Jan. 24: Scott’s deal also contains a conditional club option for the 2029 season, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports. That option, valued at $5MM plus incentives, would only be available if Scott suffers a “qualifying injury” and is not traded throughout the four-year term of his contract.
In essence, it’s likely a safety net for the Dodgers (and only the Dodgers) in the event of a major injury. Specifics regarding this option aren’t yet clear, though prior instances of conditional options such as this one typically revolve around UCL injuries. Scott does not have a no-trade clause, but he’d receive a $3MM assignment bonus if traded to another team, Ardaya adds.
Jan. 23: The Dodgers’ spending blitz formally continued Thursday, as they announced the signing of left-hander Tanner Scott to a four-year, $72MM deal. Scott, a client of the MVP Sports Group, reportedly receives a $20MM signing bonus on the contract, which contains $21MM of deferred money.
Scott was ranked as the #14 free agent in this winter’s class in MLBTR’s annual Top 50 MLB Free Agents list, where we predicted that the lefty would land a four-year, $56MM deal. His deal with L.A. comes in well above that mark, but that’s not necessarily surprising given reports earlier this month that indicated Scott could land a deal with an average annual value in the $20MM range. Ultimately, this deal doesn’t go quite that far, though his $18MM AAV is still quite the premium for his position. According to MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, Scott is tied for the third-highest AAV for a reliever in free agent history alongside Liam Hendriks’s deal with the White Sox with the pair trailing only Edwin Diaz and Josh Hader. Meanwhile, it’s the fifth-highest total guarantee a reliever has ever landed in free agency behind only Diaz, Hader, Aroldis Chapman, and Kenley Jansen.
The $21MM in deferred money in the deal could lower the contract’s net present value below this tier of elite closer, but it’s hard to deny that Scott belongs in that elite company based on his incredible numbers the past two seasons. He was among the very best relievers in the sport last year with a 1.75 ERA, 2.92 FIP, and a 28.6% strikeout rate. His peripheral numbers were even stronger in 2023, as he struck out an eye-popping 33.9% of opponents and posted a 2.31 ERA with a 2.17 FIP. Among qualified relievers over the past two seasons, Scott ranks fourth in ERA and fifth in FIP. Only Félix Bautista of the Orioles and Cade Smith of the Guardians rank above Scott in both categories, and neither pitched in both the 2023 and ’24 seasons at the big league level.
Of course, that doesn’t mean Scott is necessarily completely infallible. The southpaw struggled badly with his command earlier in his career, and those issues were a key factor in the lefty surrendering a pedestrian 4.61 ERA and 3.91 FIP over his first six seasons in the majors. That’s left Scott without the lengthy track record of many of his peers in late-inning relief, and even this past season saw Scott walk 12.2% of his opponents. Scott managed to stay elite despite that hefty number of free passes by keeping the ball in the park the past two seasons, and the changes he’s made to improve his batted ball outcomes appear to be sustainable. Opponents barreled up 5.4% of their batted balls off Scott prior to the 2023 season, but the past two campaigns have seen that number drop to just 4.0%. Likewise, Scott’s Hard-Hit rate dropped from 36.2% in his career prior to 2023 down to just 26.7% over the past two seasons.
The Dodgers are clearly betting on his performance to remain as elite as it has been the past two seasons. L.A. got an up-close look at Scott’s dominance during last season’s NLDS, when he pitched three scoreless innings against the club for the Padres and garnered five strikeouts- four of which were against Shohei Ohtani. Looking ahead to the 2025 season, they’ll add Scott’s high-octane arm to an already strong bullpen that also features Michael Kopech, Evan Phillips, Blake Treinen, and Alex Vesia in the late innings. With Scott presumably taking over as the club’s closer, the Dodgers will now have the flexibility to use those leverage arms earlier in the game. That’s particularly useful in the case of Vesia, as he was the Dodgers’ only late-inning relief option from the left side last season.
Per RosterResource, the signing of Scott has pushed the Dodgers’ payroll for 2025 up to just under $369MM, with a nearly matching luxury tax payroll of just under $371MM. Those figures don’t factor in the deferred money in Scott’s contract, but that still puts the Dodgers’ payroll for 2025 more than $40MM higher than 2024, which was already a franchise record. They’re the only team spending even $300MM in payroll this year, and one of just three teams (alongside the Phillies and Yankees) with a luxury tax payroll above that marker. The upper limit on the club’s payroll capacity is unknown, but signing Scott (and Roki Sasaki last week) appear to have checked the final boxes the Dodgers were known to be pursuing upgrades for this winter. While further upgrades to the roster certainly can’t be ruled out, the club’s roster has very little uncertainty and it would hardly be a surprise if the Dodgers mostly stood pat over the final weeks before Spring Training beyond perhaps a long-anticipated deal to bring franchise stalwart Clayton Kershaw back into the fold.
With Scott off the market, right-handers Carlos Estévez and Kirby Yates are perhaps the two best options still available in free agency for clubs on the hunt for bullpen help. Jansen, David Robertson, Kyle Finnegan, and Tommy Kahnle are among the other late-inning relief arms available. The Red Sox, Braves, and Cubs were among the other teams that have been connected to Scott throughout the winter, while the Rangers and Diamondbacks are among other clubs known to be in the market for late-inning relief help at this point in the offseason.
Mark Feinsand of MLB.com first reported the agreement and the terms. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic and Robert Murray of FanSided added details about the signing bonus and deferrals.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
GIVE ME A BREAK!
LOL. Why even play the season?? I’m at least hoping for a rematch in the WS. WS could have a different outcome. Freeman won’t have another WS like that again. So anything is possible.
innings 1-5
(Snell, Yamamoto, Glasgow, Roki, Ohtani or Kersh)
6 Phillips
7 Treinan
8 Kopech
9 Tanner Scott
Whew!
Hoyer sucks it again. News at 10.or 11. Whatever
Mike
Would you have supported Jed if he offered Tanner Scott five years at $18 million? I would have not.
He certainly could have afforded the deal he got. The mice in Jed’s head won’t let him pull off a deal like that. His sphincter would tighten up and there isn’t enough Dulcolax to free it up.
It’s not Hoyer it’s the Dodgers throwing money at everybody. Oh yeah the Cubs could have offered more but then the Dodgers go higher, it never ends. Dodgers better enjoy it while they can because when the CBA runs out after ‘26 they’ll be screwed.
Mike
If the Dodger offered four years and $18, Cubs needed to exceed it not match it.
The price just went up for Estevez and Yates, but not that high.
Mike, give it a rest, Jed is only able to spend what Ricketts authorizes, like any business. Nobody has a TV deal like the Dodgers, and seemingly endless supply of cash. You can keep complaining, but Cubs aren’t the only ones losing out to the Dodgers on these guys and if the Cubs sign Yates it’s all for naught.
Cubs. So close! Still gunning for the world series tho. Future is bright
Don’t forget Vesia or Graterol when he is back. Also Brasier and Banda are decent middle relivers.
Don’t forget about May. He’s in there somewhere.
Maybe it’s not all about the money. Maybe dude wants a legit chance to win? There are billionaire owners who are sitting on their hands, why not criticise them? So far, I’ve not heard that the Dodgers are breaking any rules.
Defer Defer Defer! The majority of states are not allowed to do it. The Dodgers are taking advantage of a loop hole that MLB refuses to shut down. It is on MLB!!! I have the Dodgers and Dave Roberts. Nothing we can do
Agreed. It will be 20 something teams vs 10 in the next CBA bc of the Dodgers and Mets actions these past three offseasons. When the RSNs collapsed, the nightmare scenario played out.
16-He still has 45 million to spend to get to the Tax. So how did Ricketts stop him exactly?
Glasgow is a Detroit Lion, I think you meant Glasnow…
Also they will use May and Gonsolin to start the year, then once Ohtani is healthy one of them gets kicked to the pen, and then once Kershaaw is ready in July (if he resigns) then the other one also goes to the pen.
But of course here will be injuries too.
That starting rotation will not be healthy all year, true that
Innings 1-4: Sasaki, Yamamoto, Ohtani, Snell, Glasnow
Innings 5-8: Gonsolin, May, Miller, Kershaw, Knack
Innings 9: whatever reliever based on score/usage
Tom Ricketts just said that his goal isn’t a WS , it’s for the Cubs to break even every year. LOL being a Cubs fan must be the worst feeling.
Hard to believe that some folks will invest hundreds of millions and then try to make as much money as they can off that investment.
We’ll never know. If the Cubs needed the best available and had $19 mil/per to spend, they should have offered it. If he wasn’t that important to the Cubs or they didn’t have that much budgeted, they’ll keep looking. It’s an auction.
@16
Well said.
All teams will be screwed. All players will be screwed. Only owners will make more money.
Some players actually care about playing for a winning team.
Unclemike: I didn’t even know the were in the running.
I’ll be honest, I’m not even sure Scott is the best closer of the bunch.
Gmaytag: By then it will be too late. The Dodgers already have all these stars locked up for years to come. The CBA isn’t going to change that.
Yankees did the same under Steinbrenner with an unprecedented TV deal. Nothing has changed because of the Yankees and noth9ng will change because of the Dodgers. Yankees did lose and Dodgers will lose too. But win or lose the Bronx Bombers were fun to watch and the same with the Dodgers.
Cubs probably would have had to go to around $20M/per year to get Scott.
Deferring is in the CBA. It is not a loophole. Deferred money must be deposited into an interest bearing escrow account use present value calculations.This lowers luxury tax. Yet Dodgers had highest luxury tax. All owners can do it. Tax laws may differ by state however. Cheap owners who care about the bottom line won’t do it. Dodgers ownership cares about winning.
It’s not Hoyer. It’s the Ricketts. Act like a major market in a weakened NLC division.
Yankees did it in the 80’s and 90’s with a lucrative TV contract. It has not changed and will not change. Players want it.
Thats why your team doesn’t win Mike.
Exactly Oldtime. I’m not a dodgers fan but am a fan of baseball above any single team and it sure aa heck will be a blast to watch such a well assembled team. As much as I hated the yankees during those days, I still could appreciate how well built they were and how fun it must’ve been to be a fan.
All this “noise” coming from the tin foil hat and jealous fan types is just, that, noise. I guarantee you if they did a poll among all baseball fans their views would have the smallest slice of the pie chart.
GM and by then the Dodgers will have won 3 straight WS so I think we will be just fine.
Anything they have done will be grandfathered. The CBA will reflect the needs of the teams playing at the highest markets, not punish them.
Dude I’m a Cubs fan and I’m very happy they didn’t spend $18/mil a year for 4 years on a closer. Someone like Yates will be much cheaper and probably close to as effective.
Not much he can do at this point. Everyone will want to play for the Dodgers.
You can also add May, Gonsolin and Miller into the bullpen during the regular season (if not traded for someone like Helsley).
If everyone is healthy going into the postseason, you then move Kershaw and Roki or Ohtani into the bullpen too. Truly insanely stacked.
Theo: What cubs are that? The ones in Iowa?
@Dendon – OMG, they still think they need to add someone else. Estevez, Yates, Helsey.
Denden: When does the roster become so full that they’ll have to send some of the players to the minors or fake injuries and put some on the 60 day IL.
BadMojo: You might want to set your sights a little bit further south.
The Yankees have a strong tv deal too
They’ll be happy with a 3peat
If I were the Dodger brass, I would explore a trade with the Cards. All that pitching with an average defense. Acquire Arenado and Helsley. Move Muncy to second. Also acquire Iglesias for a sub at SS and 2nd. They would have to eat most of the Arenado contract, and lose a couple of promising prospects, but if you are going all in go all in!
We don’t want Arenado… Muncy is fine, its 1 more year then we get our big 3B slugger from Japan.
And we have backup infielders so we are fine there.
Our “average infield” will be just fine.
They are already all in and nobody wants Arenado.
The Dodgers now have 27 pitchers for 13 roster slots in 2025. 28 counting Kershaw and only 4 pitchers have minor league options remaining. My question is exactly how will the dodgers squeeze 10 extra pitchers onto a roster that is maxed out at 26. They also have sixteen position players. Will Manfred change the rules so the Dodgers can field a 40 man roster, since they are already over the 40 with 4 extra players. More deferred money is now in play so they can exploit the system for their own benefit. The CBA renewal will have to cap deferred money each season for teams or the Dodgers will continue signing players for 2M a season with 680 million deferred ten years after the players retire. So, that should open the floodgates where the Dodgers MUST put at least 10 pitchers on the waiver wire and still pay their salaries as they play for other teams. They can’t stick them on the IR list either when they aren’t injured. This should be interesting to watch it unfold. lol.
It’s the system that has to change. I’m repeating myself but how is this good for baseball? Maybe internationally but not in the U.S. Bowie Kuhn. would again invoke the best interests of the sport of owners would allow it. Deferred money needs to be limited otherwise another Madoff situation can happen. The Dodgers simply expect their future streams to pay the deferred costs. No one anticipated Madoff being a fraud. There also needs to be an international limit per club at least professionally like Japan and S. Korea have. Finally, nothing will work unless owners lose their anti-trust exemption and truly open their books so there can be a floor and hard cap like most other sports. Until MLB becomes a partnership with the players, this will continue. Fans at some point will stop supporting to the degree they have been. Forget the extra wild cards, fans want to believe their team can actually win it.
Avenger 65. The Dodgers now have an active duty roster of 44 players when they are allowed 26. They have 27 pitchers and only 4 have minor league options remaining. They MUST either trade or waive 10 pitchers since they are only allowed 13 pitcher slots. They have too many players without options and teams will just wait them out, wait for the waiver wire players to hit and then sign them at minimum salaries, forcing the Dodgers to spend millions for players to play for other teams. When they lose Stone, Miller, plus other notable players due to roster restraints, they can’t put the players on IR either unless they are injured. That is called fraud, but I doubt Manfred would do anything to penalize the Dodgers for it. The end of spring training should be very interesting this year to see who the Dodgers are forced to lose. Add Kershaw and they are at 28 pitchers with 13 slots.
To all of those crying about the Dodgers throwing money at everyone.
1. Other owners have more money. They just use their team as an ATM instead of reinvesting.
2. Roki, Ohtani, Snell, Scott, Teo allegedly had higher offers elsewhere. Sometimes it’s about the benefits of where you work and not the top dollar.
3. Wahhh if your team was doing it you wouldn’t be crying. Tell your owners to quit being cheap.
I know you all think it’s great what the dodgers are doing but you still need other teams snd if fans lose interest around the league because of this the hold league is hurt. There are many options for entertainment in sports and fans will drift away but when it’s a 10 team league the dodgers can spend 700 million dollars.
Oh, get off it. No one is saying they are breaking any rules and owners are being criticized right and left if you pay attention.
What people are stating is that this really isn’t good for baseball and if you are a fan of almost any team outside of a few of the big market teams it is ruining the fun of baseball. That is the gist of most of these posts and there is no way you can argue against them, so you bring out nonsense that just isn’t happening.
As for the players wanting to win, I get that, but I would . state that there should not be a player on the Dodgers who should feel they accomplished anything last year or this year. They only did what they were the obvious favorites to do and nothing more. Zero respect for that.
Maybe it’s MLB & MLB PA forgetting us fans have no interest in watching the Dodgers vs 29 versions of the Washington Generals.
Oh please!
Dodgers will win some championships but if they don’t it’s a team with a bloated payroll for a decade.
Don’t believe me? Wait until you see the Dodgers expected win total compared to the other teams.
What’s going to change in the CBA? The only ones complaining are fans of the 29 other teams whining about the Dodgers.
Nope….leaving 3rd base open for Mirakami next year.
4-5 of them are starting season on 60 day once ST starts so that doesn’t count against 40 man.
It’s tough being a Chicago sports fan. The Bears, Cubs, White Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks. Just nothing to really get excited about nor anything positive. Just all the same BS from these organizations.
Maybe I don’t team to do this because cannot afford $800 bleacher seats
Stone, Ryan, Hurt, Sheehan, Frasso and Ohtani as a pitcher all start on the IL. Miller, Casparius, Wrobleski, Dreyer and Henriquez all start the year in the minors.
Only pitchers that will need to be moved are either Banda, Vesia, or Brasier.
Position players that might be moved are Chris Taylor or James Outman. Most likely Taylor packaged with Banda and $3-4MM for PTBNL or cash.
When Kershaw signs and Ohtani comes off IL they’ll have to move another, or someone will have gone on IL by then.
Bahaha
They are not all billionaires. They are business men who are not gonna lose money to win.
The Dodgers are the perfect example of why a cap is needed.
No one says they are breaking any rules. There’s no rule against having tons more revenue than other clubs and spending it wildly (and stupidly). Let the season begin!
You are full of it if you think every owner can spend a billion dollars on free agents every season. Enjoy your fake dynasty while you can, because it’s going to come to a screeching halt after the 2026 season. The Dodgers can play themselves during the lockout.
Nothing is going to change after 2026 and there won’t be a lockouts over a bunch of whiny fans.
Let them live their their little fantasy team while they can because there will be a long lock out in 2027. I say SHUT IT DOWN!
Who is going to shut it down?
Well said Steve
And even with a $300 million dollar payroll, the Dodgers only managed to win twice in the past decade and one of their championships is tainted by a COVID shortened season.
Gmaytag — We can only hope. Put a damn ceiling on the total dollar amount a team can defer.
The Dodgers depend on massive inflation which, of course, is bad for everyone else—not just teams but the American population.
Teams should hire Roger Beshens Football Slider so he can prepare pitchers in weeks instead of their inept coaches taking years.
The Dbacks should have brought in Roger Beshens when he was in their clubhouse helping Strom on May 23, 2024.
I just saw a video of Lovullo, Strom and Beshens where Beshens gives advice to Strom at Maryvale on March 15, 2024.
Roger Beshens can help a pitcher become a top level pitcher in just weeks.
Roger Beshens shares video and pictures on Twitter @rbeshens of himself with Strom and Lovullo.
Cal surf every team that got tv revenue dropped DSG are not doing much. Not everyone has 300 million tv revenues more like maybe 30 for half the league. That’s why there’s 150 free agents still unsigned
I would be happy with Robertson, 1 yr, $12 mill.
@ Calsurf
May’s career high in IP in the majors is 56, during the covid year
I’d triple check the quality of your eraser if you’re trying to pencil his name in anywhere other than the IL
The Dodgers aren’t the only team that defers salary. They’re just the only team you hear about because they sign big names. Lots of teams that sign players to big money contracts defer some of it. Just like the Diamondbacks did with Burnes’ deal.
Agree. And when Steinbrenner didn’t get the TV deal he wanted, he started his own network.
That’s what Greg Johnson, Managing Partner of the Giants said 12 months back.
We can only hope. The other 27 owners need to suck it up, not continue to be bought off. MLB is in crisis.
So has Ricketts.
Per Cots, the Dodgers have a 2025 CBT payroll of $360,998,013 and will pay $107,397,814 in luxury tax. This does not include Tanner Scott’contract. So, both numbers will go up.
Do you really expect other teams to compete with this?
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YX_O-LZuYfE9n8u3s3…
Putting Ohtani on the IL?
As a pitcher. I admit I’m not sure how it works with him having a different status than everyone else.
Exactly what difference does it make what position you play? If you’re on the IL you can’t play period. WTF is that all about? So in your world there’s a P’s IL and a hitters IL? Wow
Easy, junior. Wasn’t sure if the Ohtani Rule affected his IL status.
What exactly IS the OHTANI RULE? Are you making this stuff up or what? And I’m 68.
Mariner’s fans would like a word.
“The Ohtani rule is a baseball rule that allows a pitcher to also be the designated hitter (DH) for a team. The rule was named after Shohei Ohtani, a Japanese professional baseball player who plays for the Los Angeles Dodgers and previously, the Los Angeles Angels. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially adopted the rule in 2022.”
Sorry if you’ve only been watching baseball since 2023.
May’s up pretty soon. Second or third I believe. Just before June. Will check the refrigerator magnet when it comes out.
No you can’t. If you are pitching and you hit you can’t BE the DH too. You can If you do that you LOSE your DH. If you hit and pitch you’re just the pitcher. There’s no special rule because of Ohtani. What a bunch of tripe.
One of my friends is vacation buddies w Hoyer. Will ask him to ask wassup
Thanks for your contribution. Go back to Matlock
Who was that fat guy they used to have pitch the 9th? Loved when they did that against the Dbacks at a gm we went to, with a 10-2 lead. Talk about deep trolling your rival
Rickerts has to be a responsible financial steward of his $4.5 B family fortune. After all he had to deal with (his words), “biblical losses” in 20 when no one could partake in his amusements clubs
There are 20 teams who are opposed to the status quo and 10 teams in favor of it. Do the math.
I thought this was going to be the big overpay the Red Sox would make. Now that they did not get the top reliever, the big right handed bat is their final chance to make a splash unless some crazy trade is on the way.
Bob- there are nearly 30 teams in favor of the status quo. It does exactly what they want it to do.
@UncleMike – Actually there are pitcher and hitter IL. Position players can be placed on the 10 day IL, while pitchers and two way players have to be placed on the 15 day IL.
That was to prevent the Rays and Dodgers who abused the 10 man IL for pitchers.
So they can have 15 pitchers on the roster?
Yes they can, and your team can too.
why will they be “screwed”?
Salary cap coming…not ever
The new CBA will have a clause solely dedicated to the dodgers forgiving past gluttony
You can’t have more than 13 pitchers on the 26 man roster. It’s a rule.
No you can’t
High salaries are good for players. The union should fight to get rid of the luxury tax. Poor teams aren’t even spending all of their welfare on players until the union goes after them.
The flip side of that is if the male 3 and win only 1 will dodger fans feel considerably let down? When the Giants won 3 on 5 years it was amazing not just because they won 3 but because we never had the expectation at the beginning of the offseason they would win one. Until 2015 and that was a huge let down, it’s easy to get spoiled quickly by success.
How do you explain 21-23? In 24 the only SP to begin and end the year on the staff was Yama and he spent a couple months on the IL. LAD came within a game of losing again due to injuries / depth. Ohtani got a guarantee at the time of his signing that LAD would go all in. They are following through
That Giants run was pretty magical but they spent some money to get there. Bonds had to spend half his own salary on roids. Now that is commitment to winning.
How much money did the Giants spend to get there? Bonds should be in the hall, just like Piazza, and the rest of the steroid era players that were never tested before the rule change.
I agree I actually don’t care about the roids. Giants paid Bond & Kent pretty well I imagine. Nothing wrong with paying players their worth. I was just replying to a comment that made that run seem inexpensive and totally home grown
If the whiny fans don’t show up. Then what
I think fans should boycott all dodgers games. Televised and road games so there is no doubt the fans are pissed. Not whiny. But pissed
Gmay – why?
They will be forced to cut some people or pay them major league salaries to play in the minors. No team out there should help out the dodgers.
The Dodgers get over $300M in local TV revenue that isn’t shared. It’s easy to spend money when your market generates the revenue to support it. That’s a $200M to $250M revenue advantage over most of baseball. So no, other teams cannot spend that way, and the Dodgers wouldn’t be either without that contract and market.
Baseball should split all local TV money too and hopefully owners band together next year to make that happen. The Dodgers don’t have any games without an opponent.
I believe you are incorrect. A portion of Local tv revenue is part of the revenue sharing agreement.
You’re right, I misspoke. The Dodgers pocket around $175M and the other 48% is split up. Most teams don’t get anything remotely close to that figure, so the point remains the same.
Ugh. It’s beyond ridiculous at this point. If I were a Dodgers fan, I’d be embarrassed.
As a Padres fan, I was embarrassed when they added Boegarts to the mix and the paraded Boegarts, Soto, Tatis, and Machado onstage at fan fest.
This is far worse.
Dodger fans are furthest thing from embarrassed. They endured years of middling mediocrity under McCourt and Fox ownership, saw several home grown HOFers traded/allowed to walk, and endured years of postseason early exits due to lack of depth. Embarrassed isn’t the word. Elated. Other teams should emulate their all or nothing desire to win.
Dodgers fan here.. Feeling exact opposite of embarrassed.
Hoyer’s been crowing all weekend about adding Tucker for 1 year. meanwhile the Dodgers went out and got Snell, Sasaki, Treinen, Scott, Hernandez, Conforto and Kim. Let’s evaluate who had the better off season OK ? Too bad the 1 year of Tucker means absolutely nothing but a compensatory pick in 2026. Meanwhile he signs 2 guys to do the same job the one guy could have done for less money and loses a 40 man space which means he lost Arias, Which was a stupid move on it’s own. Think I’ll take Friedman on this one.
@ernest of course you are. See you later this year in a Padres content YouTube channel comment section gloating and bragging, bro. Can’t wait.
Yep. The Dodgers are finally acting like the behemoth they should’ve been.
Embarrassed with an ownership dedicated to winning while other teams simply are on the side lines. The Halos had how many years of Othani and missed out on capitalizing his international status (i.e., $$). There are other billionaire owners like the dude from the Pirates that don’t act. Criticism should be pointed at the do – nothings. Just because LA is not your team does not make what they are doing wrong.
Friedman has done a better job than 29 other GMs, not just Hoyer, mostly because the Dodgers ownership group has done LIGHT YEARS better than the 29 other ownership groups. As annoying as it is that LA is signing everyone, the penny pinching these owners are doing has to stop. Teams in the middle need to stop crying poor.
Why would anyone be embarrassed of their team accumulating talent? The goal here is still to win games, right?
@Scream I won’t be there. Dodger fans care about the Giants, not the Padres.
Whatever league is broken
Yes other teams have the money to spend but deferring all kinds of money and buying every super star and creating a talent gap of this size is good for dodger fans but bad for baseball because who want to watch baseball to just watch the dodgers win. Exactly dodger fans
We are not embarrassed.
@ernest hahaha yeah. I’ve been in a Padres Livestream chat a month after the world series listening to Dodgers fans gloat. Like they have nothing better to do with their time. You might not be one of them, but they’re their.
Embarrassed? Nah. They should feel like any championships are tainted though…
Scream_name: They’re where? They’re THERE.
screamer2244: You might feel championships are tainted for some reason, but that’s your uninformed opinion and nobody will lose any sleep over it.
@blew my apologies for the typo
@scream there*
MarioP: It’s hard to emulate the Dodgers when these top players all want to sign with the. Jumping on the bandwagon, I guess.
myaccount2: So right. All of the owners are billionaires and could afford to do what the Dodgers and even the Mets are doing. Cohen and Dodgers ownership open their massive wallets and take winning seriously. Then there’s Reinsdorf, who thinks he can take his billions with him.
Well said Mario! Besides 24’ WS, all we heard is covid WS not good enough and since 1988 nothing!
F U, definitely not embarrassed.
Unbelievable work by Friedman and staff and other owners should take notes.
@ blue balls we’re all embarrassed for you.
Scream is what you do a lot and you are use to be being embarrassed.
As a Dodger fan I am not embarrassed because I control nothing they do.
I truly love baseball more and taking my son to a game or two is going to be very entertaining.
Yeah, it’s just baseball so no sleep should be lost. Still tainted though.
Ratings were fine in 24 because of the markets. No disrespect meant but what happens if Cleveland, Minnesota or Seattle wins the AL in 25? National ratings will tank.
Padres players acted cocky and like they had already wrapped up the NLDS. The fact that the Dodgers came back and won it gives us every reason to gloat and the Padres actions gave us the incentive to gloat.
You should be embarrassed to be a dodgers fan.
It’s baseball. Take the field and bet against the Dodgers winning the World Series.
I have no issue either way what they’re doing.
Yeah. Why play the season? Give up.
You realize the Padres already had him and let him go along with Soto, Hader and every other player they wanted over the last few seasons. Bogaerts, Machado, Musgrove, Scott the list goes on.
But the Dodgers are the bad guys.
Quit speaking with facts. Their heads may explode.
Facts are facts, Older brother.
Older brother always picks on the younger brother.
Biff picked on Marty.
David vs Goliath
Padres are the underdog.
Can’t wait to watch the position players pitch .
Right. They have May, Miller, Gonsolin, Ohtani and Kershaw returning from injury plus addition of Snell and Sasaki.
Teoscar returning via contract. They signed potentially a stud Japanese second baseman so Betts can play in outfield again. Added Conforto who is at least a stable solid outfield starter.
Then you got Tanner Scott to add to Treinen and company. Oh ya and you still have Ohtani on offense, Freeman, and Muncy.
Just give them the trophy now
Denden: First, Kim is Korean. Second, I can’t wait to hear all the whining when some of these star players are sitting on the bench game after game because there’s no room for them in the lineup. Not exactly the way they were treated with their last teams.
What star player don’t be playing?
At least the Yankees got Goldie
I think MLB should consider the world series being played by a Dodger split squad.
They’d go for it only if Ohtani can pitch to himself.
What the hell makes you think he won’t haha
Why were fans ok when the Red Sox and the Yankees bought all of the top free agents for all those years. But now we have teams like the Mets, Dodgers and Giants doing it and so many people complaining about it. It is great more teams are willing to spend. I just wish it included my Detroit Tigers.
People complained about the Yankees all the time as well. The Dodgers are taking it to another level though.
Nobody outside of NY / BOS was happy when those teams were engaged in an arms race.
Now the extra cherry on top with the Dodgers is that they’re taking advantage of the deferrals loophole. Sure everybody can do it, but do you think a small market team like Minnesota wants to ADD debt to their future? It’s the rich getting richer here and I’m afraid it’s really turning off the casual fan. MLB is so good at self-sabotage.
Seriously? Tons of people weren’t okay with it.
It was never done to the degree LA is buying everyone. Look at the Red Sox 04,07 and 13 rosters. Their stars were as much home grown or traded for as they were free agent signings. George was never to this extent, buying everyone. Throw in the Japan and S. Korea players and there has to be a level playing field.
@nyyfan –
I’d definitely take the field over the Dodgers for winning the WS, and probably take the field over the Dodgers for reaching the WS.
My NYY Brother, c’mon, you know the reason they play the season are because the innumerable variables that exist. But, the Yankees have always done this type of operation (although perhaps not to this degree and v certainly not with the deferrals).
I LOVE the Dodgers doing this. This is how to generate fandom, excitement, and prove to your fans that you’re investing in the team to win. The reason it’s so different now is because MLB used to prohibit ownership groups like this one, but they don’t anymore.
Moreover, it’ll be that much sweeter when they lose! As Realist said, I’ll take the field any day over any team.
i’m with you. dynasties and evil empires are good for any sport and it will be extra sweet if the dodgers don’t win it all. i also love that their approach is embarrassing the yankees. i doubt hal steps up but maybe just maybe the dodgers will activate a latent competitive steinbrenner gene
1 of these 2 things will happen in 2025:
the dodgers win the world series
dave roberts is fired
there is always Dave Roberts as drag for this supersonic airplane of a team.
lol, seriously?
I think this is an overpay to give a closer who only turned things around a couple years ago that kind of money for four years. But obviously there were several teams willing to go three years so the Dodgers did what it took.
Of course it’s an overpay. That’s what you need to do to outbid the 29 other teams. But it would have meant more victories which I kinda thought was the point.
Thankfully the Dodgers can afford to overpay just like Mets did with Soto.
Yeah overpay for those last few wins to secure advantageous playoff position. At some point, just not worth it. Much more responsible to do a cost benefit analysis and stay at 83 wins.
/shrug. The harder they fall.
This is what’s called an A++ offseason folks.
@Mondesi’s Cannon
This is what’s called — blowing current CBA policies (weak as they’ve already proved to be) for creating any real “competitive balance” — completely out of the water.
This league is out of step with what most it’s fans (and importantly, potential new generations of fans) want – some semblance of a level chance for each of it’s teams to be competitive year in and year out, decade in or decade out.
Fans of other major sports get that – however well each team is or isn’t operated – that’s the prime differentiator – as it ought to be.
When will a salary cap exist to stop this? Make a floor and a cap and stop deferred $ or put a cap on the deferred $ at the very least. Ohtani playing cheap and getting paid big after retirement has them at an even bigger advantage.
They’re smart. All the other teams can do this, but they choose not to.
What are you talking about? That’s like saying everyone can afford to buy a Lamborghini, but they just choose not to. Silly.
GOBLUE37;
LOL
BUT………
You get the ‘2025 MLBTR Post Most Reflecting The Mineset of MLBTR Posters’ award.
@GoBlue – You win the dumbest comment award. NO ONE else can do the same thing. How many players have 56M in yearly endorsements? How many of them take 2M to defer the rest? NO ONE.
No. Tecnically teams could do the same but defering money has a significant impact upon the value of a team since debt depreciates value. If the Guardians deferred $1 billion, the team’s market value is more or less reduced by $1b because a buyer woukd be on the hook for the debt, not the seller.
Contracts are funded at the time and the debt isn’t passed on, it’s already set aside. No devaluation t all.
Dodgers have a billion dollars of deferred money. That would cripple every organization besides dodgers and Yankees. Stop with this nonsense argument.
GOBLUE37: It’s hard when everyone wants to play for the Dodgers. Sasaki could’ve gone to the Padres, say, and helped them compete favorably in the NLW. Instead, he goes to a team that doesn’t really need him. He declined a chance to be challenged for a soft ticket.
It’s paid at the time and cripples no one. There is no big check coming at the end of the meal. It’s paid year by year.
How many other teams have a $8.35 billion TV deal?
There’s several billionaire owners and they don’t spend money or defer. They could do exactly what the dodgers are doing.
This is such a disingenuous, dishonest take problematic of all Dodgers fans…they’re under the delusional all teams are equal and the other owners should crack into their personal savings accounts, sell off personal assets to buy every available above average player on the market like LA does…the income that is shared is minuscule compared to what LA is bringing and spending that other teams are incapable of….a simple Google fact check on MLB team equality might work but your talking about the capital of fake people, plastic surgery win no matter what for my instant self gratification addiction.
Dodgers have a HUGE advantage. It’s just that the incessantly misunderstood deferrals aren’t one of them.
Not every team can spend a billion dollars on free agents. I usually support players in these sort of disputes, but now it’s rooting for multiple millionaires against billionaires. Who cares any more? F them all.
Smart but have the advantages that other teams can’t do. Especially the ones going through bankruptcy tv . Let fans cry because league is broken it’s not so much dodgers as the league is broken tv wise . Drop dodgers tv money and see how happy you are.
Every team dumb. LA smart. Checks out.
Go Blue – I hope you haven’t hit adolescence hit. What a naive, childish take. read a book or two.
The rules are different from state to state! That is the issue. Taxes, escrow, deferrals. Not the same as in LA. So no players choose LA because they will benefit in the end.
Umm, he’s going to be facing the same major league hitters, except the Padre lineup instead of the Dodger lineup. How exactly is that a soft ticket?
I wish Dodger fans would stop saying other teams can do this. No they f*kn can’t! The Dodgers have like 6 players on deferred money that’s in the billions and nearly as much as some franchises are WORTH. These teams really can’t as a matter good business principle. Not if they want to stay in business.
You think KC is offering over 20M per to a reliever?
And I really don’t want to hear…well billionaires own these teams. That DOES not mean the baseball business has access to their personal finances.
The lowest valued team in MLB is still worth $1B and has an average annual revenue of $240M. The owners aren’t willing to risk their bottom line.
No matter what the KC Royals, etc, do…they won’t be the Dodgers in revenue potential. Really, the 9bky way to max revenue is a new stadium or to win. Dodgers can sell jerseys and lose. Same as Yankees…Same as Dallas Cowboys. They aren’t playing the same game.
So much wrong with this. The Dodgers sign anyone they want. Their deferred payroll in about 10 years is gonna be legendary when they have to pay more than the A’s and Pirates entire team payrolls on dead money for players that no longer play for them. So much for competitive balance. Who is gonna unseat the Mighty Dodgers? Probably nobody for a while.
@CentralFan –
Under the CBA, the present value of deferred salary needs to be funded (such as in an escrow account) within 2 years of the season for which it’s earned.
The deferred salary cash flows that appear, at first glance, to be occurring 10+ years out are in fact occurring much sooner.
Wow. Good point. Well they have the cash available,but I guess the point is that it will not be in the luxury tax calculation until the year it is paid to the player, right? This is going to eventually come back to bite them I think. Good strategy for them right now while they have a generational talent like Shohei Ohtani, but I guess when you have unlimited money to spend, you don’t worry about spending 200% on every salary over the third tax threshhold.
It’s in the calculation at the time the contract is signed according to the present valuation and paid in every year.
@Central – for the luxury tax, the present value of deferred comp is moved up to the years that a player is playing under that contact.
Ohtani’s CBT salary number, for example, was ~$46 million for 2024 (and will be that same amount per year for the remaining 9 years of his contract).
ThanKs realist. I didn’t know that. Well,I guess there will be very little downstream impact then. They are just flush with cash and willing to spend it and be taxed 100% on every dollar spent over the third tax threshold. Good for them and their fans. What a loaded roster they have.
@kc – The PLAYERS don’t want a cap.
You mean the deferrals that your team, all the other teams, and the players union all voted unanimously in favor of?
Smh.
Good luck to the Dbacks…
Give me a break
Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat Bar
cope
Omg
When is this going to end? When will the MLBPA and MLB put an end to this star players overload that is the Dodgers? I hope they never win another WS but with their roster, they’ll probably win a lot more. It’s within the rules but, just like Manfred, it’s not good for the game.
Super teams are good for sports. Fans either love them or hate them but everyone wants to watch them.
I have no interest in watching the dodgers..zero
Do what exactly? Limit the number of stars you can sign? How would that ever be a possibility? End the deferrals – the ones that the MLBPA and the team owners all agreed on and ratified in the CBA? They don’t seem like they’re in any hurry to do away with that. Salary cap? That woudn’t matter much with the previously mentioned deferrals, which you can guarantee will be back in the next CBA.
The MLBPA is a huge reason why the current situation exists and will continue to be. What sort of fix do you suggest?
I wouldn’t be too sure bro. “NEWSWEEK’s Jon Paul Hoornstra noted The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal suggested on the latest episode of “Foul Territory” that there is a “loophole to be closed in the next round of CBA negotiations around how deferred-money deals are calculated toward the competitive balance tax.” Rosenthal said, “Shohei Ohtani’s contract, for example — $70 million for 10 years — that $70 million should count against the luxury tax, not the present-day value. That would prevent the Dodgers from playing games with this. It’s not that they’re doing anything illegal. It’s perfectly legal. But it would prevent them from skirting the luxury tax calculation in that fashion” (NEWSWEEK, 11/30). In N.Y., Mike Lupica wrote at some point, baseball is “going to have to come up with some new rules” and “stop the Dodgers from gaming the system this way” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 11/30).”
The ultimate layaway team. Play now pay later!
LA can go to hell
VegasSDfan: What a mature post that will change nothing. How old are you, 12?
La is a wasteland now that the area is a charcoal pit
Water is wet.
The Dodgers goal is to be the first $10B team in pro sports. $400M payrolls/year are nothing when franchise values go up a billion a year.
Until MLB has a salary cap like the NFL and NBA player salaries will continue to dramatically impact each teams ability to compete! How do teams at 150M or less compete with teams spending $250M-$350M? At some point it becomes impossible! Arbitration uses the salaries from the large payroll teams to drive up the salaries of the lower payroll teams to to the point where they can no longer afford the players they have!
Realistically half the teams now have no chance of winning a WS and that percentage will only increase over time! Not counting deferred money towards the penalty levels is making it that much easier for large market teams to loophole their way around the penalty levels.
rottenboyfriend: You seriously need to learn to use fewer exclamation marks. Not everything is that exciting.
The only hope to stop the Dodgers is the LA fires.
I just came to the comment section to laugh. This is goshdarn hilarious!
He has two first names.
Or two last names….
Michael Scott’s younger brother. “That’s what she said”
Tanner? I don’t even know her!
Actually Tanner is more of a last name and Scott is a first name so really if anything he has name dyslexia
Actually, in thirty years of teaching, I’ve taught far more kids with the first name Tanner than Scott and can’t remember a single Tanner last name but can think of at least a half dozen Scott last names.
Let the “I hate Dodgers” comment rain again
I don’t hate the dodgers at this point I hate mlbs system where you can refuse to win or pay to win
There needs to be a hard cap and a max deferred money percent.
VegasSDfan: No there doesn’t, and it will never happen.
Vegas
Tell the owners to open their books and agree to a floor based upon a percentage of gross revenue and maybe you will get a cap. But the owners will never agree to that.
The players will never agree to that. “Ok the fans are right the Dodgers broke no rules but spent too smart so let’s limit our earning potential”.
Well, it’s pretty clear SOMETHING will eventually happen because in the long run fans are going to get tired of teams like the Dodgers and Mets not only dominating in terms of spending, but of spending money so far out in the future. As it is, people make fun of the NFL’s “cap” due to the various mechanisms teams can use to push spending off into the future. This is that on steroids.
A hard cap can absolutely happen if a hard floor would be introduced alongside it. Personally, I think it gets done eventually but don’t see it happening within the next half decade. I think MLB will wait until the relocation efforts (As, Rays, etc) are complete before even considering the idea.
They might if said earning potential would be hurt by, say, a decrease in viewership or attendance as a result of the highest spending teams dominating in the playoffs. Even if those teams would not be guaranteed a WS title, people may tire of seeing mostly the same teams in the latter rounds of the postseason.
Also, a hard cap and floor system wouldn’t reduce earning potential THAT much. Something akin to the NBA’s system should be doable.
Players will NEVER agree to a cap.
Owners will NEVER agree to a floor.
Absolutely they will not want to. But when push comes to shove, something has to give. What will MLB do to address this issue short of cap and floor?
They could limit deferrals into the future; that may help some. They could increase the luxury tax penalties, sure. Would it be enough? I’m not super confident.
Players and owners fight over the CBA to see who gets how much of the giant pile of money that MLB generates.
Competitiveness is a fan perspectives that is given very little thought of, certainly not enough to do anything that would possibly jeopardize the pile of money.
They all want to win, they’re just gonna set fire to the business to accomplish it.
It’s weird how so many people care about another person’s earning potential strictly because billionaires refuse to spend money. “The owners, who refuse to spend money, should make more money so the smart teams are hurt and the players make less.” It boggles my mind that when you hear things like Tom Ricketts talking about “breaking even,” you aren’t angry with them. Do you think the Cubs are hurting for money? They’re the Cubs; They get a cut of seats at an apartment building that they don’t even own.
Cubs are 3rd in revenue
There absolutely does need to be a hard cap and we will see…I wouldn’t plan any baseball trips in 2027.
And there will be a lockout in 2027 to decide the matter
Won’t happen. 0% chance
DroppedThirdStrike —
And that is ruining MLB.
No MLB cannot do any of that. Those are collectively bargained between the owners and players union. MLB has zero power over it. Neither side will.
And your owner won’t give up 300 million in tv money a year
The Mets are a great example of spending not always equalling winning. I mean, has anyone ever heard anyone say “I’m so sick of the Mets winning”? – No.
Players will get tired of having to sit in free agency until spring because teams can’t keep up with the cost of players with no revenue from tv for half the league.
@Bobcastelliniscat, nah, there won’t be. The owners don’t want a floor, and the players will never agree to a cap. Why would either change when they’re making so much money? It’s just bizarre how mad you are about someone else’s money.
Van it’s bizarre you don’t understand economics.
I do, and there were more fans last season since 2017. The Dodgers had the highest road attendance and home attendance. Fans like a team to hate.
Shea-No they won’t. MLB has more parity than any other sport.
The Cubs are ridiculously mismanaged…and have been atleast since WGN made them a national team. This could be them in some sense…especially after 2016. They get to the luxury tax…but don’t spend the money right or develop the talent to even make the playoffs.
Dodgers could be as content to sell tickets to tourists as the Cubs are at Wrigley.
Oh pffff you think those families around Cincinnati etc who show up to see Ohtani play are hating the Dodgers? They’re Dodger fans because they can’t watch Reds games due to the blackout restrictions.
Weird more parity….most others have a salary cap.
But what about the curtains? Will they match the drapes?
It’s the stupid billionaire mindset, why build, develop players, when you can buy! Use them up, 100+ innings a year, get ‘em TJ and ship ‘em out!
San Diego
Dodgers do both. They develop guys, Kershaw, Will Smith, Seager, Gonsolin, May, fix other team castoffs like Muncy and Taylor, and spend a ton
Bwahahaha. Gonsolin and May didn’t contribute at all in ‘24 and Gonsolin was awful in ‘23. Outside of Will Smith, the entire current projected rotation, bullpen and everyday lineup are players they acquired and/or paid for, not developed. Myopic take.
Dodgers developed Vargas and traded him and other guys on their farm for Edman? Why do you not count that? Dodgers let Seager go and signed Freeman with the money. Dodgers let Lux go and signed Hye-Seong. Muncy was a cast-off. Your point is partly accurate, but not the whole picture.
Dodgers have 6 players in newest 100 top prospects rankings. Dodgers farm system is a machine n has been for awhile.
MLB Top 100 Commenter —
BS. Except for Will Smith drafted in 1995, Kershaw in 2006, Seager drafted in 2012. Gonsolin and May 2016 (and May hasn’t shown he can go more than 56 innings in a season), Dodger drafts have produced mostly crapola.
Since then—supported by over-hyped prospects like Lux, Ruiz, Outman, Vargas, Verdugo and others—the Dodgers have received top talent in trades and BOUGHT them long-term, many with hugely deferred dollars.
Even the guys they “fixed,” which I agree was impressive [Muncy, Taylor & Turner] are in the past.
The core guys are all bought.
Niekro floater —
Only if other teams believe the hype. The reality is something quite different.
Sounds good to me. What exactly is wrong with that? Yankees started it when they purchased Babe Ruth’s contract for chicken feed.
That’s how the Yankees won 25 world championships,
But there wasn’t much competition for entrainment dollars in 1919. Fans are not going to put up with a rigged system today. We are heading into a long lock out in 2027 and maybe beyond.
Last year’s roster had 7 homegrown, 9 acquired via trade (of mostly homegrown talent), 8 free agent signings and 2 acquired from waivers. They also just got the best international signing. The Dodgers are doing it all.
The Yankees trade almost all their homegrown talent away and buy everyone and they got second place which wasn’t close.
Billionaires ( or their ancestors) didn’t become such, being stupid..
there’s no saving the sinking ship it’s broken full of holes. Jump everybody jump we’re going down . It’s time for a strike the league is broken .
Who’s gonna strike? The players making more than ever? Laughable.
There will be a lockout in 2027. It won’t be “laughable” then
Bob – Owners are fine with status quo.
Never heard of a thing called Revenue Sharing, have you?
Men do it SuperDisapointing. They don’t marry early and “build and develop” relationships.
They wait and buy ready made product all doctored up and looking pretty and enhanced as a trophy wife.
Then they “use them up and ship them out.”
It’s life. Why can’t baseball do it?
How bout, I hate MLB instead ? They just let the game become ruined for the unforeseeable future. Even if I was a dodger fan – I’d be sayin this !
There’s 5/6 teams that can afford top talent and one of those teams are using deferred salary to overstock their team beyond measure. They have assembled the most talented team arguably in baseball history by manipulating rules and using their elite buying power and demographics. An advantage teams do not have in other sports
Writing has always been on the wall this was to come and the people who run the sport paved the way for this to happen. Completely ruining the sport smh.
MLB viewership will explode in japen yet decline in the states. Cutting off your nose to spite your face. Absolutely terrible !
I have loved mlb offseason for years now and love coming to this site and engaging. But this was my first time on since Friday and my interest is plummeting. Screw you MLB !
Big whiffa the exact same things were said about the Yankees for years. The game wasn’t ruined then and it’s not ruined now.
Are you saying each teams has the same odds to win a World Series?All it takes is to hot at the right time.
TB – John Henry said just that, all 30 teams are contenders.
One reason why he’s encouraged not to talk publicly anymore, he pisses people off when he does.
Joe-The sport has been ruined since 1991 when big money has taken over.
There is an oligarchy in baseball,pure and simple.
One small market World Series winner since then proves it.
I say put the 8 small market teams in one division of four teams each,do the same with the biggest market teams that spend ridiculous amounts of money,and the rest into three divisions.
Let the Yankees and Mets and Dodgers spend to their hearts content.
Joe, if you are talking about at turn of century- I loved hating the Yankees then ! It took a great mix of home grown talent and free agents to construct that roster and left a lot to hate for Yankee haters <3
I’ve never hated the dodgers. They have never been good enough to hate and I enjoyed watching their rise to compete with top market teams. They don’t even need their top talent however as they never even considered keeping buehler. And they buy all their talent in a way that’s not available to other teams.
And if you reference is to the historic Yankees – perfect comparison ! And that was a terrible product mlb produced then too !!
Mendoza
Dbacks were in 2023 World Series
Royals and Guardians are competitive
The owners that don’t spend should be replaced
Any team in the post season has a chance to win. Baseball history has taught us that.
Baseball is broken ! The 162 games matter and it’s not a level playing field . Can’t wait for the strike until then baseball will be popular in LA and Japan just like Manfraud wanted it . While sinking in usa
Big whiffa, something I heard long ago has stuck with me. It’s as much as they say otherwise people don’t want parity in sports. They want dominance. Whether you root for the dominant team or hate the dominant team.
Joe – That’s 100% true!
It’s why the Yankees and Dodgers create huge revenue on the road, everyone wants to see them.
The Yankees were indeed the evil empire when George was still the owner and it was angering when they signed Clemens and a-rod and sabathia and teixera y’all get the point
However… the Yankees never bought entire chunks of each off-season class, and the dodgers have just added so much after winning the big one
MLB is the only American sports league right now where when you win a championship you can increase your payroll even more
I’m glad the NHL (after the lightning) and the NBA (after the warriors) fixed this problem
All it took was for mlb to ignore rampant steroid use and a congressional investigation to save the league lol.
Well said Joe
@joe – compare the 1927 St. Louis Browns or the Washington Senators, with the 1927 Yankees. Perhaps, although I doubt it, Big Whiffa will understand that comparison example.
Well to be fair, it took Boston’s epic comeback from 0-3 in 2004 and the end of the curse and the Cubs winning for anyone NOT a Yankee fan to care.
Most people and fans of sports dont care anymore.
NBA and NFL are far better products. Small towns have a chance to win, not so much in MLB. Hell right now Cleveland and OKC have a chance to win it all and the Bills have a shot in the NFL. Not so much in MLB.
Also MLB is dead man walking. Most of its fanbase are older white men…they will die.
Young people do not care about the Dodgers or MLB, they care about stars which MLB has none compared to Mahomes and Allen or Lebron, Kyrie or Wemby etc, etc, etc.
So I agree sort of, Dodgers or NYY winning all the time and getting all the FAs, means nothing bc MLB will have a tough time getting people to watch when all the old Boomers die off.
So, your assessment is the “small markets” not winning will create a bigger viewership problem than the Chiefs winning every year because there is less parity in NFL and NBA? I strongly disagree. By definition, smaller markets have less viewership and you’re using the same argument to support two sports with a bigger parity problem that you are to argue baseball is dying. It’s inconsistent and a straw man.
Do you realize the exponential growth MLB experienced during the Atlanta / Yankees dominance? It wasn’t because most fans didn’t care; it was the exact opposite
But baseball has small markets that have a good chance of winning. The problem is that 1/3 of them refuse to participate.
I have zero interest in seeing the dodgers. I didn’t watch a single inning of the 2024 World Series. LA and NY need the other 28 teams and their fans whether they believe it or not.
CF as an older white man who has been a baseball fan my entire life the league is losing me now. They don’t have to wait until I die
MLB- That is such a ridiculous comment that it really does not merit a detailed rebuttal.
Anybody with a brain can add up all 8 small market teams total 2023 salary and compare it to that of the 8 large market teams.
It is probably close to three times the amount.The Brewers are hurting because they overpaid Hoskins.
The large market teams can afford 3 or 4 superstars and several twice as many pitchers as anyone else.
The Dodgers have cornered the market on signing the best players.
That is what wins a team the World Series.
Fever-Everyone wants to see them because they can afford the very best players.
YC-Your last paragraph is true.
All teams can compete to be good.
Those with total salaries of around $100m are not going to win any WS.
And any arguments about football are fallacies.The quarterback position is such an overly important one that the great quarterbacks tend to win the Super Bowls.
Regarding basketball,the starting five win championships.Teams can tank and get the best players for a few years.There are many less players on the team.
Small market teams have a chance in those two sports with salary caps,and hockey is in the same category.
Mendoza- Twins, Marlins 2X, Royals, have all won a series 91-present. Royals appeared two years in a row. Twins and A’s had extended high level runs. These Dodgers teams are BUILT on the old Rays front office.
It’s a myth that small markets can’t compete.
Youre such a clueless Yankees fan. You consistently defend balance in the MLB because the NFL has dynasties, it just shows how you don’t understand or know what competitive balance is.
Brttlez: I responded to someone claiming the parity in NFL is greater than MLB, which isn’t true. It shows you don’t understand the basis of the argument.
But, if I’m clueless, enlighten me as to what “competitive balance” is….
You see, your problem is you can’t see the flaw in your own argument about competition, which is why you can’t understand how MLB has greater parity than any other sport. You believe that restricting money means balanced competition, but that’s a very narrow view of the term and an ignorant view of the financial structure in MLB
But I’m going to guess you’re a fan of a sucky MLB team so that’s why you’re crying.
For me another big point is the fiasco in Oakland, think what you want about moving but playing 3 years in Sac should’ve been shot down as soon as it was proposed.
I really believe Manfred’s rule changes saved baseball, bringing the average fan down more than 10 years, but things like what you mention and the A’s make me wish that all my favorite players and brands moved to a new league.
Go, Sacramento, it will be exciting to watch A’s
I’m excited that in 2026 (I don’t think they play @Athletics in 2025) I should be able to drive two hours to see the Dodgers play the A’s.
Dodgers at Athletics in May. I think they designed the schedule so that every team plays every team now.
Oops, MLB puts it weird, at is not at,
The A’s should be playing in Oakland but the city of Oakland royally botched that.
Good bye MLB fan. See you never LOL
I guess all the big tech companies like fbook, amazon, etc and big box stores like walmart, home depot etc shouldn’t be allowed to do what they’re doing either?
@ghost some people believe that giant corporations like that are slowly demolishing the economy, but yeah putting all of the mom and pops out of business is one way to proceed.
Ghost: Well, yes. They shouldn’t.
Monopolies are bad for everyone except a handful of people.
As a Dodger fan, of course I enjoy seeing them win. But I’m also self-aware enough to know that those wins will be much less meaningful and fun if MLB becomes like the Premier League.
Game is only ruined for teams with cheap billionaire owners who only care about bottom line. Dodger fans suffered under McCourts super cheap ways.
Big whiffa: You need to change your handle to Big whina, lol.
I don’t think anyone hates the Dodgers like they did the Yankees in the day. The evil empire Yanks had personality. They had players (and managers) you loved to hate. The Dodgers are a corporate machine with faceless squeaky clean players and managers (hell they’re even owned by a corporation). They’re an optimized machine. They’re boring.
You’re wrong or you haven’t been to San Diego. The Dodgers hate burns strong. Much more than the Yankees evil empire.
Ha ha that’s hilarious. Are you a comic?
If not you should be.
Not really.
Seamaholic 2 – excellent take! Yankees had generations of haters. And I think one of the keys to the Dodgers “blandness” is just how well they’ve done in developing their own players. It really isn’t just a team of free agents. Well, add that Dodger ownership has the corporate feel and not The Boss.
When Steinbrenner began his assault on free agency. It was the first time $ started leading headlines. And the first time many common fans began feeling a true separation from themselves and the players on the field. Baseball players have ALWAYS seemed the most relatable. The one sport that visually always resembled the fan. Football and basketball were gladiators and giants.
There was something deep seated in the hatred of the Yankees.
seamaholic: If you think nobody hates the Dodgers, you haven’t spent much time in Brooklyn in the last 67 years.
Hate the union. They allow deferred money and a mockery of the luxury tax. The Dodgers just have the money to exploit the system. The union also has the ability to strike, so they have more power than they owners.
So do fans have right to strike .
oldguy: White Sox fans did just that, leaving almost all of the seats empty despite reinsdorf’s pitiful attempt to bring us back by lowering tickets to $15. He said towards the end of the season that he was upset with the way things were going and he would have more to say after the season. He didn’t. All he did was lower the budget even more. 134 losses, here we come!
Avenger65. What’s he going to do to get players to come to that mistake on 35th?
Guy needs to sell the team
MLBPA is the most powerful union in America (relative to its industry).
If they didn’t allow it there would be no ball players. Maybe just let the owners play the game.
I don’t hate the Dodgers but I sure am getting sick of them.
I don’t hate any team, player, coach, fan. But the growing imbalance of competition among teams in larger markets vs those in smaller markets is driving fans in smaller markets away from the game, especially younger fans.
Brew88. In my opinion NOTHING is driving away young people in small markets more than blackouts. My son is a Dodgers fan, simply becsuse the Royals are the only MLB team he can never see. We’re four hours from KC.
You should be sick of your team’s owners.
Yea because he died it’s a shame .
Say your the rockies whos owners net worth is roughly half of the dogers 2025 payroll which it is. What am i going to be mad at? He isnt rich enough? His market isnt big enough for a better tv deal? Like gimmi a break. The dodgers dont have one owner they have a 335 billion dollar goup who owns them. I bet you think if people work really hard they will become wealthy one day too. Just because you dont break rules doesnt mean your not slimey.
Oh, I’m as “do better” as anyone but let’s not even act like LA isn’t gaming the system.
I hate mlb and the dodgers too
I find your lack of faith disturbing
deferred something
Bauer had deferred ethics
If you are hated by other team’s fans you are doing something right.
Barry Bonds enters the room.
The only hope to stop the Dodgers is the LA fires.
BROOOO
Good God
“Why, ya crazy doggone idjit! Whatcha trying to do, blow us to smithereens?” Ahahahahaha!
Of course it’s the Dodgers.
I think this gives Cohen a little cover, LOL
MLB Top 100: Interesting, isn’t it, that people didn’t really pile on when Cohen spent like crazy two seasons ago or this off-season when he signed Soto. The Mets aren’t considered The Evil Empire like the Dodgers are.
Avenger: That’s an interesting point. I wonder if it’s because, even tho the Mets are of course in NYC, they have historically been the “second” team in NYC?
@Avenger – Cohen overspent on average players and two 40 year olds. Those that didn’t complain laughed at the salaries he paid.
Now he spent on one great player and filled up the rest of the spots/pitching with un exciting options
But Dodgers are getting the best players, so that’s going to generate a lot more complaining.
MWeller77: The Mets weren’t the second team in the late 60s/early 70s or during the 1980s.
Strongest Avenger
Had the Mets won the WS and spent $765 million for Soto, they would have reacted the way they are about the Dodgers
Everyone knows how much money it takes to overrun the Mets curse. We feel bad for Cohen, tbh.
@Fernado so what did you want Cohen to do spend on bigger name players so you guys can complain more how big teams are buying the Championship? Also hindsight is 20/20 Verlander was coming off one of his best seasons in MLB and Max had sub 2.50 era / 6 bWAR season that saw him pitch a sub 2 era down the stretch for the Dodgers. It was short deals and compared to what DeGrom just got 5 years and 185MM it was right in line with those big name guys at the time.
Players want to play for a winner. Yanks did it and won a bunch of world series.
Baseball is more rigged for the Dodgers than the NBA is for LeBron and the Lakers. I guess it’s an LA thing. Well, let’s get Mahomes to the Rams, along with Tyreek Hill, all the best offensive linemen, and defensive players in football in LA. Baseball has gotten absurd, with this entire Dodger thing. I’ve never, EVER, supported a cap in any sports, but I think now might be the time. If there was no cap in the NBA, the Lakers would win 70 games a season, go 15 deep on the roster, and win every NBA Title.
Blame Ohtani and his 2M deals
Yes exactly this. No way half these deals happened if Ohtanis salary is applied every season as well. Smart operation by the Dodgers and I can’t hate on them for that…They sure have built a ‘Super-Team’ after being quiet for a couple of seasons after 2020 WS win. I’ll happily admit I’m jealous and wish the Braves could do the same.
Absolutely dead wrong. The Dodgers pay out every dime of that $70m per year for Ohtani. That’s by CBA rule and CA law. They just pay it into escrow instead of Shohei’s bank account. This allows them to count present value in lux tax calculations (about $46m per year iirc) and allows Shohei to avoid income taxes should he decide to live in a low tax place after his career. They are NOT paying only $2m a year.
Ok Good point…at the end of the day money was ‘Deffered’ to avoid penalties by both parties involved. I’m a big believer in 2 things can be true at once but let’s no kid ourselves saying it wasn’t done to circumvent the system. Again I’m not hating, i wish my team would do this, we just don’t have the money to do so like the Dodgers. Trust me no one likes giving at least money as possible to the gov’t more than me but don’t get defensive when others point it out.
They do pay $2M at regular salary though which is pretty funny. Like what’s Shohei Ohtani going to do with $2m a year anyway? lmao
@Braves His salary is applied every year at current value($44M). This money counts against luxury tax and also is required to fund so that it can accrue to be paid later.
Yes it’s kind of absurd how the Dodgers keep spending. But deferred $ is not nefarious as it is being portrayed. Ultimately if the issue is a big as some want to believe, the issue is not deferred $ it’s the haves and have nots.
Yes, but LAD can spend and take the luxury tax hit and keep spending. I’m not a proponent of a salary cap, but the deferrals allow them to continue spending in the present-day.
The Braves probably can not because certain states do not allow players to defer money. The playing field is not level and MLB needs to fix it
@flagga Please provide which states(if any) do not allow deferred compensation. Deferred compensation has tax laws atvthe federal level and also has state taxes which vary by state, but to the best of my knowledge is allowed in every state. I’m not even sure if states can legal ban it. Now some states do not provide same tax advantages, bit it is like that with all income.
Certain states don’t have an income tax, which seems like an unlevel playing field to me.
California has the highest state income tax rate of any state, by far. So what’s your point?
Certain states also don’t charge income tax. The system was never fair to begin with,
Edit JJJ beat me to it.
2020*
Brave ownership too cheap. Freddie should have never been allowed to walk. But I give them my sincere thanks.
Didn’t they replace him with a similar contract for Olson, though?
I agree that they shouldn’t have let Freddie go, and I also am thankful that they did. But I think it was more a bad baseball decision rather than an economic decision not to spend.
@ OldtimeDodger — Ah yes. They don’t give blank checks to anyone. But ATL had a better offer than what he went with in LAD (57M deferred; CA taxes), but I digress. Right time, right place for LAD in that one. Enjoy him, happy with the back-up plan.
Well, we know to a certainty there at least 14 blithering idiots in this thread.
Gotta blame someone, right runDMC?
It’s my coping mechanism.
the infinity gauntlet has all of its stones
They started a second gauntlet
They on feetlets
And yet, he was still defeated in the end.
Dodger haters unite.
Psych – As a psych guy you know every person here wishes their team would do what the Dodgers are doing … right?
Doesn’t make it good for baseball
Ryan – I agree it’s not good for fans of other teams.
But for MLB it is. Super teams generate big revenue.
Look at the WS ratings last year compared to 2023.
Still far less than what it used to be. Even less than the Astros cheat season 2017. You’d think the billing of the historic Yankees-Dodgers would mean a lot more. It didn’t.
Yep. The oyer owners are going to it when the Dodgers come to their towns. $$$$
@Fever Pitch Guy. Super teams that generate revenue, such as the small market Kansas City Chiefs, can also exist in balanced competitive models as we see in the NFL and NBA. Where teams aren’t able to just buy winning, they have to draft, develop, coach and play well to win.
Ryan – The two biggest revenue generating teams, both hated for their spending, going at it. Couldn’t have a more attractive matchup.
Villains attract eyes, in sports and movies. Even Star Wars would have been nothing without Darth, fact of life.
Brew – NFL and NBA are different in that a great QB (Brady) or scorer (Jordan) can carry lesser teammates.
Not the same with MLB, as we’ve seen with the Angels and Yankees and so many other teams.
In MLB you can’t have your best hitter bat 12 times a game, or your best pitcher pitch 7 innings 5 times a week.
@Fever Pitch Guy. Yes that’s true and I have commented on that distinction elsewhere in these posts. I was just pointing out that we can have super teams that make the leagues a lot of money in coexistence with competitive balance models. The gross imbalance in the MLB isn’t necessary to generate revenue. The big markets don’t need to win for the league to succeed.
15 million avg. Is not impressive at all considering it involved the two largest markets in the country. I’d say it’s quite disappointing.
Different point. If you don’t like the system change it. Make your voice heard. It’s like blaming billionaires for taking advantage of legal tax loop holes. You gonna blame them or the system?
Fever, I know the argument. I’m telling you it wasn’t nearly as big as the theory of your argument projected. It still lagged far behind the the 90s/2000s (including the years the evil empire Yankees were not there)
Exactly.
No. We all realize our teams cannot do that. Our teams have neither the cash nor the Japanese media presence in their cities to do what the Dodgers are doing. You’re living in a self-validating fantasy.
Seam – Where did I say any team COULD do what the Dodgers did?
Hafta give them credit for creating a popular destination for players.
Much like my team did 22 years ago.
The old addage develop your own players use the international market, improve your scouting, and fill in the gaps with free agents stiill applies even if your ownership does not have the same financial resources as LA. Stop trading off your assets for a rental and show a little patience for guys to develop. Get smart people to run your team.
No not everyone wishes their teams were trying to buy championships
Psych – So then why do you hate the Dodgers if you think every team has the ability to be better than them???
California has high cost of living and high state taxes, and no one cared about Japanese media presence until this last year.
I guarantee you that if Pittsburg or the Reds would win their division 10 times in a row and make WS a couple of times by sheer law of averages, players would be signing deferred contracts with them also.
I don’t hate the Dodgers. As I state in prior posts, they are playing by the rules.
@Wire Which team is composed of amateurs? Last I checked every team pays for every player on their rosters, hence why they re called “professional sports”.
Dodgers sure love to sign everyone. Is this their 20th Man they are given a deferral to?
Fans need to boycott the foolishness of MLB. The NFL is the dominant sports league in the US because there is a certain amount of parity. Sports fans should stay away and not spend their hard earned money on MLB until they level the playing field. The greed of the owners AND the players is destroying their own sport
Earm – My NFL team proved there’s no parity 2001-2004 and 2014-2018.
Jets fan are you?
You mean how Chiefs Mahomes has been in the Super Bowl 4 of the last 5 years, or how over the last 22 seasons Brady and Mahomes account for almost half the SB victories between them?
I don’t disagree the MLB needs to revamp how they do things. But the NFL isn’t the business mode to follow for parity. NHL and NBA maybe
The NHL has a hard salary cap because the league locked the players out for a year, costing a whole season, and also made a credible threat to disband the league entirely.
I don’t think MLB can reasonably do that, nor are fans (especially the whiniest among us) willing to accept it. MLB considered using replacement players in the 1995 strike but it went poorly and I doubt they would try it again.
I am a Reds fan and I will be happy to endure a lengthy lockout if it results in competitive balance. I’m sure others feel the same. Actually, dodgers fans should be on board also.
Fans don’t have a seat at the table. There will not be a lockout
There will be …fans pay ALL the bills. MLB ignores them at their own peril.
LA will adjus if there is a cap installed. Idiots focus solely on their vast financial resources. Consider player development, smart ownership/ management, and reluctance to make impulsive trades with a preference to hang on to their top prospects. Other organizations had a shot at Max Muncy, Phillips, et al, but LA made them into good players. Jeez.
What you say is true but the best and the brightest minds are attracted to the teams with the most money to win championships.
The money paid to the numerous superstars is something that almost all teams can just dream about.
Friedman started off with the Tampa Bay that is not consistent with your statement. It starts with ownership.
@ear How many times have Chiefs been to SuperBowl in recent years? How about Patriots this century? Now how many teams have been to World Series an equal amount of times as either of those teams over those spans??
I agree it seems a bit overkill with the Dodgers signing players right now. But as far as parity goes and comparisons to the NFL, you are way off.
Over half the league (16 teams of 30) has won a World Series since 2001.
People complain about the chiefs and patriots, but not for buying their championships. People get sick of seeing the same teams win, but people are not complaining the Kansas City Chiefs purchased the Superbowls. That is the difference.
The difference is the Kansas City Chiefs won their championships through scouting, the draft and player development. They didn’t wrote a check for it.
Bob- The difference is that the Patriots and the Chiefs have had arguably the two greatest quarterbacks of all time.
@Bob The point is the Chies and Patriots have been there far more often then any team gas been in World Series. The discussion was about parity and the person saying the NFL had more parity was unequivocally wrong.
What you clearly do not understand is that the Chiefs and the Patriots clearly had the two of the top ten best head coaches and best five quarterbacks in NFL history.
They did not win because they spent three times as much money on players and probably staff.
It absolutely has everything to do with the salary cap.
It is easier to dominate in football when a team has those things going for them.
Do you think that that type of dominance will ever have more than an extremely small chance to occur with the Kansas City Royals?
Parity in the NFL, you must be Swift-boating us
@earn Parity in the NFL? How many times have Chiefs been to SuperBowl in recent years? How about Patriots this century??How many teams have went to World Series as much in those time frames??
Difference is there is revenue parity. The team coaches and drafts better or what not then that team is just a better org.
Spending a bunch more money than the avg team isn’t playing on an even starting playing field.
The Chiefs did not buy a championship. They did it through scouting, drafting and player development. That is the difference.
@Bob The discussion was not on how the Chiefs have done it, but about parity in general.
LOL
Lemme guess, 30 million signing bonus and 40 million defered?
Oh wait, that would mean he gets under the league minimum per year.
So 28 million signing bonus, 40 million defered, and 1 mil a year in salary.
@Doran What would either of those matter? The signing bonus is spread over life of contract as far as CBA impact. Deferred $ and how it’s funded is outlined in CBA. It has to be funded annually and that amount is counted against the luxury tax. It’s no real advantage against the CBA or ability to sign players. It’s just ways for rich to either hedge investments(deferred payments) or get a lump sum to accrue and work for them sooner(signing bonuses).
Both have pros and cons as far as investments go. But neither are nefarious and neither skirt luxury tax rules. Both are outlined in the CBA as far as how they re funded and how they are accounted for against the luxury tax.
I wasn’t off by much.
$20 million signing bonus, $21 million defered.
So this counts as a 4 year 31 million contract….
This is NOT funny for MLB.
Seriously what are the Mets doing???? They don’t have an ace and they refused to sign Scott. They are basically doing what I feared the Yankees would do and sign Soto and not do much of anything else.
I think they’re being purposeful with each signing. Money goes to bats, pitching gets projects, bargains, or come through the system. This year Soto, next year Vladdy or Tucker.
Mets have Diaz, Scott wanted to close why would he sign with the Mets to set up Diaz or share the role ?
RD, he’s not necessarily closing in LA. Dodgers are committed to high leverage dictating use of bullpen pieces.
They signed AJ Minter to a team friendly deal for a guy that was an excellent reliever. Save that money for Vladdy and/or Tucker next year. They’re following the Dodgers script
Charlie Finley said the same thing when Catfish signed with the Yankees.
Okay so my kitchen was more than just retro.
The Dodgers are really abusing the ‘no salary cap’ rule. Its getting out of hand
Why? There is no cap and every other team could do the same. The fact that other owners are too greedy should not stop Dodgers from putting together best team. What is out of hand is all the whining by baseball fans. So pathetic.
The whining comments are just as terrible as “other owners are too greedy” comments. Sure, they all have a lot of money, but there is a difference between the pockets of one owner and the other. Would be nice if commenters like you also acknowledge that.
Dbacks just got Burnes for over $200 million but less than what the Bluejays offered, bet that seems unfair to Toronto fans
Surely other teams could give deferred contracts as well
Yes they could. And don’t call me Shirley.
Owner wealth is literally irrelevant. You or I could own the Dodgers or the Brewers and their respective budgets for player payroll would be identical to what they are now. Teams spend strictly out of team revenue, not their owners’ pockets.
@MLB Top 100 Commenter
I am not complaining about the Dodgers and what their FO does. I don’t know what the Blue Jays offered, nor did you, but it surely played a role that the Diamondbacks play where Burnes lives, there is no denying that. Just like California is what Japanese players apparently like. Sobeit.
@seamaholic 2
We both know that is not true. Cohen is the best example of it.
Dbacks
Agree. Which is why I saw nothing wrong with Roki wanting to go to Dodgers or Burnes wanting to go to Snakes
These folks are called Whiners because their sole motivation for wanting any change is because the Dodgers have gotten too good. They are completely disingenuous They don’t care about what is good for the game, they just care that LA doesn’t use their advantage. But players have signed for less to join other team, players decided they want to play in a certain coast or like the training staff in a certain city etc… and that is all okay as long as those players don’t sign with LA right?
Try being a fan of a team with no tv money it sucks to watch payroll go backwards f MLB
It’s free agency, not an auction.
The other owners don’t have as large a tv revenue stream. Some lost it completely. The lack of pooled revenue on local tv rights is what creates this incredible disparity. Don’t fault the other teams that legitimately dont have it to give – bc the system is broken. They need to gang up.
Other owners are content to sit back and bring in money from other teams’ luxury tax payments.
That’s a lazy cop out answer that ignores his point and you know it
The Dodgers got a sweetheart TV deal pays em like 300 mil. per. So no, not every team can spend until they are close to 1/2 bil with taxes. It is bad for baseball.
And they also have a wealthy, huge market that allows them to charge more per ticket than anyone else, while also selling more than anyone else. They have easily $700m in revenue. A team like the Pirates probably max out under $300m, and that’s probably generous.
It is generally thought that non-player payroll costs to run a team hover in the $130-140m range, maybe a bit higher. Dodgers could run a $400m payroll and still pull a profit comparable only to maybe the Yankees.
Are your numbers before or after revenue sharing payments?
Other teams don’t have television revenue alone of 330 million each year.
Can’t wait to see how much of his deal gets deferred lmao
@windy I can’t wait til fans are financial competent. The fact that people still think deferrals are some nefarious mechanism that teams use to skirt rules is equally laughable and embarrassing. MLB has rules that stipulate both how deferred monies in contracts are funded and how they are valued against the CBA.
Why not
This is hilarious.
This is what a real “Evil Empire” looks like. Is there even any point to playing the regular season now? LA has the look of a 115-win team, while the Yanks scrape the bottom of the barrel for middle infielders.
A 115 win year looks like a poor outcome for the team being assembled.
Depends on which players they rest if they have a comfortable division lead. I would not be surprised if they only win 110
Glad I picked every free agent going to the Dodgers
Ok …over under now 130 wins…
Under
Under.
Over under on an LAD pitcher pitching more than 140 innings?
Brew
Under, but too close to put money on it
Under. I’d bet that the Dodgers FO plans to not pitch anyone more than 140. Maybe Yamamoto but only to preserve his rhythm. Absolutely no one goes over 160
Under 140.
way under
Thank god. The Dodgers finally got a top player. Now they haven’t least a shot at winning.
Why not? They’ve got the money for it seeing that they’re paying Ohtani and Roki pretty much nothing.
I know this is hard but the money goes into escrow EVERY YEAR, EVERY SINGLE YEAR.
@Agent They are paying $46M annually for Ohtani. $2M in salary and $44M to fund deferrals. It is outlined in CBA how deferred contracts are funded as well as when they are funded.
defer defer defer
1994 will be a blip in history compared to the CBA negotiations after 2026.
But do keep telling fans how this is “good for baseball”, Mr Manfred.
How is good that over half of the MLB teams are doing nothing but yet owned by some of the richest people on the planet?
Don’t hate the Dodgers, hate the 20 or so other teams that have punted this off-se ason so far!
I think it’s OK to do both…
yes, if it makes you feel better, go right ahead….
Who gets around 120 to 150mil for rev shares.
Tell me you know nothing about team revenue without telling me you know nothing about team revenue.
Big markets don’t want the small markets spending money. They want the top free agents left for them.
How much is deferred I wonder
js- enough to most probably bring the luxury cap hit down to around $15m AAV. we’ll see soon enough.
@norcal Deferrals have to be funded at with the principal needed to accrue to value at date deferred money is collected on an annual basis. That present day value required to fund the deferral is what the value against CBA is. Deferrals are nothing new and MLB has rules regarding them.
Despite your sports loyalty allegiance, the Dodgers aren’t ruining baseball.
They’re just better at it than everyone else.
The Dodgers, over the last decade, have built an organization that players WANT to join.
Roki Sasaki signing with the Dodgers is just a testament to what they’ve built. Their players development ranking (many have stated between 1-5 in the league) is just a testament to what they’ve built. There are players signing for less money to sign with the Dodgers.
This is just a testament to what they’ve built.
Wipe it up when you’re done
That is delusional
This is absolutely true. The Dodgers were ahead of the game with their innovations and investment into player development, all the way up from the minor leagues. Training, nutrition, education, etc…Other teams have now caught up after deciding to copy that model, but they are most definitely a team that players want to play for.
Lmao
Sparky- They are right.My contacts tell me that one team offered Scott twice as much money as the Dodgers signed him for.
He said that he signed just because everyone wants to play for the Dodgers.
Your source is incorrect. Nobody offered him $144MM.
That was sarcasm Dropped.
I think very few people would agree. Players taking less money to stack a team is bad for any sport. That’s why the NBA has basically been unwatchable for 15 years
@Ghost I could care less about the NBS stacking teams. My issue with the NBA I’d lack of defense and jacking up 3s opposed to any action in the post. The NBA is unwatchable for most because the on court product(basketball) has changed that drastically.
Yankees fans said the same bs during the 90s but it was all about the money.
Uh, not really. 2/3 of the Yankees starting 9 were home grown in the 90’s. That’s directly contrary to what everyone says about them winning their five championships.
Imagine the outrage when they signed…Scott Brosius
Posada and Jeter were homegrown but not sure about the other 7 hitters. Probably free agents.
Bernie Williams was homegrown Ricky Ledee or Shane Spencer homegrown O’Neill trade Brosius trade Pettitte homegrown Rivera homegrown
I mostly agree, but at what point is it bad for baseball? I’d say we are past that point already.
That’s why sports have salary caps because smaller market teams have to have a fighting chance it’s got nothing to do with just the culture 99% of it is show me the money…
Yes. Being in the largest media market in the country is not why they’re successful, it’s just because they are better. lol.
Dude are you drunk or something? The only players signing for less might be players 20-26 on the roster, Scott @$18m isn’t less, Ohtani give me a break, Freeman nope, Betts nope, Snell hell no, Yamamoto nope….the Japanese kid this week was locked in by rule to only sign for a limited amount. Players are going there because the dodgers are buying every one of them. Hope they enjoy that he’ll hole CA with all those taxes and deferred $$$.
I ain’t reading that essay
The Dodgers being good at player development is an absolute myth. They have 1 starter (rotation or position) that they developed and that’s Will Smith. They are having to spend all this money because they can’t develop players. Outman, Luxe, Bobby Miller, etc, etc. They have all sucked but when you have unlimited funds to spend it makes no difference.
Tell me how great Banda, Vesia, Phillips, Muncy etc. were before they got to the Dodgers. Lengthy list of players who moved on from the Dodgers too via FA and trade. You can believe what you want. It’s not all spending. Smart trades, development, scouting, analytics, game strategy etc. are why the Dodgers are successful year in and out. You have to be really ignorant to think the way you do.
There is definitely not a “lengthy list”. But let’s take the Braves for example…Acuna, Ozzie, Riley, Harris all homegrown (MVP, AS, SS, ROY) position players on the team. Then you look at the positions they don’t have a homegrown player at currently……a 1st baseman the Braves developed just carried the Dodgers to a WS win. The best catcher in the NL this season was a player the Braves developed. Arguably the best defensive SS in the NL is a player the Braves developed.
Pitching….the largest FA contract for a starter this off-season went to a player the Braves developed and currently in the rotation you have the two Spencers.
The Dodgers are not even close to the Braves when it comes to developing players but that’s just one of many teams better at developing players. As mentioned, if the Dodgers developed a Acuna, Ozzie, Riley, Freeman, Harris, Strider, etc they would not be spending this much on FA. They are doing it because they have to.
I have to disagree about the Dodgers. This isn’t a peak in player development, but the Dodgers for a long, long time were the apex in developing talent. They had periods where they would have multiple rookies of the year, and in the years they didn’t, they would have one or two in the rookie of the year conversation.
They scout well, typically draft well, and they develop talent. Sometimes it isn’t just what is on the team, but those guys they drafted and brought through the system playing elsewhere that returned talent that you have to gauge as well. In a snapshot of course some teams will seem better than others for a few years, but the Dodgers are consistently good.
MLB- Let me ask you a question.Do you think that having so much money and buying the best free agents maximizes their chance to win a World Series?
If so,do you think that that also attracts the best coaches and managers and development and scouting personnel?
This is getting outta hand
Let me guess, next year they sign Guerrero and Tucker.
I said this the other day, tucker will be 4th OF and vlad will dh
@Wire They kind of have a guy named Ohtani whose occupying the DH spot.
This is turning into the Miami Heat.
Except the Heat had a salary cap.
@Damn -we are way past that.
This signing by the Dodgers makes Steinbrenner and the old Yankees in his wild spending day’s look like a saint. This is completely ridiculous!
This is ridiculous!!
So what happens 5 years from now when they have all this money in addition to the 6.3 Billion deferred owed? They may have overshot their ROI at this point.
Money is paid each year into escrow, they dont have any actual cash that needs to be paid in later years out of their pocket. They pay the full amount each year it just counts less for CBT purposes. There is no risk to the team, the players just lose out a bit due to inflation.
Yeah, I’ve been saying this as well. They’ll have a percentage of what everyone else would have regarding luxury tax room. They can certainly go over, but it’ll cost them dearly.
They are banking on the revenue systems never changing.
They pay it out of the money they invested (and possibly made a few million on). The Dodgers aren’t kicking the can down the road, the money is being set aside now.
@thebirds The deferrals are already being funded annually per the CBA.
This will just make it sweeter when they get knocked off in the NL plsyoffs.
Who’s going to do that exactly?
Touche, Sir.
A younger healthier team
Ahhh the new NBA. Already know the season’s outcome before it starts. Congrats dodger fans, enjoy the predictability and absence of competition.
They will, unfortunately. One thing that has changed little since 1977 is the mindset of Los Angeles sports fans. They like to be seen at games, but most wouldn’t know a passed ball from a lamb chop.
Alex – What are “Lies people tell themselves to help them sleep at night?”
How is MLB like the NBA? The NBA has a salary cap and that’s how Oklahoma City and Cleveland can be dominating now.
Bosh/wade/James…Durant to Golden State. This LA team feels similar. Just the nonsense that removes parity from a sport. I stopped watching the NBA a long time ago.
The Heat had to stay under the salary cap though. But yes, the outcome of games in the NBA playoffs is far more predictable than in the MLB, and 2 or 3 superstars can dictate the outcome more than any other team sport perhaps. Yet the Thunder and Cavs are dominating because the big market teams are limited in their ability to just buy the talent to keep a thumb on them. The Cleveland Indians don’t have the market size to compete with LAD and NY teams.
The stochasitc nature of baseball is it’s saving grace to some extent. A WC team can beat the superpower team in a 5 or 7 game series.
Stochastic, great vocab. I had a lot of fun watching Detroit surprise everyone last year, hopefully some NL teams can still compete with LA.
blame my mom. I should have said “crap shoot”
Guardians
The Mavericks saved us from a Heat title in their first year as a super team. Who is going to do the same for baseball?
Quick, someone light the Dirk Nowitzki signal.
I bet dirk could have thrown a nasty sinker
corrected, thanks
The Mariners in 2001 won 116games or something? And they were out in the first round. Anything can happen in the post season and LA could fall short. You either like or hate them lol.
2001 Mariners lost in the ALCS.
Dodgers making a mockery of the sport. It must be something in the DNA of teams originating out of New York that make them want to be an evil empire
Or maybe it’s something about Hollyweird
Nope, the 3 teams that have tried to buy the sport were born in New York
Naa..those Dodgers been out in that California sun for so many decades ,nothing About NY remains.
Like it or not they were born in New York & still claim Brooklyn. They’re NY at heart and just moved somewhere it doesn’t snow.
Have you read “The New York Game”, by Kevin Baker. Great book, there is a lot to what you say…haha
This is asinine already. What a total joke. It’s like playing a video game of NL all stars vs everyone else
Going to sleep until spring training with a giant smile on my face
Is smile Latin for weiner?
The Dodgers (or Mets or Yankees or Phillies or …) needed to do things like they have this offseason to show how it CAN be done.
The real issue is that nothing will be done to change the parameters to level the playing field because MLB won’t want their anti-trust exemption challenged in the courts again.
Older fans have already seen this and it resulted in the majority fans of the MLB to lose interest.
What’s good for the Dodgers/Yankees isn’t always good for MLB.
Prove it!
Tan me hide when I’m dead, Fred
BOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
What nobody else wanted to sign him? Pitcher and catcher report soon…good for him. Pete still out there…teams need to open up their wallets.
Not at that price! Only the Dodgers!
15 of the past 16 WS winners were top 8 in payroll and all were top 10 in market size. So, yes, those who can spend can buy championships.
Well the Mets were suppose to be the top spenders? What happened? They got cheap after the Soto deal?
Yeah, $ doesn’t always equate to championships, just ask the 7 of top 8 spending teams each year who don’t win the WS. The playoffs are a crap shoot and superpower LAD had to win a tight game 5 against the Pads last year to avert the ongoing narrative of a very long 162-season WS drought. The Mets will keep trying I’m sure. .
Yes, the 2 WAR aging one-dimensional first baseman who wants a half-decade guarantee is still available.
Did Dodgers promise Roki to get him a closer?
It’s an all star team at this point.
Can’t blame the Dodgers for exploiting the current CBA but a good league has some parity.
I did the math
2024 All-Stars
Tanner Scott
Betts
Freeman
Ohtani
Teoscar
Will Smith
Glasnow
Werent all-stars last year but probable 2025 all-stars
Roki
Snell
Yamamoto
Am I missing anyone?
Like the NFL used to do having the Champions play a team of college all stars, MLB could have the Dodgers play a team of all stars instead of the traditional all star game
Dig – You’re missing Bregman ;o)
I think teo probably misses it this year.
LOL of course…MLB needs to crack down on this Monopoly
They’ll try when the CBA talks begin. But they’ll fail.
How is this a monopoly?
LMAO! That is hilarious! They are the baseball’s version of the nWo! If you know you know. It’s got to be just too sweeeeet to be a true Dodgers fan right now. They’re making a mockery of the entire system. I love it.
F-F-F-FOR LYFE
Who will be our Sting?
Sting was basically the Crow, so the Orioles obviously 😉
I am absolutely shocked !!! Talking about being in bed with the commissioner.
How can they get Skenes and Judge? Judge would be great off of the bench and Skenes would be a great middle reliever on this team. Possibly use both of them for depth at AAA.
Skenes will be a Dodger eventually. He’s a California guy that obviously won’t spend his career in Pittsburgh, Once he gets into the later stages of arbitration, the clock will be ticking on Pittsburgh to deal him for prospects.
the mlb flipped out and made a cohen tax and now every season since it’s the dodgers exceeding it
They should rename it to the Dodgers tax. If you can spend more than the Dodgers then you should get luxury taxed out the wahoo!
Dodgers blah blah blah, whatever. Now that THAT’S cleared up, wow, what an overpay. Guy signs with maybe the only team that could afford to DFA a reliever halfway through a contact where they still owe ~$35m, if it’s not working out. 4th highest reliever contract ever, 3rd highest AAV. If he throws 75ip per season, he’s making a quarter-mil per out. Insanity.
THIS! I don’t care that he’s going to the Dodgers, but that contract is shared around the league. Every decent reliever now thinks they can make at least as much as Scott. And if all other teams refuse, there’s the Dodgers and Mets. Dodgers fans can delude themselves as much as they want but they are destroying baseball by chucking their wealth at it. Superteams are bad for sports.
@Rays
Players all wait out for the super team contracts vs. the super teams only have 26 roster spots.
Something will have to give.
Not that I don’t agree. I’m just wondering how many players will have to “give”.
Let me guess…it’s great for baseball. Bregman and Santander would be good bench pieces for them, too…
Never say never. I said that after the Dodgers signed Snell… And then when they signed Sasaki.
Do they want to play for a winner?
Honest to God just cancel the season barring injuries the dodgers will win 120+ games. Just give them the title for God sakes…
Nah they won’t. Everytime I build a team like this in a 2K game they win 88 and finish 3rd
F yeah!!!
I got nothing, my dudes. Wow.
Dissapointed but not surprised.
This site is turning into LADodgersTradeRumors the last few years 🙂
At some point, they’re going to run out of roster spots, no?
Then they do a 2-for-1 or 3-for-1 deal and sign more free agents.
How much money does an organization have to make to actually offset the luxury tax?
Obviously the Dodgers profits must be blowing past that.
They don’t even need to make good operating profits as their brand value will continue to appreciate and help them leverage any future corporate negotiations.
The Dodgers should be celebrated and the focus put on other cheap owners! The game is changing and we’re screaming at the aggressive team who’s trying to win instead of the others owners who give you lip service while watching their bank account grow. Where is the attention on teams who don’t try?
They are gaming the system with deferred money. MLB needs to step in and get rid of the practice moving forward
Why do you blame LA for this? Deferred money is not new and most of the other teams do it. It’s a very naive post.
Every single other team can “game the system” with deferred money.
I think that’s why everyone is screaming…the Dodgers are the only team doing anything. It’s not unfair. It’s a capitalist market. And players are free to choose where to sign. The Dodgers is a team many would love to play for given the opportunity. My comment below is just a “throwing up my hands” moment because of this fact…the dodgers can and will sign anyone they want to better their team. It is what it is. At the end of the day, they aren’t guaranteed success.
Why complain about it? Tanner Scott is nothing more than the latest flavor of the week closer. Be happy the Dodgers were the one to overpay for him. I’m willing to bet that somebody else will be the closer in L.A. before this contract finishes.
Overpaying doesn’t matter. What matters is they are setting price standards, even for guys who have just a couple of good years under their belt. No other team wants to pay that, so those players will just default to the Dodgers because they WILL pay. And they will win a lot. Which in turn increases the player’s value to sign with other teams.
Joe
Sensible take.
Thank god my team plays in the American League.
When will the headline read: Dodgers sign everybody? Ridiculous!!
When will the headline read: MLB billionaire owners continue to profit while not giving their fans a product that competes? Ridiculous.
The Harlem Globetrotters of baseball
Looks like no other team even want to play.
I know other teams use deferrals but do the Dodgers use them more often, or just get talked about more because of the high profile names they use it on?
Dodgers make up 90% of all deferrals I imagine. Other teams have 1 offs sometimes but Dodgers have deferred almost every player on their roster.
“I imagine”
So you don’t actually know and are making things up. Got it.
Every other team is free to offer contracts with deferrals.
Time for mlb to jump in now and ban deferred deals.
They have to wait until the next CBA, but yes there will be some changes after another lockout.
Even if they change it, the damage is done. That’s possibly why the Dodgers are stacking it all on now. They can’t punish the Dodgers for it because it’s within the rules at this point in time.
And let’s be honest, that’s a big IF. I’m sure Manfred is more interested in robot Umps instead of balancing competition.
ARE WE SERIOUS RIGHT NOW? I guess everyone else will play normal baseball and the Dodgers will play All-Star Baseball for the next decade.
The dodgers buy their players with Affirm. Buy now, pay later.
At some point, something has got to give.
Salary cap. Salary floor. Now.
Just making a mockery of the sport. There can’t be anybody who enjoys this. Hell, even if I were a Dodgers fan I’d see how much of a joke this competitive balance system is.
what I see is an absolutely brilliant executive FO executive using EVERY tool at his disposal to acquire and develop the deepest and most talented roster possible. Friedman understands that it takes player development (scouting, intelligent drafting, coaching), free agent acquisitions and astute trades using his assets to accomplish that goal.
Baseball America recently researched and reported that there are more players drafted and signed by the Dodgers on the rosters of mlb teams than any other organization. Andrew Friedman and his staff are simply the best at what they do.
Until other organizations get their effing acts together, the Dodgers will continue to have dominant regular season teams. Given the current playoff structure, that also means that “the field” will ALWAYS win more championships than even the best organization. That’s the tradeoff. it’s also the incentive for Friedman to continue to squeeze ever ounce of increased probability of postseason success he can in the offseason by acquiring more and more talent.
If by using every tool, you mean exploiting every CBA loophole to the point that a lockout is all but guaranteed after 2026, then sure.
At this point, I’m rooting for a lockout, which has never happened in my almost 40 years on earth.
The owners need to dig in hard on an international draft and end this deferral nonsense once and for all. I didn’t care if this sport misses an entire season to get it.
Owners are happy with the current situation. Players are happy about the current situation.
They’ll fight over the margins, who gets what percent of this or that revenue, but there is no strike or lockout on the horizon.
@Daniel
A lockout happened during the last CBA negotiations. Maybe you meant a lockout that cancels a season?
No a lock out is on the horizon
Teams that want to contend can’t compete with larger financial groups that are the Mets dodgers Yankees and there’s teams not even trying to compete. A salary cap and floor is inevitable
International spending is out of control. All players should be tossed into one big draft 40 rounds. We can’t trade draft picks but teams can trade ifa money and good teams can outspend bad teams in ifa. Fixing ifa is inevitable whether it’s one draft or two drafts.
MLB has to cap deferrals. When dodger fans say “well anyone can do this” no no the rays could not defer 680 mill itd mess up so many thing financially for them. Dodgers are over what 2 billion in deferrals? Not many teams can defer that much salary.
Those are fan perspectives, not player and ownership perspectives, and they’re the only ones at the table negotiating.
I wasn’t saying that a lockout has never happened. I was saying I’ve never rooted for one before.
@Daniel
Better phrasing: “which I’ve never done before”, i.e. rooting for a lockout. The active voice vs. passive voice makes it clear you are talking about your feelings about a lockout, instead of the lockout itself.
Thank you for clarifying.
If they were so good at drafting and developing they wouldn’t be giving out hundreds of millions of dollars to every all star that hits the free market. You can try to spin in another way but this is not good for the game. And I’m not blaming the Dodgers, this is 100% an MLB problem.
jd….seriously, “every all star”….?
(Soto, Burnes, Fried, Bregman, Adames, Alonso/2025; Snell, Bellinger, Nola, Hader/2024; Judge, Correa, Trea Turner, Bogaerts, Swanson, Rodon/23) … 16 just in the last 3 years. You want more?
Come on man, don’t be lazy. Take a deep breath and relax. The percentages are with you. The Dodgers (or any team, no matter how strong or deep their roster might be) are probably not going to win a championship given the structure of the mlb postseason.
It’s definitely ruining the sport unchecked deferrals is as bad as unchecked nil money
I mean hell how about the Mets ask for some money from some billionaires offer to defer it with interest in a bank account for 50 years and spend money on the team using outside resources from friends. Even the playing field a little
. I used to get mad but now this is just hilarious. Who’s left that they can sign? I’m sure there’s someone out there. Maybe a mascot or two to have on the bench?
I hope they go on to crush the competition and destroy MLB… At least enough for a change.
This also gives all the cheap owners a reason to not even try to win while winking at it’s fans.
They have to make changes that limit these teams (Mets and Dodgers) and force all the other owners to spend. This is ridiculous.
Not sure the fuss. Anyone could have had him. The CAP scares off teams ability to get better. Dodgers spend more than Steinbrenner ever did and are at least creative and within boundaries
What you Dodgers fans dont understand is that other teams CANT sign guys that want to go to the Dodgers. Teoscar took a discount + deferrals, Ohtanti took deferrals (Jays had the same contract at least we are told), Roki is free but obviously was always going to Dodgers, Yamamoto was always going to the Dodgers, etc. The league is not an even playing field because big markets (LA/NY) are where players want to go. Now I am sure Scott would have signed somewhere else for an additional $20M but teams shouldnt have to pay insane premiums to get any player.
On the other end, another part of the problem is that other teams payrolls are way too small Every team should have a payroll of $120M+. They are all making bank, they get revenue shared, there is no excuse.
I like the NFL model.
They can’t sign them? Of course they can sign them.
They are going to the Dodgers because of the winning culture Friedman and co. have built over years, and some are willing to take less money to do it.
Amazing how the narrative went from “CHOKERS” and “Mickey Mouse” to “Dodgers are ruining baseball!” in one year.
Meanwhile the Yankees are shopping at TJ Maxx for a 3B and are sweating the Stroman contract when they literally print money.
If the Yanks are at TJ Maxx, the Rays and 20 other teams must be at the Salvation Army.
Yankees draw the most revenue. Rays are playing at our A ball stadium.
We need 45/47 to step in here starting tomorrow. That low t, woke Manfred will do nothing.
Man! If they somehow DON’T win it all, it’s almost automatically the biggest choke and/or the most disappointing season in MLB history.
Fake narrative. Vegas still puts the Dodgers at 3-to-1 (meaning 25% chance) to win the World Series.
1/3 = 33.33%
Last year I got 1/6 odds
Dodgers are the only ones at the buffet table.
MLB -Major League Business.
MLB will need to change the name of everything that has ‘competitive balance’ attached. It’s just laughable at this point.
Maybe the small and mid-market teams could create an app that focuses on Dodger injury bets and split the profits for supplemental income?
Don’t hate on the Dodgers for having an ownership group who WANTS to win and is willing to reinvest their money into their product to make it better! Isn’t that what all good corporations do, after all baseball is a business, remember that! And how many people been laughing at the Dodgers saying 2020 was a Mickey Mouse Ring and how the Dodgers choke every year…well who’s laughing now! And oh by the way…there’s no crying in baseball as Tom Hanks character once said!
Dude! The only way the dodgers are able to do this, is because of the loop hole in California. Most states players do not have the option to defer. This is BS! Spending money that is not really there because of Ohtani’s major deferral that allowed all this crap to happen. MLB needs to step in and make the change to stop deferrals. If you have the money to spend that’s fine. Should not be able to spend money that is not there
Everything you just said is incorrect. All states allow deferrals. Deferrals are paid for at the time, just into an account and not to the player. MLB does not have unilateral power to change deferrals in any way, even if they were having the impact you think they do, which they don’t.
Time for a hard cap and hard floor. Sport is supposed to fun and entertaining. Having a mega team or two that are bought (not drafted) is not so entertaining for everyone else. At some point MLB will shoot itself in the foot if there are no corrections. Don’t tell me about the billions they are making. The billions are from TV deals. And TV is dependent on viewers. If people become sick of super teams that will be a problem
The last super team, or dynasty, was the mid-90s to early aught Yankees, who clicked off six AL pennants and four World Championships over eight years, including three straight. The sport not only survived, but its popularity increased. It’ll be fine here too.
I wish the Dodgers nothing but the worse luck possible
Honestly, if this team doesn’t win at least 140 games and the WS in 2025 then this is all for naught.
We said this last year and look what happened. They are not only better but also deeper. I don’t know how much more I can stomach watching MLB at this rate. My team has to be supported by a bankrupt gambling company to show games on TV, while the Dodgers are just printing money.
Oh no, most of these guys are signed for the next few years. They’ll be just as good in 26 and 27.
They won’t win anywhere near 140 games. Baseball isn’t like other sports where you can dominate having the best players. Baseball is a sport where you’re considered great when you fail 7 out of 10 times at the plate. I don’t care who is on their roster. They aren’t all hitting .300 or better with 5.0 WAR or better from everybody in the lineup.
Everybody on that team will have periods where they struggle. As stacked as they are, I bet you they don’t win 110 games in the regular season.. and they more than likely don’t repeat as World Series champs so I guess it’s all for naught.
Can’t wait till the Dodgers have to start paying $200 million a year in deferred payroll. What a joke
They money is paid now into an escrow that accumulates interest so if anything deferrals making it that much cheaper for the team since they keep whatever is left from interest.
Lockout in 27, CBA will be a nightmare
I guess AJ Minter wasn’t overpaid after all…
Funny how you don’t have this small market vs large market disparity in the NFL. What league is the most popular again?
Nor the NHL. Because they have salary caps that most teams respect. MLB has become a monopolized industry where the Dodgers are buying all the new toys.
Well whoever makes the NLCS or World Series is going to be Americas team. Pretty hard to see anybody being more unlikable for neutral fans.
Imagine living in Japan and having to see the Dodgers every night on the news. It sucks.
To everyone complaining about the Dodgers and their ways: Despite this and all the other insane contracts they’ve handed out, there is still a better chance that a team other than the Dodgers wins the World Series this year.
Is that supposed to mean something? If you put them at 49% chance to win the WS and the other 29 teams at 51% chance you are technically correct.
They won the world series without half their pitchers last year. Don’t give us this BS like MLB and all the other cheap owners. Talent buys you rings in baseball. Depth is invaluable, and when the Rays’ or any other team’s 1-2 top players get injured, they will sink. If the Dodgers top 1-2 players get hurt… Here’s another top 1-2 player to take their place! Statistically you are correct but that’s a very black-and-white way to look at it.
FFS
Teams should be extra amped to take on the Dodgers. The only payback is to beat the best. They’re the World Champions. I’m far from a Dodger fan btw.
Dodgers know how to spend their profits. They will pay more in payroll this year than Marlins have spent over the last 6 years. If Marlins are so broke, them perhaps they should move the team…oh wait what is that??? Did you say they just pocket the profits? SHOCKING!!!
It’s 2025 and we’re still having to explain to Dodgers fans the concept of population density and explain how TV deals work.
At this point, if I’m a playoff team I’m giving Kershaw what ever he wants. It’s the only way. It would appease the baseball gods. He is the messiah
Thanks capitalism!
I wonder what 5 yrs of mason miller is worth on trade market. Although it seems A’s wont trade him and want to compete this year. But leclerc is now either 8th inning guy or closer replacement
Commissioner has the power to veto this crap didn’t a commissioner veto an Arod trade or signing?
He’s too busy doing stupid stuff like putting phantom runners on base in extra innings
The league taxing them at $47 million for Ohtani despite it being a $70 mill average enabled this kind of deferred nonsense.
The Dodgers off-season has been like fantasy league….
OK now this pisses me off… haha
The Los Angeles Deferrals of Japan.
clever
I can’t stand the Dodgers but gotta admit this is fascinating lol. My beef is the escalating salaries. Hope all this doesn’t have a negative effect on players’ performances and create animosity amongst teammates.
How is this for a fix (just spitballing here): you take ALL revenue from each team, gates, concessions, parking, broadcasts, merch….all of it. Divide it equally among each team, and there’s your hard cap. That’s going to have to come with a floor as well.
FIX THE SYSTEM MLB!!!! The majority of states do not allow players to Defer money. California does. The sellout Dodgers are taking advantage of a loop hole in the system that MLB will not address! How is this a level playing field for other teams. Really I cannot believe they are allowing Tanner Scott to defer money. Who is the next sell out?
There are no states that do not allow deferred contracts
Any team can defer payroll, how does it get more level than that?
Should MLB also address how California has high state taxes while other states have no state taxes? That seems like an unlevel playing field.
Flagga
Many employees get deferred compensation. It is not illegal in the majority of states as you claim. You are just making stuff up.
This is an issue for collective bargaining.
Like a 457 plan? I’m trying to think of a scenario of an employee deferring their compensation that will pay them today’s amount years or decades down the road. Rather than deferring a portion that the employee is able to invest and grow into a higher amount. If an employee gets a 5% return on that deferred money it will have doubled in 14.5 years.
This is false, please stop spreading ignorant ass lies.
You keep saying majority of states don’t allow deferred money when that isn’t true. You’re making stuff up to to fit your narrative. If you have a sound argument let’s hear it but don’t make stuff up because you’re pissed off that one front office is smart enough to work within the rules of the game when all front offices are allowed to do it.
We have finally reached the once-unfathomable point where I would root for the Mets or Yankees to beat LA in a series.
This is absurd – MLB has a major problem there is no competitive balance anymore…this screams hard cap needed.
They might as well cancel all-star game because they are mostly on one team
Talk about building a dynasty ?? WTH !!
So tired of this! Time for a hard cap on spending in the MLB! Also, my Phillies again fail to sign the best reliever available when they obviously need to strengthen their bullpen!
Were you tired of it when the Phillies were spending money like fools the last few years?
Doesn’t sound like you were……
The fix is in just like all of the sporting world! It’s all about the money! Just stop watching. The Chiefs games have been fixed the last three years! Labron always gets his way! It’s all fixed to sucker people in thru gambling, paying outrageous prices for watching the games, sports memorabilia sales. It’s all fixed! Just stop caring
Yup! As soon as gambling seeped its way into sports, it immediately made them all into WWE performances. The NFL is so bad at hiding it.
This is fine.
I’ve been a Dodgers fan for almost 50 years, and this is starting to feel surreal. It’s sort of ridiculous what they’re doing right now. And with what is at the very least, a top 3 farm system. Good luck, baseball.
As the love fest at the cubs convention mercifully comes to an end today, wonder if any fan asked tickets if the cubs offered Scott anywhere near $7m. I’d say no way.
At least it’s not like the Chiefs where the NFL is rigging the system to have the refs cheat for them because Travis Kelce is dating Taylor Swift and they want to turn Patrick Maholmes into the NFLs Michael Jordon.
The Dodgers are doing it the old fashioned way and just buying a world championship like George Steinbrenner intended.
Dodgers are bad for baseball. I will not watch them at all this year. If that means I miss the World Series, so be it. This is supposed to be competitive sports.
I bet more will watch in hopes the Dodgers get beat….having a villain always adds to the excitement. FYI, if they don’t win the next 6 World Series in a row, I’m not looking forward to all the comments and jokes from other fans. But even with that said, I’ll take an organization that does what all sports organization is supposed to do, win. I’m not sure why more fans on here are not holding their team’s organization accountable.
No they won’t.
You are surprised the Pittsburgh Pirate, Cincinnati Red, or Kansas City fans (as examples) aren’t demanding their team compete with a $275M payroll? That’s so devoid of reality, I’m not sure where to begin.
They don’t have to compete with the Dodgers to win their division. They cant even do that.
I get a kick out of the comments on here. The Yankees were always in on free agents but when they built that dynasty it was through the draft with homegrown players. They made trades as well and were in on big free agents. They have a great tv deal and put back into the team what they made but what’s happening now is totally unprecedented. Let’s start with the Mets. They trade two untradeable contracts in Scherzer and Verlander by sending the money owed which was close to 100m with the players for prospects. Never happened in part and they and the Dodgers are the only teams that financially can do it and the fact mlb didn’t question those trades definitely started the craziness. Than paying a DH in Soto 800m was another level of craziness. The Dodgers signing Ohtani and deferribgbthe entire contract pretty much is legal but again mlb should immediately step on and ensure it doesn’t happen again. The Dodgers sign Yamamoto last season and then have a secret hand shake with Roki this season and immediately after sign Tanner Scott with deferred money.
This is crazy. I’m all for free market by this is just controlling it.
Billy
You are just making up the secret handshake.
Look everyone knew Roki was leaning toward playing for the Dodgers, but he had no need to commit himself when he knew 30 teams wanted him.
I mean… is it really impressive or an accomplishment to win a world series when you just pay for it? Me, personally, watching one team pay their way to the top in free agency while watching my own team try to determine which .200 hitter they think is better to fill the hole at 2nd and the hole at 3rd just makes it so I won’t be watching a single game this year after watching every single game last year. I’m sure I’m not the only one.
You have to create a competitive balance in the league if you want to keep fan interest. Unless Dodgers fans plan to watch every game of every team this year, this is absolutely horrible for baseball.
Great weekend for the Dodgers….LFG!!!!
Bring out the clown pieces of s*** defending this team. You all really earned your rings. Why develop when you can just buy.
Mickey
Did you get upset when Rangers signed Seager away from the Dodgers?
The LA deferrals strike again
When the Dodgers fail this year, we can all come back and have a hearty laugh.
Remember when star players took pay cuts to compete for championships?
The insecure greedy pr*cks need to keep buying to keep their whiny fans happy during the wildfires with all these purchases of “need.” I’m glad we can just focus on who gets second place next year since these pigs already bought another few titles.
Always “hated” the Dodgers growing up as a Giants fan half a century ago, but then I hated the Yankees more, they were so perinially good.
The next CBA will be an opportunity to tinker with the rules.
– no salary cap will ever be imposed, just tightening the screws and increasing the pain with the luxury tax
– perhaps a salary floor
– an end to deferral of salaries
– An international draft of amateurs
– Rethinking the lottery for the draft that currently penalizes losing seasons too much. Maybe have a lottery for the worst 3 or 5 or 7.
– end the QO that folks like LA use to their advantage
– pool 1/4 or half of local media revenue to be shared equally across MLB
The playing field needs to be levelled somewhat, by bigger tweaks, not major surgery, so fans can feel engaged. LA and NY are gonna LA/NY no matter what, but most teams need a biscuit or two thrown their way.
Oh ye have much faith in the league and owners and players. I’d love to see a video of Manfred convincing owners to implement a floor. Not gonna happen.
I think Manfred is absolutely satisfied with what’s happening, and most owners probably don’t care if the Dodgers are a superteam. I have little faith that the league nor owners care even 1% about fans.
Instead, his focus will be on implementing automatic balls/strikes
Review pickoff rules
And that’s about it.
To be fair, I agree with all of these fixes.
Def need to end the deferral workaround. Too bad it can’t be retroactive.
This needs to end and I know how to stop this from re-occurring if the owners and MLBPA would agree to these stipulations:
Any team that exceeds the luxury tax threshold, even if just by a dollar, should be imposed a fine equivalent to that team’s entire payroll for the year. Additionally, they should lose ALL draft picks for the season and not be allotted any additional funds for international pool spending. Repeated violations of the luxury tax threshold should result in even stiffer penalties. If only the owners and players would agree to this but probably won’t happen because of their greed for $$$.
What would all the small market teams do without their luxury tax payments?
The only silver lining is they’ll run out of roster spots soon. This is comical at this point. Can’t do anything but laugh. And Dodgers fans will act like there’s no problem here.
Dodgers just playin MLB The Show now.
Funny thing is, the only non-Dodger fans who generally aren’t hating right now are the long-time Yankee fans who remember when they were at the top of the food chain.
Strange bedfellows indeed.
That’s not true at all. I’m a fan of a small market team. Im a Reds fan and have been my whole life. t doesn’t bother me one bit what the Dodgers are doing. They’re playing by the rules so there is nothing to complain about. Some of you all are getting way too worked up about them signing all these free agents. They can only put the same amount of guys on the roster as everybody else so they’re going to have to make a few people expendable with the roster crunch.
You can’t buy championships either no matter how much some of you all want to believe that. There are a good handful of teams who spend more than $200 million every year on payroll and some even miss the playoffs. The only thing Dodger fans are guaranteed is seeing names on the back of the jerseys that most baseball fans know. You don’t get free wins for winning the offseason.
Forgot to mention these stipulations should apply to any team that exceeds the luxury tax threshold for three consecutive years.
I think they will sign Bregman and Alonso too.
I seriously hope they do. I want them to sign everyone. I want them to win every game from February to November. That’s the only way MLB will fix a very broken system.
Lmao. At this point it’s funny. Good for LAD.
Good chance Baseball could be ruining itself. NFL and NBA have a set amount each team can pay. Other owners than the dodgers just might play hardball with the players union and lock them out to stop the insanity.
Of course he is…
I never root against any team, but there’s a little piece of me that hopes the Dodgers don’t win another title for awhile.
Go Pads!
It feels like they have 83 roster spots
Can a trade for Vlad Jr. be far behind? $500 mil payroll, let’s go!
The dodgers aren’t ruining baseball: they’re helping grow the sport. It’s also not just us doing the deferrals, since the D-backs did it with Burnes. This is a great signing that locks down the bullpen and he will be our dominant closer.
Time to stop following regularly. Too depressing
Betting dds for Dodgers – I would not be surprised if its like this now
win NL pennant you pay $450 to win $1
Win WS you pay $250 to win $1
why bet on any other team at this point its a huge risk but maybe they have ton injuries but a team with 8-12 or so all-stars….that would need alot of injuries
Dodgers are not making this fun.
The Commish could void some of these moves in the “Best Interest of Baseball”, ala Bowie Kuhn.
What’s happening is Players want to play on a Winner. They don’t want to help make a Team a Winner, they want to join the one that’s currently on Top.
They are copying what happened in the NBA.
The League benefits as the Dodgers will be a big draw but that can backfire if the team dominates so much as to make the other teams games unwatchable. Actual viewing revenue could decrease.
Kuhn stopped the trade of Blue to the Reds because Finley was dumping players for ridiculously lopsided trades on purpose, threatening the integrity of the game, not because it made the Reds too good.
not sure if the Comish can actually void Free Agent contracts. Trades might be a different matter.
Players will gladly go to help build a winning team as long as the winning team is willing to show they want to win by paying for players. The problem with this signing in particular is that nobody thought Scott was worth what he got except the Dodgers. Teams that want to build a winner apparently didn’t think Scott was worth the risk, the Dodgers apparently do.
the Dodgers are turning into the Globetrotters making visits to your hometown to face your Generals
Dodgers fan here. This is the money that was earmarked for Flaherty if Sasaki signed elsewhere. To me, this was a signing too far. Dodgers are drunk spending right now. Too much for a reliever. And no matter how good on paper, you need to win 11 in October and that’s a different kind of baseball. My comfort is the Dodgers understand money better than other teams do. For a fan, this is what you want. Ownership taking all the profits and reinvesting them as opposed to pocketing them. And Dodgers are kind of in a once in a lifetime position because of Ohtani and Sasaki. And coming off WS profits + Ohtani profits. . But I feel 2023 Mets nervous!!
Also, they need at least one roster spot right away. And I think they will need to start trading more people. But that’s why they want a Sirota and a comp pick for Lux. And if they make more trades, expect prospects coming back with years before Rule 5 eligibility.
Yep, we are probably selling off some excess arms for prospects to fuel the next wave.
Well, if you’re nervous, imagine how we all feel?
Do the math and Conforto, Teoscar, and Scott add up to the money they were willing to give to Soto. They pivoted when bidding got to high and this is what they got.
Ha ha. Dodgers are fearless.
It’s at the point where I think they might know their business partners are pissed and change is coming. Loading up while they still can.
He’s been on the market for some time now, its not like other gm’s couldnt have made a move. Cry all you want, but the Dodgers are a lot more serious about winning than the rest of the league
Dodger fans are going to the stadium next year thinking they deserve to see a win every single game.
We already do that. It’s called a winning culture. And it’s been there long before Ohtani and Yamamoto. And what’s followed.
I’m a fan and guess my expectations are somewhat more reasonable. then again I don’t go as often as I used to when Its $20 for a beer. probably more this year. if the league becomes so lopsided there really isn’t any competition probably leave the games for the rest of you all. cheers.
Why even watch baseball and go to ballparks. Let’s hit them where it hurt$
It’s been reported that in year one of Ohtani the Dodgers made 120 million just off of him. Dodgers principal ownership group Guggenheim has 355 billion in assets.
Interesting article in NY Times spells it out.
Are the Dodgers exploiting a play-now, pay-later model? Examining how deferrals really work
Deferrals are invested now by Guggenheim to grow them to the amount to be paid when they’re due. This has been covered ad nauseam yet so many don’t seem to know this (not saying you don’t).
The Dodgers are putting the current value of each player’s deferred salary into investments today.
At some point, when it’s revealed that the Dodgers made extra money on these investments beyond what they owed the players in salary, the same people complaining now will suddenly understand how it worked and complain about how that should’ve been illegal. *shrug*
Whiney fans: MLB is ruining the game! They must have a salary cap and international draft, and ban salary payment deferrals!
MLB: We’ve wanted those all along but the union hasn’t agreed. We’ll make sure we get them in the next CBA.
MLBPA: Nuh-uh.
[2 year work stoppage]
Whiney fans: MLB is ruining the game! Give the players what they want!
To be fair, the ruining of the game is happening from all sides. The league, the owners, and the players. They all have a hand in what’s happening now and making MLB likely unwatchable. Not very fun when you know which team is gonna be in the NLCS almost every year.
This deferred money is a joke. I hope the Dodgers do not win another World Series for decades. I used to hate the Yankees but the Dodgers have taken over that for me. The good part is the manager is a fool.
I guess the dodgers figured they saved so much on sasaki why not add Scott
Good for them
And everyone saying their gm sucks for not signing Scott to a similar deal…what makes you think he didn’t prefer the dodgers situation instead, all things generally being equal money wise
Tbf, I don’t think Scott will hold up for that duration of the contract though. Before last year, he had quite a bit of control issues.
Source: fantasy league bros
I’m done with baseball until we have a league that wants what’s best for the whole league, not just who has the biggest pockets.
Damn, these deferred contracts are gonna bite them in the arse later ahahaha
If they get multiple titles out of it who cares
It’s an investment now with the money being made now. Set aside for payment later.
Every team has the opportunity to do this. But are afraid to try
All the other teams should just start offering up all their best players to the Dodger$, trade em away for whatever, dump payroll en masse, let L.A. go 162-0, and tank MLB until they figure out how to stop this madness. Unless you’re one of their fans, what fun is this season going to be to just watch Los Japangeles Dodger$ win every game?
It’s not gonna be fun…I’m no longer a baseball fan it’s just pure non sense now. I was a Jays fan and my team is TRYING to spend money and no one will take it. Everyone just wants to play in the armpit of America LA. Seriously it’s a disgusting, drug ridden, stupidly congested, suburban sprawl. They have a few neighborhoods that are nice and the rest of the city is a dumpster fire. Downtown is a ghost town full of zombies, I really don’t get it…
The Jays lost out on two players to the dodgers, both of whom were from Japan and wanted to be on the west coast. There are plenty of free agents the Jays could have signed, I’d blame their front office more than anything.
As much as I dislike what is happening with the Dodgers and for the good of baseball, this point about the Jays is entirely true. They need to figure out what about 24 of the other teams have figured out … don’t even try to get the best .. it won’t happen even if you offer more. Players don’t want to earn a ring, they want it to be gifted to them. It started in the NBA with prima-donna’s forcing their teams hands so they could join or create super-teams rather than actually competing.
The amount of money the Jays were trying to throw around could have brought in five of the top 15 free agentrs, but they were so narrowly focused on one or two they had zero chance of getting that it almost looks like it was done on purpose.
How do we make it look like we are triyng to spend money without being forced to spend any? I know … let’s throw out big numbers publicly to players we know will never join our team. We can say we tried, act like victims, and not have to worry about actually spending anything. Eureka!
I do think those giant numbers are at least partially due to the fact that the income tax rates in Toronto are even higher than in New York. Eg. I calculated that the $340MM / 12 Year deal that Vladdy Jr. reportedly turned down had a take home value of ~$184MM in Toronto, but would have a $197MM take home value in New York, which has one of the highest state income tax rates in the US (esp for high earners).
Toronto is a little disadvantaged in this way as a market, but man if there was a city I’d love to play in Toronto is definitely top 5.
It’s important to remember that the Dodgers are spending ridiculous, massive amounts of money BECAUSE teams have proven over and over again the past 25 years that you can win without spending much money.
huh?
5 of 12 playoff teams last year were in bottom 1/3 of payroll. 4/6 in the AL.
In 2023 it was only 4/12 but the 20th highest payroll made the World Series.
2022 saw bottom 1/3 teams in payroll only take 3/12 playoff spots. But that was half of the AL spots.
You don’t have to spend money to be successful in MLB anymore like you had to in the 90s so the Dodgers are trying to make sure having the biggest payroll also helps them win.
But the ones who win the WS have typically been top 10 payroll, at least last 10 years or so. But its no guarantee, thats true
Remember the yankees in 2001 added mussina and 2002 giambi to a team that had won 4 of 5 years and didnt win anything w them. Its not so easy to repeat.
“We don’t quite need him but we’re gonna sign him anyways”
Who else has the Dodgers signing the polar bear next?
Corners and DH are Muncy, Freeman, Ohtani. Where would they put him
The Coca Cola polar bear is presumably available too.
Ok Dodger haters whose team is the recipient of revenue sharing, take a step for a second and assess the lay of the land. Of course, you realize that 50% of the luxury tax money goes to subsidize “charity case” teams. Hell, those teams that don’t want to spend on free agents, or who did nothing more than to kick the tires on FAs for window dressing for the fans, are probably cheering on the Dodgers spending because it means more money in their coffers. The revenue sharing money is meant to help keep teams competitive, not to line the billionaire owner’s pockets with windfall money. Some of those very teams are publicly saying they want to cut salary. Maybe the fans of those teams should start calling out those owners for not spending the money for what it was intended to do.
Dodgers owned by billionaires. Other teams are not except for the Mets who shelled out $80mm for a one dimensional player.
Ah, no, not true. They are all owned fully, or in part, by billionaires. Just to name a few, the Brewers, Twins, Rays, Angels, Diamondbacks, Padres…
Most are owned by billionaires but not all. Unfortunately as a Reds fan we have Bob Castellini whose net worth is around 400 million. I would guess about 75% of the teams are owned by billionaires so that is still a majority.
Ok delusional ken, put the shoe on the other foot.
1) your team offers a big contract or two but gets snubbed for big market teams where marketing dollars can enahnace salaries even further
2) your team has zero chance of competing year in and year out and has to pray for a really lucky run where everything falls into place just to get to the playoffs, and even more luck to win a series
3) rinse and repeat, but with current CBA and deferred money, the deep pocket teams can widen the gap even further
If if these owners could sign one or two decent free agents (I give the Reds a couple of years ago as an example), why would they really want to? You can’t compete long term financially. You profit margin is essentially NIL at best as is, and a few teams easily rake in ten figures in profit (yes, the Dodgers and Yankees especially are so ridiculously profitable that revenue sharing is laughable).
Stop beating on the the fans of the teams that are getting screwed.
Stop acting like the Dodgers are doing what any other team could easily do.
Start to realize that if the Dodgers wanted to have the same % of profitability as other teams, they would have to spend 4-5 times what they are currently spending, rather than giving them undue credit for putting out money. This money to them is insignificant.
@UGA_Steve
I think that is the real problem beyond deferrals.
Teams like the Dodgers and the Mets have so much money, the luxury tax is meaningless.
This sounds more like a team that has internal issues at the top. Already low market teams get revenue sharing money that they can use to sign FAs if they choose. Hearing the Rays were in on Juan Soto was a total joke. They may have picked up the phone to talk to the agent but there is no way they were ever going to be in play for him. You and I both know that. Not only do those teams get revenue sharing money but lets not forget most of them get Competitive Balance picks in the draft, and some consistently trade for more of those picks, and if they were not contenders, get more International bonus money, and again, it is not unusual for those teams to trade for additional International money. One would think that a team with the resources to build a top flight farm system would have the young talent to build a serious contender year in and out. The Braves, Reds and the Orioles are doing that right now. The Dodgers had 4 consecutive Rookies of the Year from 1979-1982 and 5 consecutive Rookies of the Year from 1992-1996. This allowed them to have a huge turnover of ML talent, Garvey, Cey, Lopes, Sutton, et al, and then have the next batch to replace them in Sax, Guerrero, Hershiser, Valenzuela and the rest. Today, after bringing up most of their core players they developed in the minor leagues, the Braves locked them up to long term contracts and they have a legitimate chance in post season for a number of years down the line. The question begs, why don’t other teams who could develop their own follow suit? Failed front offices in the decision making process.
If there’s a work stoppage in ‘27 it’s not the Dodgers fault. The MLBPA love the Dodgers its owners like Reinsdorf, Sherman or Nutting who pocket revenue sharing and never spend it on their teams. Every team, even the Marlins and A’s turn a profit. No one is going broke owning a baseball team. If there were there wouldn’t be a line of billionaires ready to buy one.
When are they gonna sign Pete Alonso for their bench?
Dodgers become first to sign player from South Sudan
Dodgers news every day. It’s like the other teams don’t exist
Dodgers are worth approximately 5.5 Billion, South Sudans GDP was approximately 7.5 Billion (USD) in 2023.
I’m thinking this is a prelude to them buying Sudan next. They will rename it Dodgerland and likely attack and take over Disney next. So evil.
Who are they gonna dfa to put Scott on their 26 Man roster? I didn’t think they had enough room for another player. More than half their pitchers are starters.
You gotta think Miller or Fraggle Rock May are expendable.
Conforto is so gone. He was their worst signing. Also, they know half their pitching staff will be shelved soon enough due to their “genius” “innovative” analytical coaching causing TJs up the yingyang. There will be plenty of openings.
It’s weird to think that you might be right, TIG. I mean that with all due respect!
Sign a guy to a large contract… just to DFA him weeks later. Can’t trade Conforto, not until June at the earliest and they’ll need a spot a lot sooner than that. Crazy times! Probably a couple “other” trades happening soon… or they just cut CT. All the best, fellas
MLBTR said in a chat that Gonsolin can still be optioned.
Banda or Vesia
Yeah, on 2nd thought maybe Vesia is out of a job now. He did so well in ’24, what a helluva (possible) DFA!
LOL he won’t be DFA’d. Opening day pitchers will be Snell, Yamamoto, Glasnow, Sasaki, Gonsolin, May, Kopech, Treinen, Vesia, Phillips, Banda, Brasier, and Scott.
Ohtani back in May
Graterol, Stone, Sheehan, Ryan to the 60-day IL
Is baseball broken? Is free agency the way it is disgusting to the average fan?
For whatever reason one feels disgust regarding the star NPB players, MLB free agents and MLB conspiring to build a super team, there are very simple steps that can be taken.
When the Dodgers come to your team’s stadium, do not attend. “Empty” stadiums speak volumes.
Do not view either televised or streamed Dodger games even when they play your team. It will speak volumes when “Golden Girls” reruns become more popular than Dodger games.
I’ve already sold or given away all my ’25 Dodger/Padre tix! Haha, no joke.
Dodgers led the league in road attendance last year, despite playing zero road games at baseball’s largest venue, Dodger Stadium.
Interesting that you should say this because it truly sounds like you are throwing up the white flag to the Dodgers before your team even plays them. It makes it sound like you don’t think your team should even be on the same playing field as them. That’s not how you really feel, is it? You probably realize that teams hosting the Yankees promote the hell out of the series because it is likely to be the highest draw of the year thus making money for you team, who, really ought to be spending that money to either keep their players or sign free agents. I heard the same thing about the Yankees years ago, stay home, don’t watch them, and what happened? The road attendance went up for precisely the reason fans wanted to see their team beat the Yankees. Every time fans come to the game the teams obviously have a chance to make a ton of money selling merch, concessions and parking.
All fair points ken, and I for one am waving no white flag. To understand the brevity of our situation, the Dodger games already attract the “less desirable” Blue fans that you’d want to sit next to for 3 hours plus. They’re already obnoxious af (mostly… not all, of course!) and my family and I want nothing to do with their obtuseness. [On the whole]
If a player really wants to play for a team committed to put a winner on the field, just pure speculation on my part, I think that player would be asking himself if at the trade deadline will this team make a trade and take on salary to bolster its post-season chances or would they stand pat, as teams have in the past, and not go out and get that player to put them over the hump. There are obviously many factors in a player deciding where to sign, including the money, but is likely to be one of them that the team is truly committed to winning, unless of course you are a hitter coming off a down season and needs to pad his offensive stats by signing a short term deal with Colorado and then cash in on his inflated stats after the deal runs out.
Love that you mentioned parking lol
@Ken if the Dodgers can’t win the whole enchilada with the roster they currently have that is a major, major failure. Of course not being a dodger fan I want them to fail, but reality is they genuinely should win.
You are not wrong.
When the Dodgers are winning the World Series(shame and horror if they don’t) I will not be watching. I hope that the average fan would boycott such a spectacle
Deferment need to stop. They say we gotta make all teams equal. Yet this is allowed. A spending floor and ceiling need to be put in place with no deferred money .
La deferrals alredy have 3 closers
Now they add 4th
Lifelong Dodgers fan here. I sat through the McCourt years and before. Must admit I am starting to get a bit embarrassed with all these signings, and totally get other team’s frustration. But the Dodgers didn’t write the rules. They are playing within them and utilizing them to their advantage as all teams can and should.
I honestly think this is the Ohtani effect. $102m a year in off field revenue it was reported last season for the Dodgers. That not only pays for Otahni’s contract, but Tanner Scott, Snell and may be others. Best baseball contract ever for commercial revenue. True global sports icon who pulls in the $$$ from corporations and sponsorships.
You’re right, and I’m not crying… but how is that fair to, say… Cincinnati or Tampa? Complete imbalance in effect. That being said, go Padres!
And he is a gambler who got away with it. Dodgers are ruining baseball.
Sure “pando”
Ahhh, but there is going to be the new pastime of baseball fans of seeing the Dodgers lack chemistry and blow tons of money on subpar performances.
Blake Snell is all about Blake. If it’s not a contract year, he has admitted of putting in a subpar effort during spring training. His last year with the Padres, he announced he was going to work hard to be ready at the beginning of the year. Hahaha!
One thing about the Sasaki signing is the fact that he hasn’t thrown an American baseball a thousand times. It’s not just a matter of weight, but the girth in the hand is going to change his mechanics. Especially if he’s trying to throw it 100 mph.
At least Dave Roberts is at the helm. Dave is a good guy and I think he knows how to work with personalities better than most. The Padres really screwed up by not making him their manager. The Padres are like the chargers, management and ownership missteps and laziness doom long-term success.
Tell us all Crikes, why are you fan then? In all honesty, and I mean no disrespect. Let us hear it.
Dodgers lacking chemistry is what got me. So basically the same core minus Shohei melts down in the NLDS and gets KO’d by the Arizona Diamondbacks… Their chemistry was so bad that…
… they voluntarily skipped seeing their families for the bye period to stay together as a team and get ready for the Padres series in 2024?
Just pathetic chemistry
@Captain i’m sure if my team were doing it I would certainly have mixed feelings. For anyone not a dodger fan this is over the top and grotesque. I’m not necessarily blaming the just the Dodgers, I’m blaming baseball as a whole.
Prediction: Phillies finish first iverall in the NL, the Dodgers win their division and make the playoffs but don’t even make the Division finals. Phillies and SD battle it out instead after Preller magically fills all his holes just like last year.
I like how you think, Bummer! Cheers braddha
Bingo. But which team plays the Tigers in the WS?
Let’s replay the 1984 World Series (which would have been sweet on the 40th anniversary last year). I like that better than D.D. vs his old team.
No Dodgers and no Yankees. Fresh blood in the WS this year like the Arizona-Texas WS the year before.
bring it on. My childhood mentor and Kearny High rival Alan Trammell tossing first pitch would be approved by all
Baseball is done if they dont stop this
baseball is fine because you marks will all hate watch the games anyway
Still gotta go out and play the season. So much can happen that can change a team’s fortune..
lol couple years ago mlb was ready to step in and veto the contract between judge and padres
Now they’re literally not vetoing any deferred payment deals dodgers make no matter how many there are
MLB is a joke and slowly falling down the rankings
The World Series for outwatched by
Super Bowl where everyone sees the bias in the refs towards KC esp after yesterday and still gets more views
NBA chamoionship
College football playoffs
Men’s and women’s march madness championships
MLB World Series
MLB deserves the 6th place finish
At the time, MLB nixing that deal seemed reasonable.
Now, it looks like a complete farce. If the Pads had just paid Judge $2 million a year for the first ten years, they’d have apparently been fine.
Not that Judge would have signed with San Diego anyway.
Wow. MLB has a problem. I expect Manfred to deny it exists and keep his eyes shut with fingers in his ear.
Im a little too young but was this the feeling fans had in the late 90s early 00s when the Yankees would buy all the top tier talent?
I am also a little too young to remember but I think a lot of the Yankees team was homegrown. The Dodgers are just buying their team.
Pretty much, but it was the Yankees so it was ok. Entitlement.
I remember it well and that was exactly how it felt.
Ridiculous. Maybe the commish should add a pre-season draft so that the Dodgers can fill out their roster with their choices from the other 29 Major League rosters.
This is well beyond ridiculous at this point!
The penny-pinching owners and poorly run FOs are loving these developments. Diverting the ire and pressure from their mismanagement and failures to a well run successful organization. Brilliant.
Most teams are not owned by billionaires. Check your facts!
lol
Pay everyone in 10 years and sign them all. Just give them the damn trophy.
The Dodgers have just signed Ted Williams cryogenically frozen head to a 200 year contract awaiting the technology to reincarnate baseball’s all time greatest hitter.
Is there any point playing the 2025 season at this point. This is getting ridiculous. Surely there has to be some rule against one team just getting whoever they want when they want
The Dodgers didn’t sign the top free agent batter or pitcher, Soto and Burnes, nor do they appear to be interested in the #3 rank Free Agent Alex Bregman
Instead they signed 32nd ranked Free agent Conforto to play RF, international FA Sasaki for the rotation and 26th ranked Free Agent Kim to help the infield.
Could have been Soto, Burnes and Bregman, but it is Conforto, Sasaki and Kim.
Dodgers didn’t buy the best, they bought solidly but not the best,
Dodgers signed the #4 Snell to replace the #8 rank free agent Flaherty
Teoscar re-signed
37th ranked Free Agent Buehler went away
Dodgers signed the #14 overall and top ranked reliever
The Dodgers actions on paper just don’t seem so overwhelming, but they sure have caused a lot of anger.
Geez. When you put it like that…..
Good post.
Just stupid now
What a joke baseball is. What is next move by Dodgers, surely they need some bench players like Anthony Santander and Pete Alonzo
Bruh…..
This is crazyyyyy. The dodgers will in 140 games next season.
I wonder what will be the hot topic in the chat tonight?
Blame the Trashtros.
Right now, the Dodgers backup catcher is Austin Barnes. Shameful lack of roster depth. I recommend they trade for Adley Rutchman or William Contreras to backup Will Smith if they want to make a serious run at a repeat.
And Dalton Rushing, who can play the OF. He’ll get some time this year.
Honest question as i’m not on MLB rules. Any deferred contracts have their value put into an account to ensure they get paid what is signed? If so from a players POV i get it as its guaranteed money down the road.. But does it go against the Luxury Tax? if not fair play to Dodgers for gaming the system and making a great roster but whats the tipping point? do Dodgers have to take into account those payments for x years on their payroll? No hate just curious on the logistics
The money is set aside now. The Dodgers invest it and it’ll grow to about what they owe, perhaps even making a little extra for their trouble… as a treat.
The present day value is figured into the luxury tax numbers.
FFS.
This is ridiculous.
Seriously, MLB and the Players Union need to address this deferred-money garbage system being abused, especially by the Dodgers. There needs to be limitations enacted.
100% agreed
Any team is allowed too n can deferr money on contracts. Some do some don’t. Dodgers aren’t cheating that would be the stros, who manipulated the very core of sportsmanship n fair play. And mlb did jack to the offenders.
Peter Seidler set the Padres up for failure by spending a bunch of money, not getting good chemistry out of that money and not building the farm system, but rather using it as a bank.
The Padres can’t play on the Dodgers level of finances. The market is smaller, they’ve mishandled things like their radio contract by putting the Padres flagship station on the FM dial, they’re just doomed.
Seidler was spending money knowing he was going to die young. He’s put multiple anchors around the Padres neck. Now that there are reasonable people not suffering from chemo brain running the show, they have to run the business wisely. Add in the fact that Peter’s widow is suing those who are running the show now, it’s a shitshow.
Mlbtr should create 2nd website just for la deferrals
This site remains for the other 29 tms
the next VBS really should address this deferment crap. it’s really nonsense.
All mlb teams have former players who had deferrals.. So let stop bring that Dodgers are playing the loophole with free agency it nothing new..
When it comes to Dodger games, the question wont be who is winning but how much are the Dodgers winning by?!
But let’s be honest here, at this point, the season is a wash for Dodger fans.
Anything less than steamrolling through the postseason to a WS win will make the Dodgers the laughing-stock of baseball.
This is honestly getting unendurable as a baseball fan.
What is going to happen if / when they have 27 underwater contracts in 3 to 4 years is going to be an interesting question.
My take(s) include(s) the Dodgers have inside info that a huge meteor ☄️ is coming to destroy humanity thus rendering moot all questions, and they want to win in the meantime,
☄️ ☄️ ☄️
That was my thinking. All other 29 fan bases need to relentlessly boo them when they come to town. Let them know how much they’re hated. That’s all we can really do.
This is just getting laughable now. I guess the rest of the league will just battle it out for the intercontinental championship since the Dodgers have the world title locked up for the foreseeable future.
lulz
lol
Dodgers should easily surpass wins in a season- my predictions 130 plus! Party over turn off the lights. No reason to play now. Only obstacle in their way are injuries but even then the dodgers obviously have the finances to do whatever they have to do. Normally go to 30 plus games a year- this year can count on one hand because of the cost.
No, but they could honestly chase 117 wins in a season w/any kinda luck w/few injuries.
Congrat to everyone who says this is ruining baseball. You have fallen for the billionaire narratives. The same billionaires who fleece cities out of money to build stadiums with the promises of an improved team. When they dont deliver, they blame the players. Rickets Cub fans is using your money to pay his debt for buying the Cubs so His team is more valuable. Stop falling for the narative!
I’m sorry sir, it’s you who are falling for the narrative. A narrative established by a hedge fund who owns the Dodgers, of all things.
If I am teams with a lower payroll I would do everything to improve their minor leagues and scouting budgets.
Maximize your investments there.
Try to find as many international and US prospects. Stay out of Free agency but still make trades. Market your team as family friendly entertainment. Give multi game discounts on tickets, parking, food, merchandise and other perks with partners (game streamers)
Also expand NO alcohol seating sections to lessen
New CBA contract coming after 2026 season.
Don’t chase LAD and similar teams.
Note to Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, or any other mega-billionaire: Please buy the Cardinals and the Dodgers. Trade the entire Dodger team to the Cards for Nolan Arenado. Thanks
As a fan of a small market team, congratulations Dodgers fans. Every body else has had several months to make their team better and they are simply sitting back and watching the Dodgers do nothing but trying to position themselves to win another title.
People who are saying that payroll doesn’t matter on winning the World Series (or that it’s not as important as presumed), are wrong. Literally, since 1995, 20 of the 29 winners have been top 10 payrolls. Should some of the cheaper owners start spending more cash? Yes. Will they without a payroll cap and min? no. That’s where the problem lies. (Including the inherent problem with revenue-sharing that gives cheap owners a crutch).
I guess we might as well hand the WS trophy to the Dodgers for the next 4-5 years based on these comments. Talk about crying way too early.
If I was a betting man I’d still take the field over the Dodgers to win the ‘25 WS. That’s how grueling and unpredictable MLB postseason can be.
And for those of you that are quitting baseball over this. Bye! Proves you weren’t a serious fan to begin with. I endured the stretch from 1988 to 2020 just fine, even though it was painful and many times obvious that the team was not close to WS level. Love of the game goes deeper than winning WS even if that’s the goal.
The Dodgers were a WS level team in the 2000s they just choked when it mattered.
You would take the field of 29 years over 1 team. Wow what a statement.
They were rarely first place in their division in the earlier part of 2000s. And no not close to WS teams.
Missing the point. The best teams often don’t win the WS. How about waiting for the Dodgers to win another WS before the complaints? They most likely won’t win it in ‘25.
The Dodgderd won their division 3 times in the 2000s and were a wild card team once.
I don’t care if they win it all or not. What’s going on right now is lame and not in the best interest of the sport.
Which is nothing close to their current run. Giants were the team to beat then.
The Giants were the team to beat in the 2010s. And no it’s isn’t anywhere near what they are doing lately but they were still an excellent team back then.
You think this is good for baseball? How do you root for this garbage?
This is great for baseball, jays have no choice but to meet Vlads number. Other teams gotta stop being lame and pay the players.
Go look at revenue and payroll. Teams like Boston, SF, Chicago have top 7 revenue but rank outside top 12 payroll. You have the money. Your owners just pocket it.
You are making stuff up.
The Dodgers make far more profit than any of those teams.
Exactly, mlb is multi-billion dollar business, other teams could go over the top n spend more on roster construction … they choose not too. They invest most of there proceeds back into their pockets n not into on field product. Tell me if your team wasn’t spending like drunken sailors you wouldn’t be in baseball heaven too ? Dodgers are ALL-IN. Putting winning above EVERYTHING else.
For the life of me, I don’t understand why fans obsess on points like this.
You will NEVER get the owners to change their spending habits: not out of their own free will, not out of embarrassment, not out of jealously. Manfred’s job, after all, is to appease those very same owners, and he will never do something that isn’t in their best interest.
People keep talking about how they wish things would or should be while the house is starting to catch fire.. And saying stuff like “It sucks for fans of Team X, but maybe their owner should spend more and they can win too” is an entirely pointless and unproductive conversation to have relative to the experience of fans in the current imperfect reality we live in. Sacrificing them in the name of sticking it to the owners who refuse to spend more is asinine.
Hard cap and floor is the only way to go if you want a) all owners to be held minimally accountable in terms of spending, and b) players to still get paid nearly as much as they otherwise would without a cap. Yelling at the clouds may win you some karma points, but it fixes nothing.
This wouldn’t be fun if I were a dodgers fan. This has become the globetrotters vs the general’s.
Well you’re not. Me? I’m having a blast.
Root for insurance companies over sick people, do you?
Breaking: Dodgers sign Pete Alonso as backup 1b/DH and pinch hitter.
Breaking: Dodgers sign Jack Flaherty as long reliever.
Breaking: Dodgers freeze Ohtani’s sperm in cryobank and sign unborn child to 25 year, $800m deal. Bulk of contract being deferred until the year 2600.
Breaking: Dodgers sign Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Jimmy Foxx’s corpses to long-term contracts.
The LA Deferrals
Before we get to Spring Training the Dodgers will be able to field a JV team that could win the NL West, if their Varsity team wasn’t there.
Talking about making a manager a future Hall of Famer the easy way. I wonder how giddy Dave Roberts gets each offseason?
And next year we get to see Vlad on the Dodger$. Won’t that be fun? Unless of course there’s a 6-month old Japanese phenom that Friedman has already signed.
Why even bother having the season at this point? Just save the other teams time and just give them the trophy.
Good to see one team improving in the offseason. Too bad the other teams are doing nothing.
618 comments and counting WoW!
So many clicks and eyeballs.
MLBTr is definitely increasing their price to run ads
Raking in the US, Canadian and Latin American currency
Good for You!
Can we create a new Non LAD Championship?
Can they b re-named the Globemashers?
Could every starter in the ASG be a LAD. Faceplant ARGH.
They gotta knock it the f off with this deferred money bs. Manfred is spineless. Specifically targets small market teams strategies in the sake of “speeding up the game” and does f all to talent grabs by rich mediocre organizations like the Dodgers, Mets and Yankees who need every little bit of assistance from MLB to be relevant and above the rest of the league.
Just gets worse and worse. FTD and at this point all of MLB.
Now the Dodgers have become this generation’s Yankees. I can both admire that and wish for them to fail, all at the same time. And that’s not cognitive dissonance because those are not mutually exclusive opinions. LOL
I agree, this is not good for baseball.
It’s the MLD (Major league dodgers) vs. the field
It’s boring, like all regional little league finals which is always a juggernaut against a team put together because the juggernaut has to play someone to advance.
MLB needs a hard cap
I am fine with the concept of having a soft cap, but something needs to be done to change this, either by changing the rules on deferment or having a hard cap. Deferment should be used in a Bobby Bonilla way, not in a Tanner Scott, Ohtaini way
Deferrals should only be for small market teams to compete against large market ones
Doesn’t work that way, small market teams can’t defer money because there is no guarantee they’ll have the money in the future
The dodgers couldn’t care less about money and don’t need to.
Have the Dodgers been granted an exception to MLB’s roster cap? I’ve lost all respect for these players who continue to accept deferrals from the LAD. They’re helping to enable this egregious anti competitive behavior.
Good for Dodgers! 162 is a long season. Anything can and does happen. Anything short of World Series will probably viewed as a failure.
It already was. Been that way since Guggenheim bought the team, and probably was the expectation when the O’Malleys owned the team.
It’s not even funny to read anymore. This is boring and something needs to change.
This is going to be interesting to watch…it won’t surprise anybody if the Dodgers win the World Series again but it will shock the hell out of EVERYONE if they don’t.
I can only imagine the comments if / when the Dodgers get knocked out and don’t even get to the World Series.
The rich get richer and the other 29 teams are just treading water and thankful that the Dodgers allow everybody else to play in their sandbox.
Next CBA needs to include language limiting deferred money. Teams are capable of gaming the system at this point.
As a Giants fan I find the over reactions to the Dodger’s off season hilarious.
The NL West is such a grind.
Giants may win 2-4 games against LAD this upcoming season at best.
Those 2-4 games will be wonderful.
I’d sell off every asset I had on SF…rebuild and bank money and do the same thing and target the Dodgers in a 4-5 season range. Can’t get in a sprint with them.
But I honestly think deferral limits are in the next CBA. When a team is so well heeled they can game the system there trouble. Baseball rules have always been in an effort to curb a edge.
This isn’t good for baseball. If you’re a Rockies fan with a hope and desire to win. There’s no reason to support the team….it’s bad enough just with Rockies management.
They’re deferring large % of what some teams are VALUED at.
WOW Holy Sh#t ! Dodgers are not messin around are they ? Man, what an assembled roster, not to shabby. Again, WOW ! Gonna be some kinda yr in Los Angeles. What are Vegas WS odds now ? Go Dodgers !
You lose money if you bet of the dodgers to win at this point
This is what happens when you have a major sports league that has a commissioner who is not looking out for what is the best for the league.
I realize there IS a negotiated contract that both sides have to ratify but the commissioner should be independent, not a puppet.
Instead we get ghost runner and game show type ‘improvements’
It would be great if MLB exemption was revoked and NO future public $ could be used to build any stadiums.
I could use more harsh words but you get the idea. Use your imagination.
Baseball imo has been on a downward slide since that MIL used car salesman was commissioner.
And they put him in the HOF?
I didn’t vote for him.
Commissioner does what the owners direct him to do. That’s why we end up with Selig or Manfred types.
If a commissioner was actually concerned about the state of the sport from a fans perspective, he works be fired and replaced with Selig or Manfred.
I am a lifelong Dodger fan who lives in SoCal with a different take on all this:
1) California is a heavily mismanaged state with enough homeless to earn an extra seat in Congress and the possibility of starting a wildfire every time we fart. That being said, if you are rich, Southern California is still one of the most pleasant places to live on Earth. Don’t forget: all of you have been chanting “Beat LA” for decades but it is a chant based on envy. Many enjoy having LA lose more than having their team win. Like it or not, it is very telling. It’s also obvious most young baseball players dream of being rich in LA.
2) MLB has many problems but this “Dodger” problem is really an MLB ownership problem. I’ll use my team, the Dodgers, as an example. When Frank McCourt owned the team, he was using it as a personal piggy bank. As the owner, it was his right to manage it however he wanted but the team dropped to the middle of the 30s teams when it came to spending. He cut player development and scouting, even though he could have focused on producing a winning team with all those LA revenue streams. It was an awful time to be a Dodger fan. I suggest most of the MLB fanbases are going through what Dodger fans went through under McCourt, tightwad ownership whose main focus is not fielding the best team and if you say the Dodgers have a sweet TV deal, that’s true but don’t whine about it. Do what Dodger fans did and literally BOYCOTT your team until ownership is compelled to sell. Look it up. Our attendance in LA dropped like crazy because we wanted McCourt out (that fool still owns the Dodger parking lots. Ugh).
3) It’s true the Guggenheim Group has tons of money to spend but they are also earning a ton of money. TV deals, partnerships, sponsorships. Lots of advantages in being in LA but what never EVER gets discussed is how damned expensive it is to be a fan. 2024 was the first year I did not attend a single game because I, a regular dude, have been priced out. If I wanted to take myself and three people to sit in the nose bleed Top Deck to watch a Dodger/Reds game, it would cost me at least $200 (it’s about $30 just to park in the huge Dodger lot). Down the freeway, the Angels advertise four tickets for $44 for certain games. The Dodgers are a great team I can’t afford to go see because part of the expense of collecting all these Infinity Stones has been the middle and lower class being squeezed out.
There are two advantages I, as a Dodger fan, will concede to everyone here who hates LA. We currently have great ownership who wants to win even more than the average fan does and LA itself can generate larger revenue streams. MLB can modify rules, eliminate deferrals, salary cap, whatever but let’s hope every team gets owners who will spend in a way their fan base deserves and maybe one day, I can afford to actually go see them.
As you said lifetime Dodger fan. But what about teams such as A’s. Who has signed players just to make minimum team salary and not lose revenue sharing. System is broken, I understand it is a business. But as a fan of a team that also spends. But tax laws in NY are slightly different. Both NY teams spend money. But taken a family to games is crazy expensive. I opt to see the local farm teams. The one thing to remember an investment group will sell quickly if profits are down or cut costs. With no thought about the fans. So enjoy now, change can happen at anytime.
MLB owners are not baseball fans first.
They are billionaire’s who know how to make money.
A team is an investment and it exists to generate a profit, period
There are not many people rich enough to buy a team to begin with.
Even Cohen cut his losses as a fan to save money when his team collapsed, there is always a limit, and did MLB owners, it’s break even or profit, losing money on an investment in an MLB franchise is not an option.
Yep. Dodger fans are stoked which I get, but for everybody (basically for the rest of baseball) it’s incredibly boring.
Like watching team Cuba play Scranton in the llws
Baseball is broken, we are heading for a strike!
The commissioner broke it! Money hungry fool
He should have put his hand on Roki shoulder and whispered in his ear ” anywhere but LA”
Him signing there is what’s killing this. They get cheap n expensive talent …… thats too much
More likely a lock- out. The players are happy (mostly) with things as they are.
Bob Nightengale on X
Cubs president Jed Hoyer on the mighty Dodgers: “People focus on the size of their payroll and the deferments, and stuff like that, but it’s just a great organization that’s kind of running on all the cylinders. They do well in the draft. They do well internationally. They make smart trades. They do a good job finding value on the margins. And they also can go sign major free agents. So, I just think that focusing on the amount of money they spend does a disservice to an organization that’s running at a really high level.’’
Yep!
True, but what would you expect Hoyer to say..he might need a job someday.
It’s good an well that they do baseball well. But they have nearly as much in deferred contracts than some teams are valued at. That’s not good for baseball.
Other teams DO need to do better. But it’s not a competitive environment. And it’s not because the deferred deals will spread to other teams top down.
There are simply teams that can’t risk these types of long term deals.
The Dodgers are an international team playing against many truly regional teams
O’Doyle (Dodgers), I’ve got a feeling your whole family’s going down.
@RunDMC can we agree today the Braves are going below the Luxury Tax this year?
Another contract every other team could have signed him to but people will still cry about it being unfair.
There starters do not have a history of pitching many innings before breakdowns. So I understand building the bullpen. Not being familiar with the tax laws. And if they allow the deferred salary. MLB has to make changes where the salary hits and teams. Not individuals get hit with the penalties. Small market teams need to have a chance. But that means they have to spend the
Revenue sharing on players. If they want fans a better product has to be put on the field.
Thats why they 9 deep
Los Angeles former (or hopeful) Padres.
The Dodgers 40 man roster must now have TWO ALL-STAR LINEUPS in it.
And they still have an all star caliber farm system.
I’m not a fan, but I can’t argue that the dodgers are far and away better at using the MLB rules to their advantage
Dodgers fan since 1959. Am I pleased with the end result (championship)? Sure! Am I happy about the methods used to reach it? Not really. I guess I would prefer if the roster was vaguely similar year to year and that there were more “home grown” players rather than free agents but in this era where the motto seems to be “Win, no matter what it costs!”, I guess I’ll just like counting rings.
Are they going for a 400 mill payroll?
400 billion.
All this hubbub over acquiring a situational lefty.
Remember when they extended their utility infielder?
Teams need to recognize the importance of this signing and understand that they must create Roger Beshens Football Slider products in months not over several years. Any team would be making a mistake if they didn’t hire Roger Beshens as Director of Football Slider development.
BEST TEAM MONEY CAN BUY!
Just hand the WS trophy to the Dodgers right now. No need to play the 2025 MLB season. Geez.
Who knows what is going to happen by the time the 2025 season ends? A less heralded international pitcher, than Yoshinobu Yamamoto, was Shota Imanaga, proved to be a bargain for the Cubs.
Shota is fun to watch.
I hope ohtani pitches a lot this year, he’s fun to watch too.
We are all baseball fans, and we all seem to root for our specific brand of laundry.
The last few years of FA have turned me into a more casual fan who will watch individual players different teams, the team aspect of baseball is quickly going away for me.
I find it harder to root for my team while simultaneously finding it harder to root against the other teams or evil empires for that matter
People complaining about parody in MLB and saying the NFL is better make me laugh. 40% of the last 20 super bowls were won by Mahomes or Brady. Yep that’s parody.
Parody always makes me laugh.
Taylor Swift has more rings than the Mariners.
This has become a joke. And I’m a Yankee fan, the former Evil Empire!
Not even news at this point.
MLB is going down if this crap keeps up. It’s like 8-10 teams can truly compete with the Dodgers and the rest can basically form their own playoff at the end of the season. You have the MLB-MB (moneyball) division, then have MLB-NP (normal payroll) division. I’m a Tigers fan so I’d obviously be watching MLB-NP! But do you really think if this kind of “Dream Team” system keeps at it that MLB won’t lose eyeballs each year b/c there’s no true competition? IDK, what do you think?
For all you whiners, tell your cheap billionaire owner to get off their butt and spend some money not to mention revenue sharing clause in the CBA! It’s not rocket science and oh by the way, all teams can do deferrals it’s not against any baseball guidelines, so no, Dodgers aren’t cheating…players just wasnt to be in LA..who could blame them!
It’s more than just spending too. Those owners need to build better clubhouse cultures, invest in better internal teams, and make smarter draft moves. The Dodgers have meticulously planned this out for years. Started a foundation for winning and continued from there. The deferred money is a smart move. I get that it’s tough to digest for other fans, but this organization from top to bottom is doing their due diligence, research, and investment.
It’s all a finely planned blueprint.(excuse the pun)
The Lerners were deferring before deferring was cool.
The Dodgers may not win the World Series—no amount of spending could guarantee that—but there’s a pretty strong chance they’ll go deep into the postseason year after year. Only a matter of time before fans tire of seeing the same handful of teams in the latter stages.
Hard cap and floor will eventually happen. It may take a long time, but I for one think it’s inevitable.
I for one want it to happen but I know the MLBPA will never, ever go along with a cap.
Very True but they are 100% going to the playoffs. Thats more then any other team can say
huge overpay but who gives a crap at this point? they’ve built a juggernaut. the yankees with their just-make-the-playoffs-and-hope-you-get-hot-at-the-right-time approach should take note
I guess the offseason is done for LA.
They still have off-season transactions to accomplish that were deferred last year.
The inevitable Clayton Kershaw signing still will happen at some point.
Santander would look good in leftfield … just saying, 2yr short term contract w/high AAV since we’re building a team of all-stars.
Never.
Yates n Kershaw come on down
The lockout cannot come soon enough. Manfred out, hard cap in.
Smitty – not gonna happen.
You are right because Manfred clearly works in the owner’s interests because he let it slip during the last negotiations by saying it was, and I am paraphrasing this, “us vs the players.” The Commissioner’s Office should be neutral and it clearly isn’t. Pretty sure he isn’t going to go against the most powerful teams in baseball and I am not convinced the teams subsidized by luxury tax money they receive will protest too much considering end of the season cash cow will dry up while all they have to do to collect it is sit back, shut up, and collect it.
Won’t happen cuz all the poor teams not only love the tax money but they love the gate revenue when the big spenders n there fans come on down
Go Dodgers!
Can’t blame them, they’re doing a fantastic job. Location plays also a very important role, but their FO is the best in MLB. I wish the Yankees would have such a creative and successful FO.
Not “blaming” anyone, for sure. They are working the system. It isn’t creative or masterful FO work either, though. Taking out a loan and buying stuff on credit is as old as the hills.
Wrong. A deferral is still a ‘buy now, pay now’ system for the team. It’s only a ‘play now, get paid later’ system for the player.
If the player gets “paid later”, then who pays them? If it’s the team that pays them, then it pays the player later.
It’s paid out of the account, which is fully funded by then from the interest it earned during the deferral years. The team doesn’t come out of pocket to pay the player at that point.
Are you saying that the full amount of the contract is in an escrow account upon signing the contract and then are paid out on a predetermined schedule? That makes no sense at all to me. When Aaron Judge signed a 9 year $360 million contract, the full amount was not put in an “account”. He just gets a regular payroll check from the Yankee’s operating account. Can you tell me where you got this information?
For Ohtani, as an example, $46MM is paid out in full, $2MM to Ohtani and $44MM to the escrow account. This is for the life of his playing career. The money and the interest that accrued is paid out on a year by year basis from his retirement on. That’s the $70MM.
The Dodgers won’t pay anything additional.
I’m not sure where you are getting that information. Is there a link you can share? Everything that I am seeing is that the Dodgers will have their own “Bobby Bonilla Day” for ten years after the contract is over. 46 + 2 = 48 not 70.
Not seeing my comments?
As a Giants fan, I’m not mad at the Dodgers for putting together a crazy team, I’m pissed at the Giants for signing one guy and a veteran pitcher and then telling us we have a contender. It’s just rude, they are printing money down there with all that land they own and they said they want to reduce payroll from last year. I’m over this do-nothing nonsense.
Plus about to add the Oakland market.
How do you know Scott didn’t turn down similar offers because he wanted to be on the SuperFriends team? Other organizations shouldn’t be forced to overpay just because Dodgers choose to…
He wanted to be on the cubs but Jed n Nickels were too cheap to go 4 years …… then when Dodgers went 4, he went 4 but by then Scott already was mentally gone to LA
As much as I hate this….SHAME on the rest of the league and it’s owners for sitting on their hands and doing nothing. I’m looking at you Redsox, (“IN” on everyone, so they say) Mariners, Twins, Marlins, Cardinals, Padres,
There is a rumor the Red Sox made a better offer to Scott.
Never thought the day would come, but I’m losing interest in MLB. I’ll tune in and watch my Tigers, go to a couple games, sure. But I think I’m turning my attention to the NHL. It’s a better product for sure.
Enjoy the violence bruh!
MUCH better product. At least for now. Players aren’t overpaid, no team has a monopoly on players. It could all change but it is wildly more entertaining than baseball and football. The refs or umps can’t control as much of the game as they want either, which is why it’s just a great sport.
Not to mention hockey is the best live sport.
Good things he’s getting paid to mop up occasionally.
There won’t be many save opportunities to drive his price up in the future.
Either the big money teams like the Dodgers, Yankees and Mets need to be in a division of their own or we need a salary cap. This is getting ridiculous
Dash – what’s ridiculous? That talent and resources are not distributed evenly and randomly? Or your belief that talent and resources should be distributed evenly and randomly?
They’re never going to be able to sell this team
Too valuable?
What are the actual cash expense for LAD including tax penalties? That would’ve been relevant information to include in the article.
Dodgers done for the off season. They would like to keep signing but no one good left.
They will sign Yates just because they can and to keep him from anyone else.
Please join me, in all of your major league cities, in boycotting Dodgers games. The way to stop this is to send a clear message that baseball fans will not tolerate this dishonorable conduct..
Maybe empty ballparks will get MLBs attention.
Unfortunately doesn’t work that way. When I went to the Dodgers at Nationals last season, the stadium was packed and probably 70% Dodgers fans. All the Dodger road games will be sells outs with local market wanting to see the stars.
That’s a lot of bandwagon fans at the Nats games. Ouch.
I hope the Dodgers are able to keep the surgeons in LA as busy as possible. To all the teams who are bothered by the bottomless pockets of the Dodgers and to all the pitchers who must face them remember one thing, and that is that no one can hit from the seat of their pants. Hard to be aggressive in the batters box if you think the next pitch might be heading towards your ear hole
I would hope it’s only you that is this ignorant. Go be a clown somewhere else.
I’d just like the record to reflect it was my wallet that started this “deferred money” trend.
I’m trying really really hard not to wish L.A. would fall into the sea… MLB truly sucks!
The Dodgers are going to sign Alonzo, just to pinch hit against lefty’s, Bergman, for late inning defense and Santander to stash in AAA
STOP WATCHING MLB. Stop going yo games and watching on tv. The dodgers still need other teams to play against period. Force a lockout so that MLB is forced to change things. Let dodgers fans gloat until there is no one else to play against. Fans can change this by stop supporting the product.
Good move by the Dodgers. With all the hate on these boards I think many fans of other teams are not aware of how many so called closers the Dodger have used since they last Jansen.
The Dodgers are playing by the rules. As far as I can tell they are not unbeatable and a far cry from a dynasty. But you wouldn’t know that from reading many of these comments.
I get it – fans of other teams want their teams to do something, anything. Do any of you remember that the Dodgers had a few remarkably uneventful offseasons before they signed Ohtani?
Do you recall that they lost Seager and Buehler to free agency?
I just don’t get all the hate. And I’m not a Dodger fan
They just breezed through last year with half their rotation. Now they have an even DEEPER rotation, more depth with bats, and slightly better RP. They lost Buehler because they didn’t want him taking up a spot. It was not about money. And Buehler is, what, two TJS in his career? They lost Seager and then immediately traded for Betts and Freeman. In the baseball world that’s a long time ago. Times have changed especially with TV money and signing Ohtani. As soon as they signed Ohtani they created a glitch in the game with unlimited money from foreign markets.
But it’s the way they’re doing it that’s pissing everyone off. How can they not be punished by a system supposed to prevent this kind of monopolization? They’re taking advantage of soft rules (Ohtani is just as guilty) and shamelessly throwing it in our faces.
Things were uneventful because Dodgers brass were scheming… Waiting for this moment. Like the true villains of the game they are.
Rays – ok, but they are playing by the rules that have been vetted and established by their peers. Not sure what the problem is – resources and talent are not distributed randomly or evenly. Teams that have more resources and talent are more likely to acquire and pay players at the tail of the distribution – say 90th percentile or hig
Higher. But that does not necessarily translate into more pennants or trophies. I get that a lot of folks are unhappy with the fact that talent is not randomly and equitably distributed but we do have e rules and regulations in baseball to ensure that inequitable distributions do not ruin the sport. Reports of the impending death of baseball are greatly exaggerated. It’s precisely the opposite. Markets are opening up worldwide and will continue to create apparent inequities. The players and owners will renegotiate their contractual relationship in a couple of years. Talent distribution and resource distribution will be on the agenda.
And creating binary villain- victim narratives , as you did in your post, is from my viewpoint really unhelpful. A
Conversation stopper.
Agee- I think that it is more the hate of the economics of baseball and the exorbitant prices that are required to pay as a fan.
Steve Cohen was the target a couple of years ago.
They are products of this country’s love of making money.
The Dodgers are playing by the rules but are just the current culprit.
I think that they are trying to recreate the Yankees’ dynasty of the late 90’s and early 00’s.
Inasmuch as they had not won a full season WS since 1988 I can understand why they want to keep winning.
The LA Deferrals!!
Great work by LAD.
Brains and money do tend to get it done.
In the words of Troy Aikmen: “Aw, c’mon!!”
Dodgers don’t need Scott. They signed South Sudan pitching sensation Joseph Deng earlier today.
Does anyone here have tickets to the Dodgers/Cubs opener in Tokyo??
Self-defeating move. The Dodgers are one of the most talented and entertaining teams on the planet. Why would fans deprive themselves of an opportunity to watch a team that has, what, 3-4, future Hall of Famers at minimum? A boycott accomplishes nothing, unless you’re a masochist!
Mickey – pipe down.
Save your venom for something that matters. These entertainers are worth every penny. And the owners are entitled to pay them ffs.
Time to raise the price for exceeding the limits. Let the Dodgers pay 100% penalties on their excess spending. Find out how rich they really are, let them pay 100 million dollars in fees for buying a pennant
Not a surprise on this…
When are they signing Kershaw? What will his role be?
LOLOLOLOLOL
ABSOLUTE JOKE!
A fair and even playing field, right?
JOKE
I’m a lifelong Yankee fan but deep down I would love to see David beat Goliath. Wouldn’t it be something to see the Reds or the Royals end up winning it all. I think I just might throw a few bucks on each of them
KC +4000
Cincy +7000
money can’t buy you love and it shouldn’t win you championships either , admittedly I didn’t feel that way back in the ’70s LOL
lol
This is sad…. Welp, looks like some free time to do other stuff this summer
Take a look at all you sky is falling pusyes.
The last 20+ years is littered with small market teams. You’re welcome.
2024 Los Angeles Dodgers New York Yankees 4-1
2023 Texas Rangers Arizona Diamondbacks 4-1
2022 Houston Astros Philadelphia Phillies 4-2
2021 Atlanta Braves Houston Astros 4-2
2020 Los Angeles Dodgers Tampa Bay Rays 4-2
2019 Washington Nationals Houston Astros 4-3
2018 Boston Red Sox Los Angeles Dodgers 4-1
2017 Houston Astros Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3
2016 Chicago Cubs Cleveland Indians 4-3
2015 Kansas City Royals New York Mets 4-1
2014 San Francisco Giants Kansas City Royals 4-3
2013 Boston Red Sox St. Louis Cardinals 4-2
2012 San Francisco Giants Detroit Tigers 4-0
2011 St. Louis Cardinals Texas Rangers 4-3
2010 San Francisco Giants Texas Rangers 4-1
2009 New York Yankees Philadelphia Phillies 4-2
2008 Philadelphia Phillies Tampa Bay Rays 4-1
2007 Boston Red Sox Colorado Rockies 4-0
2006 St. Louis Cardinals Detroit Tigers 4-1
2005 Chicago White Sox Houston Astros 4-0
2004 Boston Red Sox St. Louis Cardinals 4-0
2003 Florida Marlins New York Yankees 4-2
2002 Anaheim Angels San Francisco Giants 4-3
2001 Arizona Diamondbacks
You are so awesome….And clearly the opposite of a pusyss
@Meknow
Looks like MLB just awarded the Diamondbacks the championship in 2001. Has this ever occurred in the past?
Who read all the comments, all 999 of them and counting.
Curious, what happens to the Luxury Tax implications when all this deferred money comes due?
It counts against their CBT payroll when they’re due to pay out. The first CBT threshold will also be much higher then.
It counts against the CBT for the established value for the years played, not the years it gets paid out and not for the future value of the money.
The deferred money is already being accounted for in their current CBT tax and on a yearly basis while the players are on the team, and they are paying it RIGHT NOW. Under standard business accounting principles (time value of money), Ohtani is considered as being paid $46 mil/yr beginning in 2024. When his contract is up, they will have finished paying his CBT taxes, and it is no longer on their books.
Meknow-Thank you for the compendium.
Small market teams are a total of 8 and five have made it to the WorldSeries-two for Rays and Royals and one for the Indians.Of the 48 teams in the World Series in this century,small market teams made it 10.4% of the time.
Five small market teams have not made it in this century- Twins,Pirates,Reds,Brewers,A’s.
There are 8 small market teams of the total of 30,or 26.7%.
Only one won the World Series,even going back to 1991.That is 3.1%.
Thank you for proving our point.
MLine; so there are 22 large market teams (we don’t acknowledge any medium market teams). Most commenters to this site acknowledge the Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, Red Sox & Phillies as the top 5 large market teams who spend, sign & trade at an unfair and uncompetitive advantage.
So, the remaining 17 LARGE MARKET TEAMS are sitting on their @$$e$ year after year, collecting revenue sharing from the 3 to 5 teams who spend to improve their teams for their fans and their bottom line, along with their ticket sales & their individual TV deals and their concession sales and etc. MLB has 13 large market billionaire owners then according to your figures who are basically lazy, do nothing sucker fish.
Thanks for some more clarification!
igy-I would include the Cubs,Rangers,and Astros as the large market teams to make a total of 8.The rest are mid market teams.
That is 25 teams included in this list of World Series participants for large market teams over the same period that there were 5 small market teams.
You seem to be jealous of the revenue sharing so if there was none that your Dodgers could literally buy every good player so that they would have one of the best all star teams of all time.
And that is saying nothing of the extreme amount of money necessary to have 4 or 5 HOFers on your team which should guarantee a World Series win.
We constantly see calculations on how extensive deferred money reduces the present day value of a contract.
Why do we never see calculations for how big signing bonuses increase the present day value of a contract? $20MM up front is a huge difference.
Yankees need to make a headline move after this. “Yankees extend Devin Williams to a 5 year 100 million extension “
Does this mean we should not expect Joe Kelly to return?
Joe Kelly is not going to be on LAD.
I was being facetious. But yeah I agree. Seems more suited to the Halos.
This is getting ridiculous. What is this MLB THE SHOW on chat mode? Every day they’re signing someone! “This just in! The dodgers have successfully dug up and reanimated babe Ruth along 15 other gold and silver era stars and signed them to 10 year 50 billion contracts”!
4.01 ERA and an unsustainable walk rate incoming
Tab for LAD “Closer by Committee” now over $37 million!!
Correction: Does not include Yates unknown compensation , only Scott, Treinen, Phillips and Kopech.New estimate is Approx. a cool $45 million!!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I don’t care about salary floor or cap, but put an end to deferring money. This is ridiculous.
@but
Jays deal with Santander includes $62 million in deferred money. Why? Because it is smart business. Look around. Many teams are deferring large portions of salaries.
Just give the Dodgers the World Series now… unfair to other teams!
@fevr
Such a well reasoned argument
Who cares, really! I so tired of this deferral crap! Baseball is broken and we are heading for a strike in 2027.
Alternate Headline: Local MLBTR Commenter’s Buy-In to 2025 MLB Season Waning
The Dodgers are the Evil Empire of professional sports. Something has to be done about all this deferred money crap. What does Rob Manfred want this sport to become? He’s a laughingstock.
Jays deal with Santander includes $62 million in deferred money. Why? Because it is smart business. Look around. Many teams are deferring large portions of salaries.
I think the bigger problem is they make ten times what most teams do in television money.
The players don’t want a salary cap. But, the circle has to be squared as to alleviating the economic discrepancy.
The next CBA negotiations are going to be lit.
An “Informed” discussion should at least have some facts…
These numbers are not current but the best available. Point is Dodgers do not have “ten times” the tv revenue of most other teams.
Angels: RSN deal with Diamond Sports Group. Expected ’23 revenues around $125MM (reported by Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times in February ’23).
Astros: Formed joint venture with NBA’s Rockets to run Space City Home Network beginning in 2024. Previous RSN deal with AT&T SportsNet Southwest had paid $73MM in ’23 (reported by David Barron of the Houston Chronicle in November ’23).
Athletics: RSN deal with NBC Sports California. Projected ’24 revenue: approximately $70MM (reported by Jeff Passan of ESPN in January ’24). Contract expires once A’s leave the Bay Area.
Blue Jays: Owned by Rogers Communications, which distributes games via Sportsnet. All broadcast revenues unreported.
Braves: RSN deal with Diamond Sports Group. Expected ’23 revenues north of $100MM (reported by Tim Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in November ’21).
Brewers: RSN deal with Diamond Sports Group. ’23 figure unreported; ’22 revenue: $33MM
Cardinals: RSN deal with Diamond Sports Group. ’24 revenue expected to be around $73MM (reported by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in January ’24)
Cubs: Owners of Marquee Sports Network. ’23 figure unreported; ’22 revenue: $99MM
Diamondbacks: No RSN contract. Previous deal, which had paid $68MM in 2022, dropped by Diamond Sports Group in June ’23. MLB handling in-market broadcasting in 2024.
Dodgers: Co-owners of Spectrum SportsNet LA. ’23 figure unreported; ’22 revenue: $196MM.
Giants: RSN/partial ownership deal with NBC Sports Bay Area. ’23 figure unreported; ’22 revenue: $92MM.
Guardians: RSN deal with Diamond Sports Group being renegotiated at a lower price. ’23 revenue: $55MM (reported by Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com in November ’23).
Mariners: Assumed full ownership of ROOT Sports Northwest beginning in 2024. ’23 figure unreported; ’22 revenue: $100MM.
Marlins: RSN deal with Diamond Sports Group. ’23 figure unreported; ’22 revenue: $49MM.
Mets: RSN deal with SNY. ’23 figure unreported; ’22 revenue: $88MM.
Nationals: Co-owners of Mid-Atlantic Sports Network. ’23 figure unreported; ’22 revenue: $61MM.*
Orioles: Co-owners of Mid-Atlantic Sports Network. ’23 figure unreported; ’22 revenue: $61MM.*
Padres: No RSN contract. Previous deal, which had paid $47MM in 2022, dropped by Diamond Sports Group in May ’23. MLB handling in-market broadcasting in 2024.
Phillies: RSN deal with NBC Sports Philadelphia. ’23 figure unreported; ’22 revenue: $125MM.
Pirates: Formed joint venture with NHL’s Penguins to operate SportsNet Pittsburgh beginning in 2024. Previous RSN deal with AT&T SportsNet paid roughly $50-60MM annually (reported by Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in December ’23).
Rangers: RSN deal with Diamond Sports Group being renegotiated at a lower price. Deal has paid $111MM annually to this point (reported by Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News in January ’24).
Rays: RSN deal with Diamond Sports Group. ’23 figure unreported; ’22 revenue: $56MM.
Red Sox: Co-owners of New England Sports Network. ’23 figure unreported; ’22 revenue: $97MM.
Reds: RSN/partial ownership deal with Diamond Sports Group pays roughly $60MM annually (reported by Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer in December ’23).
Rockies: No RSN contract. Previous deal dropped by AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain after 2023. MLB expected to handle in-market broadcasting in 2024. Previous deal paid roughly $57MM in ’23 (reported by Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post in January ’24).
Royals: RSN deal with Diamond Sports Group. ’23 figure unreported; ’22 revenue: $45MM.
Tigers: RSN deal with Diamond Sports Group.’23 figure unreported; ’22 revenue: $60MM.
Twins: No current RSN contract. Previous deal with Diamond Sports Group, which expired after 2023 season, paid $54MM in ’23 (reported by Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune in January ’24). Twins could renegotiate new deal with Diamond.
White Sox: RSN deal with NBC Sports Chicago. ’23 figure unreported; ’22 revenue: $60MM.
Yankees: Co-owners of YES Network. ’23 figure unreported; ’22 revenue: $143MM.
source: mlbtraderumors.com/2024/01/each-teams-local-broadc…
@Bivouac-Sal
Tl;dr, and carriage returns are your friend.
I restated what the San Diego UT said about the Dodger TV money in comparison to the Padre TV money, and made a blanket statement. You would agree the Dodgers make much more than most teams. Your own numbers bear that out. I had to skim them as they give me a headache, since you don’t know how the Enter button works.
But hey, you got me, and you’re super clever.
Yes the Dodgers TV contract is the highest in MLB. No argument there. Just not nearly the gap between them and the others you initially mentioned.
And 48% of the local TV revenue is shared among ALL teams.
@Bivouac-Sal
Here’s this for you, clever guy.
sandiegouniontribune.com/2024/12/11/padres-depart-…
“[The Dodgers] also have [a] local television deal that pays them roughly $340 million a year, more than 10 times what the best estimate of how much the Padres realize as part of their MLB-produced TV package.”
What I should have said was: “The Dodgers make an estimated 10 times what teams in their own division, such as the Padres, make, in television revenue, according to the San Diego Union Tribune newspaper publication.”
I trust the clever guy is satisfied with this correction.
Your endearing sarcasm notwithstanding, I accept the number.
Once again, 48% of local tv revenues (and ticket sales, concessions, merchandise, sponsorships, and local media) are subject to revenue sharing and are distributed equally among all 30 teams, with each team receiving 3.3% of the total sum generated.
@Bivouac-Sal
As endearing as your cleverness.
I believe our very clever interaction has concluded.
Ladies and gentlemen, your 2025 Los Angeles Store Boughts.