The Los Angeles Dodgers have splashed more cash in free agency than all other teams in the MLB combined.
It is going to trigger “a whole lot of complaining” according to one MLB insider and that may only continue because the Dodgers are not done yet.
When you have already spent more than $1 billion ($A1.47bn) to upgrade your roster, spending extra millions to fortify any remaining holes is no big deal.
The Dodgers somehow may not be done spending this winter despite giving Shohei Ohtani the largest contract in sports history and awarding Yoshinobu Yamamoto the biggest contract ever for a pitcher, per The Athletic.
The financial flexibility stems from the team being roughly $15 million ($A22m) below the highest luxury tax tier, according to calculations provided by Fangraphs.
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“The team still could trade for another starting pitcher to go with Yamamoto, Glasnow, Walker Buehler and Bobby Miller,” The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal wrote.
“They also might attempt to upgrade at shortstop.”
While it may seem the Dodgers have the world’s greatest accountant, the length and years of these contracts have kept the luxury tax hits to reasonable numbers.
Yamamoto, who will earn $325 ($A477.7m) million over 12 years, is only on the books for $27.1 million ($A39.8m) each year for luxury tax purposes.
His deal reportedly includes a $50.6 million ($A74.4m) posting fee to the Orix Buffaloes, Yamamoto’s team in Japan, as well as two opt-outs, and a $50 million ($A73.5m) signing bonus, according to ESPN.
The Dodgers are spending more than $375 million ($A551m) to sign the 25-year-old ace.
Unlike Ohtani’s contract, though, there is no deferred money in this deal.
Ohtani took massive deferrals to lessen his hit to $46 million ($A67.6m) per year, which is much more manageable than $70 million ($A102.9m) per season.
Fangraphs projects the Dodgers luxury tax payroll to be around $282.1 million ($A414.7m), and the highest tier for this upcoming season is $297 million ($A436.6m).
There is a surcharge for teams that exceed the competitive balance tax, as well as draft picks being pushed back for teams that exceed the tax by at least $40 million ($A58.8m).
While the Dodgers could still add, they’re already the overwhelming World Series favourite.
According to ESPN, the Dodgers have now spent over $1.042 billion ($A1.53bn) in free agency this offseason compared to over $881 million ($A1.295bn) for the rest of the MLB.
Speaking on SportsCenter on Saturday morning, ESPN’s MLB insider Buster Olney said one rival general manager described the Yamamoto contract as a “joke”.
“You ask the question: Are the Dodgers building a superteam? The answer is yes and the ramifications are there is going to be a whole lot of complaining,” Olney said.
“From fans of small-market teams who will feel like their teams don’t have a shot against a team that just doled out two record-setting contracts – the biggest contracts that we’ve ever seen.
“Griping from other owners, griping from other front offices. I talked to a general manager today who told me the contract that was doled out last night, from his perspective, is a joke. “Now, from the Dodgers’ perspective, they just want to build this consistent winner and they’ve invested in all these guys who seem like they have all the talent to be future Hall of Famers but there’s no question it’s going to set off a lot of griping from other organisations.
“It will be very interesting to see if any of this leads to change during the next Collective Bargaining Agreement because if you’re the Players Association, you love to see players get these kinds of contracts.”
The Dodgers have a strong rotation with Yamamoto, recently acquired righty Glasnow and the returning Buehler.
It’s uncertain if longtime Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw will return for another season.
The Dodgers currently list Miguel Rojas and Chris Taylor as their shortstop options, although former top prospect Gavin Lux is set to return from a torn ACL.
— with New York Post
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