Will there be Dodgers paid 4 million dollars for Shohei OhtaniFriday night production?
“Maybe I would,” team owner Mark Walter said with a laugh.
Four million dollars is the amount Ohtani received from the Dodgers.
Not for play. Not for a week. Not for a year.
This year And last year.
Ohtani could be the greatest player in baseball history. Is he also the greatest free agent acquisition of all time?
“I bet,” Walter said.
Even before Ohtani hit three homers and struck out 10 batters over six scoreless innings in a historic performance to secure his team's World Series berth, the Dodgers were the target of complaints about the perception that they were buying championships. Their payroll this season tops $416 million, according to Spotrac.
During the celebration on the field, followed by a victory with a score of 5:1 over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series, manager Dave Roberts told the crowd at Dodger Stadium: “I'll tell you, before this season they said the Dodgers were ruining baseball. Let's get four more wins and really destroy baseball!”
What detractors ignore is that the Dodgers aren't the only team to spend big this year to compete for a title. As the Ohtani contract shows, this How their spending sets them apart from other wealthy sports franchises.
The New York Mets spent more than $340 million, the New York Yankees spent $319 million and the Philadelphia Phillies spent $308 million. None of them still play.
The Dodgers are still playing, and one of the reasons is their opportunistic approach.
When the Boston Red Sox were looking for a place to hang out Mookie Betts Before he became a free agent, the Dodgers traded him and signed him to an extension. When the Atlanta Braves declined to extend their six-year offer. Freddie FreemanThe Dodgers stepped in and did it.
Something else that helps is that players want to play for them.
Consider the case of the San Francisco Giants, who can't get their star players to take their money.
The Giants pursued Bryce Harper, but he denied them. They pursued Aaron Judge, but he turned them down. They pursued Otani, but he refused them. They were chasing Yoshinobu Yamamotowho refused them.
Notice a pattern?
Unable to sign a free agent hitter, the Giants turned their attention to the trade market and acquired a troubled asset in the disgruntled Rafael Devers. They still missed the postseason.
The Dodgers have no such problems attracting talent. Classified as an international amateur because he was under 25 years of age. Rocky Sasaki This winter he had the right to sign only a contract with a minor league. Although the signing bonuses that could be offered varied from team to team, the differences were relatively small. His agent advised Sasaki to keep financial considerations to a minimum when choosing a team.
Sasaki chose the Dodgers.
Players like Blake Snell, Will Smith And Max Muncy signed contracts that may have been below market to move to or stay with the Dodgers.
There is also the Otani factor.
Ohtani didn't want the team that signed him to be in financial trouble, so he insisted it defer most of his 10-year, $700 million contract. The Dodgers are paying Ohtani just $2 million a year and will pay the rest after he retires.
Without Otani agreement to defer paymentWho knows if the Dodgers would have signed other pitchers who make up their dominant rotation: Yamamoto, Snell and Tyler Glasnow.
None of this is to say that the Dodgers didn't make any mistakes: that $102 million they handed Trevor Bauer is a decision they'd certainly like to get back.
But the point is that they spend.
“As you know, we are investing in the team,” Walter said. “We're trying to win.”
There is nothing stopping any other team from making the financial commitment necessary to compete with the Dodgers. Franchises do not need to generate annual revenue to be profitable, as their costs have skyrocketed. Teams that were bought for hundreds of millions of dollars are now worth billions.
Example: Moreno Art bought Angels in 2003 for $183.5 million. Forbes values them today at $2.75 billion. If or when Moreno sells the team, he will make a huge profit on his investment.
Calls for a salary cap are nothing more than an excuse for cheap owners for their refusal to invest in the civic institutions under their control.
The Dodgers aren't ruining baseball. They may not be doing everything right, but when it comes to their spending, they are doing right by their fans.
