don’t watch baseball to watch the battle between pitcher and batter, no, I watch it to make sure a rich guy gets even richer.
Right? Well if you look above somehow a cap will fix the game so it rotates through every team winning once every thirty years or some such nonsense – but I guess then everyone would get a trophy!
NO! It creates a bigger wealth gap! It mandates a cap so it does the collusion FOR the owners. Ugh.
There’s nothing unfair about it, and I’m not a Dodgers fan. The Padres have shown any team can spend, even in smaller markets. MLB is a multi-billion-dollar entertainment industry with multiple revenue streams owned by billionaires. You don’t have to buy the “we’re poor” myth your team is selling.
Andrew discusses payroll:
Andrew – “What is this….payroll you speak of?”
Good for LAD for spending. Bet players are happy – their fans certainly are. Bring back spending Andrew! Or just keep winning when teams refuse to spend.
lmao, a yankee fan talking about the dodgers’ payroll?
Yes, I’m complementing him for spending what he need to put a winning team on the field. Yankees are not doing that right now. They have self-imposed cap due to the CBT.
What’s wrong with that?
Whats your point? The Dodgers should be applauded for saying the hell with the CBT and going all in on that repeat when everyone else including my Sox and Clippers Yankees are trying to stay below it.
Why did u bring the NBA into it (Clippers), they can’t go over the cap, even if they wanted to.
@B-Strong… They actually stayed below the luxury tax threshold for the last few seasons-as the article points out. That was likely a significant factor in going over in 2021. The penalties increase when going over the tax in successive years.
new cba should include upper and lower threshold. if a team goes outside them penalties should be much more severe than they are now.
He is just a bitter angels fan, sad that his teams payroll is constantly near 190 million and still cant make playoffs (even in shortened season with extra wild cards) over teams like a’s and rays
I don’t see why owners would limit their own ability with a cap or leave a floor in place to enforce at the risk of penalization.
I also posit the players will be vehemently opposed to any sort of cap, specifically because of teams like the Pads (Tatis’ substantial extension) and LAD.
But I could be wrong – I usually am.
sports which have those thrive while baseball languish. if you are growing up in a family with limited income which majority of us are, what sports would interest you more?
Baseball
The sports games that I enjoy the most.. which happens to be baseball and tennis, oddly.
Hardcore full-contact curling.
Extreme bird-watching
Paddy, I completely forgot about that one…. I change my answer – competitive bird watching it is.
Problem is, the owners that have the abysmally low payrolls won’t go for a floor, which means there won’t be a cap. Just for reference, in 2018 revenue sharing gave the poorest teams 118 million apiece. You know Tampa and Oakland owners simply pocketed a good chunk of that. Cap floor would have to be set at about 3x the current payroll of the bottom teams.
Yes sir, which is why I am opposed to the CBT. It pays for their payroll and provides an additional funding mechanism for owners based on better funded teams. A floor could fix that, in theory. But as you so astutely noted – they would never be willing to meet that high of a threshold floor.
I’d guess there’s a solid 0% chance that Bauer walks away with $45m waiting next year.
Friedman can certainly feel free to let Jansen and Kelly walk once their contracts are up, though.
If Bauer gets anywhere close to a 2.00 era again over a full year, there’s a better than zero chance he opts out looking for the type of same deal
If he thinks he can get 45M for 2 or 3 years instead of just 1 more, why wouldn’t he opt out after a great year? Too many people make too many definitive statements on these sites.
@Lurking It’s a 0% chance he opts out because there is a 0% chance he will have even close to a “2 era” in a full 162 game season and outside of the NL (AAA) Central. That is definitive.
Well, they have that opportunity now, but they’re not.
Well, they have that opportunity now, but they’re not
Disregard, app won’t let me put this comment in the right place
Third is a better comment I guess. Pfff
I heard Trout’s press conference yesterday and he took responsibility for his whether his team makes the playoffs this year. He is a true role model, and although I don’t see much of his off-field activity, he deserves the utmost respect.
I will always root for him, and people like him, because their integrity, self-accountability, and respect for the game are second to none.
It’s incredible how so many teams overlooked him in the draft, looking back.
It’s incredible how so many teams overlooked him in the draft, looking back.
Think about all the great surgeons who didn’t go to Harvard Medical, the great engineers who didn’t go to MIT, or the great accountants who didn’t go to Rider.
It’s pretty hard to judge people when they are 18 years old and it is still hard to judge them when they are 22 years old. The keen eye can spot potential but doesn’t get it right every time.
Yes, but to have the best player of this generation missed by 24 other teams? That’s impressive. But you may criticize…. I can take it.
And your comparative statements are proving a negative, mine is not, so you’re attempt at jest is a failure. You can’t prove Harvard would’ve made any difference if they’re great already.
Just admit the guy is what players should aspire to; that’s all I’m saying. He’s great for the game –
Wasn’t pujols like the 600th pick?
It’s possible, but Trout doesn’t use PEDs.
@bencole When you originally said it was brilliant but the 2nd it kinda fell flat for me.
I’m a Padres fan and I like what the Dodgers are doing. They haven’t gotten complacent when a lot of teams have. They value trying to win right now.
In another version of this interview Friedman acknowledges what the Padres have done, so the feeling is mutual.
Friedman’s success makes it real easy to forget how horrible McCourt was
lurkin’ yes you are almost correct. As there is a hint of a foul air permeating the parking lot.
Touché. The one benefit of not being able to go to games… McCourt gets no parking $$? Haha
$48 million: amount Dodgers will exceed the Tax Threshold……also likely the total amount of the Rays payroll……
More like Indians and pirates payroll.
World Series title*
Says the bitter fan who’s team lost.
Is there going to be CBT in the new CBA agreement? I believe there will not be a CBT in 2022 and beyond. Most teams and players dislike the CBT, it hurts free agents earning power.
Larry, I suspect with all the issues being addressed that there won’t be the existing CBT framework. I do believe, however, there will be some type of CBT to support the lower-tier payroll teams, as they will certainly claim they won’t be able to sustain their organization without supplemental funds.
It wouldn’t surprise me if they remove the compounding fee structure, and replace it with some type of flat tax arrangement on the money spent over the threshold, so the poorer teams continue to receive 200% funding for their payrolls. It would loosen the purse strings while still letting the kids live at home.
I expect that the Yankees will do something along these lines; get under the tax threshold this season ad then next season go over by some $40+ M
Ya know, if Gleyber flops on D, which is entirely plausible, I could see them going hard after Lindor/Story/Baez etc. as well, and blowing the faux cap right off!
I dont know if its that clear cut or not for the yankees. Look at Sanchez after that awful season and they didnt look at other catchers. Also arent most of their pitchers (starting and relieving FA) next year?
with gleybar if he isnt short where do you play him? 2b is DJ’s, Voit is your 1b, and do you lose Urshela’s defense and solid bat for gleybar learning a new position? Cant stick him at dh til Stanton gets hurt again. Only spot is LF and then you just move Frazier back to the bench after all the hoopla of not using him.
Torres sucks at short, I’ve said this the whole offseason, they should’ve let DJ walk -I know a lot of people disagree – plugged in Semien or Simmons in at ss & moved Torres back to second & then sign Lindor (the clock is ticking on the Mets) or Story for 22. I hope I’m wrong on this but I guess time will tell.
No, Riddler, as much as I hate to admit it, you’re right. I think bringing back DJL was not a good move with their current personnel assignments.
The Yankees were incredibly shortsighted this year. Maybe Cashman is playing chess and I’m still on the checkerboard (?) but he signed a better 2b to put the lesser 2b at SS, where he had poor defensive metrics.
If Gleyber doesn’t perform at SS, they need to package him in a trade deal for SP or C and sign Story/Lindor/Baez/Seager.
I just don’t see a coherent plan of action with the Yankees right now. The hurdle seems to be the CBT, except the unwavering commitment to DJL. But they also won’t loosen their grip on trade pieces.
Well, my Yankee rant is over, but they need to figure out Gleyber, Andujar (perennial minor-leaguer now, I guess), and whatever is going on with catching.
I think? Price is reaching free agency after this season too.
No, Price is signed through 2022.
No. He FA after 2022 season
“Willie D” is a long time anti-Dodger troll who used to haunt the L.A. Times as “1900 Yesterday.” “Willie D” has also been here before under different names. The tortured writing style gives it away.
One quick look at the Dodgers roster will show that most of the players are homegrown and drafted by the Dodgers. There are a few others given up on by other teams. A few more came in trades. They have signed Pollock and Bauer as free agents. So, if these two players, one of whom was just recently signed, constitute “buying a championship,” so be it.
Wow, I think you are right about the LAT connection.
Uh, question! Can anyone name one team in the game of professional baseball that doesn’t buy a championship? It’s a weak straw man. Same people argue that teams should pony up money when these guys go into free agency because they deserve it…. they disparage the owners for being cheap vultures who are hording money.
If LAD spends and wins, I call that a great business investment. I’m pretty sure the owner, City, and fans feel the same way. Pound salt you anti-spenders! Good for you, Andrew & Co.
2015 Kansas City Royals. $128 million payroll
The runner up Mets had $109 million payroll. The Dodgers spent more that year than both combined and got bounced in the first round
The 2008 Phillies payroll was $98 million
So yes, there are a few teams that won championships that weren’t bought
They’re all bought. Just depends on the price. Consistent winning generally means maintaining higher payrolls, and those that don’t are selling out their fans. Every time a baseball fan complains about payrolls a billionaire owner smiles somewhere. They smile a lot.
Baseball fans are just really angry people these days at everything ; its so damn odd
180 degrees different than this in the basketball boards where you can tell almost every poster truly “Loves this game”
I love Baseball, but the ugliness is only going to hurt in the long term
It’s Brooklyn New York’s team,nobody cares
It takes two good years from Guggenheim Partners for every miserable year under the McCourt regime. Feel like we are on a good schedule, and if 29 other teams’ fans want to whine about it, so be it. There has been a price.
Payroll? Dodgers? Yea skip this.
They’re a very well-managed organization, and that is the key to success. They manage to the luxury tax, but have a multi-year plan in place to get back under, but when they do go over they go big to maximize their chances to win. The penalties are minor.
Freedman spent years toiling and counting pennies for the Ray’s. He deserves to be able to splurge as he’s literally a baseball genius. Good for him!
The Dodgers have been very good lately, but not a dynasty. Dynasties win more than 1 championship. The Dodgers won in an abbreviated year… so they need to win at least 1 more… maybe 2. If not, then they will be just as good as any other 1 title team.
There’s an idiot going around by the name of Wille D. He thinks the Giants are better than the Dodgers this year and the Dodgers suck. Scroll through the list-you’ll find him-tell me if you agree or disagree.
Yo Grandpa, you forgot to take your meds today! I notice you didn’t deny any of the other remarkable, yet shameful habits of yours. Maybe beacuse it’s true? You’re one to talk about not being bright. Looks like your porch light went out years ago with your sense of pride and sense of shame following right after. I bet you get all the elderly crones at the home you ran away from, don’t you? At this point-you know you’re trolling. And according to my supreme authority as Greatness-I can now render any argument you make toward the Dodgers invalid? Why? Because I’m Greatness. Now stick it where the sun don’t shine, little willie with a even littler d. Learn how to write in proper sentences, you dead man walking.
The Dodgers have done well both financially with payroll and performance on the field. I suggest they add Gonsolin to the major league 26 man roster (or another top relief prospect) and sell off Kelly for prospects. They have enough relief pitching and that will lower payroll (I think below the luxury tax threshold, but I am not sure. At least it gets them much closer). They have to get ready for expensive years coming up with re-signing of Bellinger, Kershaw, and Seager next year. They do not “need” to go over the threshold this year, and the will likely be over it for years after that. Delay the triggering of the super penalty for exceeding the threshold for three years in a row or more.
Do you think the Giants or Dodgers have the best chance of winning the WS? There’s this idiot going around by the name of Willie D saying the Dodgers are going to suck in 2021 and the Giants will be good. If you get a chance-scroll through the comments. You’ll find him.
Greatness — You are joking, right? The only thing the Dodgers are going to “suck” this year is the champagne out of the bottle at the Championship celebrations. Seriously, maybe there could be an argument about the Dodgers vs. the Padres, but the Giants?
It’s this idiot, Willie D who brought that up. I’m asking other people what they think. He’s so stupid, and he’s been trolling me all the last week.