It’s great that the Dodgers are going all in…but this is getting ridiculous at this point. The Los Angeles Dodgers have made ANOTHER massive signing this season as they have picked up Japanese pitching superstar Yoshinobu Yamamoto to a 12-year, $325M deal!
I’m happy for the Dodgers and Dodgers fans…but the MLB will not last if this disparity continues.
In the second massive Japanese pitching signing of the offseason, the Los Angeles Dodgers have signed Yoshinobu Yamamoto to a massive 12-year, $325M deal that further solidifies an outstanding pitching core consisting of Clayton Kershaw, Tyler Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani, and now Yamamoto. Yet, even though this is a great move for the Dodgers, it just further shows how broken the MLB really is.
Now, I don’t want this article to make it sound like I’m hating on the Dodgers or them signing Yamamoto as my complaints are not about the Dodgers at all. In truth, if the Red Sox, Mets, Yankees, Phillies, Braves, Cubs, Astros, or the Giants, then I would be talking about them instead of the Dodgers.
But, since it was the Dodgers who have just spent north of a billion dollars on two pitchers in the same month, I’m talking about the Dodgers and how ridiculous it is that a team in the MLB can spend $1B on two players when 23 other teams couldn’t even dream of spending $300M on a whole roster of players.
Seriously, the $120.6M average spend the Dodgers have on their payroll for Shohei Ohtani (avg. $70M/season) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (avg. $50.6M/season) is more than 15 teams ALREADY…and that list includes 6 2023 playoff teams, three 2023 division winners, and the reigning NL champion Arizona Diamondbacks. Oh, and that average spend on just two players is also only $5M below the league average payroll FOR AN ENTIRE ROSTER!
Sure, I get there are deferrals involved and different payment maneuvers that backloads a lot of these contracts in the next decade when these guys will be old and grey (in baseball terms), but this extreme level of payroll disparity is just insane. If you are a star player in the MLB and looking for a new deal on the open market, there’s only 7-8 teams that MIGHT be able to afford your services, and only four or five of those teams can pay the massive 9-figure cheques some of these guys are after.
The MLB has really turned into La Liga…which is not good for the competition and future of baseball.
If these teams in smaller markets cannot afford the superstar talents and the only hope of them winning a trophy is the World Series (at least in La Liga there are domestic and European cups the smaller teams can compete for), then why would any of the fans of these teams bother attending games?
I mean, there’s no shot the Athletics, Brewers, Marlins, Guardians, Pirates, White Sox, Tigers, Rockies, Angels, etc. are going to be winning the World Series anytime soon. And when that chance does come around with a good mix of homegrown talent and veterans on team-friendly deals, which was the case for the Diamondbacks this past season, they generally get smoked by one of the “big boys” in the World Series.
It just so happened that the Astros choked against the Rangers (who are not a powerhouse by any means, but still have a little money) or else they would have made my point happen this past season as well.
The MLB needs a salary cap at least on par with what the NBA is doing. You can still have luxury taxes for the best and most historic teams, but there needs to be hard luxury taxes in place on free agent deals or else the MLB will wither away into a 10-team league.
And no one wants that.
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