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With a lockout more likely than not at this point in Major League Baseball, the ongoing debate continues over whether the Los Angeles Dodgers are actually ruining the sport.
Many believe the Dodgers have simply broken baseball, particularly with Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million contract, 97% of which is deferred. They have won back-to-back World Series titles and are the favorite for a third consecutive title.
Not only did Los Angeles follow up its titles by signing the most touted reliever on the market in Edwin Diaz, but it also gave Kyle Tucker a deal that gave him the highest annual average value of $60 million, the most for any position player ever.
However, former slugger Alex Rodriguez isn’t buying the negativity surrounding the organization.
“I think it’s great. You and I both would be hypocrites if we said it’s not good when we saw what happened in the ‘90s here in New York, what happened in ‘09 when Hal Steinbrenner flexed his financial resources to go out and get [CC] Sabathia, [Mark] Teixeira and A.J. Burnett, and the year before we had Johnny Damon,” A-Rod told New York Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay on the latter’s radio show.
Rodriguez does make an interesting point — in 2005, the Yankees’ payroll ($208.3 million, per Baseball Reference) was almost double the second-highest payroll (the Boston Red Sox’s $123.5 million). The New York Mets ($101.3 million) were the only other team to have a nine-digit payroll.
While the Dodgers have finessed their contracts through deferrals and bonuses to make their actual payroll less than the actual value of the contracts, numerous other teams are actually still in the comparative ballpark. The Mets, Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays each have a tax payroll of at least $300 million.
Rodriguez noted that it’s not necessarily the amount of money but how it’s spent.
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“The key is not making the mistakes…” Rodriguez said, name-dropping Trent Grisham and Ryan McMahon, who are combining to make $38 million this season while hitting a combined .215 with an OPS below .700.
“You have to be able to determine what is your inventory and what is it worth. Gene Michael used to be able to hold on to Bernie [Williams], [Derek] Jeter, [Jorge] Posada. That’s the key – you got to hold on to your early guys, and then move on for the others, use them as assets to complement your current roster.”
Again to Rodriguez’s point, the Milwaukee Brewers, whose $153 million tax payroll is 19th in the league, own the best record in Major League Baseball. The Tampa Bay Rays rank 27th in tax payroll yet have the league’s second-best record, while the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox rank 26th.
Furthermore, three of the top five payrolls in the sport — the Mets, Phillies and Blue Jays — are currently out of the postseason.
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The current collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1, and players have insisted they would not play under a salary cap, which has been formally offered for the first time since 1994.
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