As the World Series gets underway, we’ll take a look at how both teams’ rosters were constructed. In a battle of big-market behemoths, much of the heavy lifting was accomplished via free agency. The Yankees and Dodgers have each done a lot in trade and graduated some key homegrown contributors to complement their splashes on the open market.
A player drafted or acquired in trade who subsequently hit free agency and re-signed will be classified as a free agent acquisition. The player’s history with the organization is a key part of why they returned, of course, but the most recent transaction was nevertheless to sign them to a free agent deal.
After looking at the Yankees earlier this evening, we turn to the Dodgers in their quest for a second title in five years.
Trade (9)
- Anthony Banda
- Austin Barnes
- Mookie Betts
- Tommy Edman
- Jack Flaherty
- Brusdar Graterol
- Michael Kopech
- Miguel Rojas
- Alex Vesia
The Yankees had massive trades for Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton. The Betts blockbuster may have been even more impactful. Los Angeles also landed Graterol from the Twins in that three-team deal. They dealt Kenta Maeda to Minnesota while sending Alex Verdugo, Connor Wong and Jeter Downs to Boston and taking on a chunk of the underwater David Price contract. L.A. immediately signed Betts to a $365MM extension. He has a trio of top five MVP finishes since donning Dodger blue. It’s one of the most impactful trades in MLB history.
Nothing quite matches up to the Betts deal, but L.A.’s World Series team is benefitting from a couple more big deadline trades. Game 1 starter Flaherty came over from the Tigers in a trade sending rookie infielder Trey Sweeney and catching prospect Thayron Liranzo to Detroit. That transaction, which dropped just minutes before the deadline, reportedly came within hours of the Yankees pulling out of a potential Flaherty trade because of concerns about his back.
For as well as Flaherty pitched down the stretch, the Dodgers’ bigger July move was another three-team trade. Los Angeles landed eventual NLCS MVP Edman from the Cardinals and future closer Kopech from the White Sox in a deal that cost them young infielder Miguel Vargas and prospects Alexander Albertus and Jeral Perez. Edman was recovering from wrist surgery and had yet to make his season debut at the time, while Kopech was sitting on a 4.74 ERA despite huge swing-and-miss numbers.
The oldest trade on this list happened a decade ago. The Dodgers and Marlins lined up on a seven-player deal that continues to have ripple effects. Los Angeles sent Dee Strange-Gordon, Miguel Rojas and Dan Haren to Miami for four players: Enrique Hernández, Andrew Heaney (immediately flipped to the Angels for Howie Kendrick), Chris Hatcher and Barnes. They’ve kept Barnes as a backup catcher ever since. Los Angeles would bring Rojas back nine years after moving him. The Dodgers acquired the veteran infielder in a one-for-one swap that sent infield prospect Jacob Amaya to the Fish. Amaya played four games for Miami before they waived him.
Los Angeles continues to benefit from another minor trade with the Marlins. In 2021, the Dodgers sent middle reliever Dylan Floro to Miami for Vesia and Kyle Hurt. Vesia has a 2.57 ERA over four seasons in Los Angeles. He is Dave Roberts’ top lefty bullpen arm. Vesia is backed up by Banda, a well-regarded prospect turned journeyman. The Dodgers acquired him in a cash trade with the Guardians in May.
MLB Free Agency (8)
- Ryan Brasier (re-signed)
- Freddie Freeman
- Enrique Hernández (re-signed)
- Teoscar Hernández
- Shohei Ohtani
- Chris Taylor (re-signed)
- Blake Treinen (re-signed)
- Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Most of L.A.’s biggest free agent pickups came last winter. The Ohtani signing will go down as one of the biggest transactions in MLB history. The deferral-laden structure made it one of the most controversial sports contracts ever. After accounting for the deferred money, MLB values the $700MM as an approximate $461MM deal for luxury tax purposes. By any measure, it’s still the largest deal of all time — a record it’ll hold until Juan Soto signs this offseason. Ohtani became the first player in league history to go 50-50 and is going to win the NL MVP in year one.
Within weeks of landing Ohtani, the Dodgers signed Yamamoto to the biggest pitching contract ever. The 25-year-old righty signed for 12 years and $325MM before throwing his first pitch in MLB. A rotator cuff injury cost him a chunk of his first big league season, but he turned in an even 3.00 earned run average through 18 starts. Teoscar Hernández inked a one-year, $23.5MM pillow contract that was also deferred. The two-time All-Star was coming off a down year with the Mariners but rebounded with a 33-homer showing reminiscent of his best days with the Blue Jays.
Freeman was a big-ticket signee coming out of the lockout in 2022. He inked a six-year, $162MM deal (deferrals knocked the NPV closer to $140MM). The former MVP has picked up where he left off in Atlanta. He’s a .314/.399/.520 hitter in more than 2000 plate appearances across three seasons with Los Angeles.
Taylor, Brasier, Enrique Hernández and Treinen have all re-signed with the Dodgers in recent years. Los Angeles acquired Taylor from the Mariners in 2016 for righty Zach Lee. Taylor developed into a key super utility piece whom the Dodgers eventually re-signed for $60MM.
Treinen has signed successive short-term contracts and continues to pitch well at the back of Roberts’ bullpen when healthy. Enrique Hernández is a clubhouse favorite who has tended to elevate his game in October. The Dodgers reacquired him from the Red Sox at the 2023 deadline and brought him back on a $4MM free agent pact last winter. Los Angeles signed Brasier to a minor league deal midway through the 2023 season after he was released by the Red Sox. He dominated in Southern California and returned on a two-year, $9MM contract.
First-Year Player Draft (5)
Buehler, Lux and Smith are former first-round picks. Buehler fell to 24th overall coming out of Vanderbilt in 2015 because of concerns about his arm health. He underwent Tommy John surgery shortly after being drafted but developed into an ace before going under the knife again in 2022. He has been a shell of his former self this year. The Dodgers grabbed both Lux and Smith the following year. L.A. took Lux 20th overall out of a Wisconsin high school before grabbing Smith, a Louisville product, 12 picks later.
He has three career MLB appearances. Knack was a senior sign out of East Tennessee State in 2020. He started 12 of 15 appearances with solid results, but he’s working in low-leverage relief in October. Casparius, a UCONN product, went in the fifth round in 2021.
Minor League Contracts (2)
Muncy was an excellent find. A career .195/.290/.321 hitter when he was waived by the A’s, he signed a minor league deal in April 2018. He has four 35-homer seasons and three years with appearances on MVP ballots in the seven years since then. Muncy has signed successive extensions and has a .230/.356/.487 line in nearly 3000 plate appearances in a Dodger uniform.
- Daniel Hudson (re-signed)
Hudson re-signed with L.A. on a minor league deal last offseason. There seemed to be a handshake agreement that the Dodgers would carry him on the Opening Day roster. Hudson was coming off consecutive seasons wrecked by knee injuries but stayed healthy and tossed 65 innings of 3.00 ERA ball this year.
International Amateur Signing (1)
The Dodgers signed Pages for $300K out of Cuba in 2018. The outfielder has improved his stock to become one of the organization’s top prospects. He debuted this season and hit .248/.305/.407 with 15 homers.
Waivers (1)
Los Angeles claimed Honeywell off waivers from the Pirates in June. They waived him themselves but called him back up at the end of August.
30 Parks
Here’s hoping Mookie gets another ring.
braveshomer
“How the Dodgers Bought their World Series Roster”….there, fixed it for you Anthony!
Acoss1331
Both teams used cold hard cash to get to the World Series. That’s not an insult, that’s just facts.
Salad Daze 22-27
yet neither spent as much as the Mets. where’s the hate there? I’m just looking for some consistency.
twilkerson
Yeah, the Mets shed their losses and the 40 man roster didn’t consist of nearly 100mil+ that we traded away in Verlander/Scherzer and other salaries owed. Your point is moot. The Mets 40 man earned approximately 240 mil this season, and they made the NLCS. The Mets have a lot to spend next year. LGM
Fever Pitch Guy
Acoss – Agreed! Why hate teams that are just playing by the rules?
Don’t hate the teams, hate MLB rules for allowing some teams to overspend and others to underspend.
Blackpink in the area
The Braves aren’t exactly the little sisters of the poor.
Salary cap and salary floor then you get fair competition instead of what we have now.
PiratesFan1981
There will never be a salary cap in baseball. The players make huge amounts of money and have to go through hoops to get to the majors. No other sport has so many obstacles before making it to the show. NHL and NBA have something similar to MLB with the “minor league”. But not to the extent MLB has for minor leaguers. There is 5 levels of the minors before sniffing the majors. You can argue that there is other forms and levels with winter leagues within the US and outside of the US. So the level of challenges to reach the majors, is greater than any other sport. That makes MLB less likely to inherit a salary cap. They will mingle a little with the salary cap by having the “luxury tax”, but the dodgers worked around that “grey area” of having paying luxury tax on standard contracts. They deferred a ton of money to like 4 players. Saving roughly 200 million in penalties. Players love it because they will be paid beyond their playing career.
Like when the Pirates outsmarted the league years ago and signed guys like Cole, Josh Bell, and so on to massive bonuses if they signed, they quickly changed that possibility. Which I think was silly but heck, big market teams got a bit upset because of the “unfair” advantages small market teams had when trying to get guys to sign at luxury bonuses. Now guys are being passed over and landing with large markets because small market teams have to play the draft perfectly. Large market teams can use all their first and second round money for a guy they like and sign them. The system greatly benefits large market teams and organizations. But a salary cap will never happen in MLB. Owners have gone this far without a salary cap and I wouldn’t expect that to change now or in the future. Until there is a middle ground that allows small market teams to use money freely in the draft(their only hope to be competitive and relevant), while large market teams can spend a kings ransom, the league will always favor the big market teams. These small market teams get peanuts and water. The large markets get the steak and red wine.
Blackpink in the area
If you have a cap and a floor both you can ensure players still get huge sums of money. You need both. And that’s what’s needed for fair competition instead of this nonsense which is basically college football.
The Saber-toothed Superfife
Why don’t people understand?
There IS A FLOOR.
It is the minimum salary times the minimum number of players on the roster.
$700K x 26 players = $18.2 Million
That is the current floor in the MLB.
Blackpink in the area
That’s not a good floor. Not sure why you don’t understand that fella.
The Saber-toothed Superfife
I didn’t say it was good or bad. Merely that it exists.
Blackpink in the area
My point is there needs to be a small range between the team who spends the least and the team who spends the most. That’s what’s needed. Not this nonsense.
Bottom of the 8th game on the line Betts, Ohtani and Freeman come to bat. How many teams have a lower payroll than those 3 players combined?
The Saber-toothed Superfife
I will say it is more of a basement, rather than an actual floor……
BlueSkies_LA
We hear a lot of complaints about the big free agent contracts (especially from the fans of the teams that don’t sign them), but hardly anyone wants to talk about the huge discount all of the teams get on players while they are under team control. Imagine how much more players would earn early in their careers if teams had to pay them anywhere close to market rate from the first year they were promoted to the Majors. And forget about the peanut butter and jelly salaries they get paid in the Minors, because almost everybody does. The truth is, MLB and the PA have engineered a system that rewards a relatively small number of players at the expense of all the others.
Blackpink in the area
I don’t think the issue is players getting paid. Pretty sure the issue is it’s always the Dodgers who are the ones paying them.
Doesn’t it feel kind of hollow when your team does this to win?
BlueSkies_LA
It’s always the Dodgers, except when it isn’t.
I’ll tell you what would feel hollow — if the Dodgers took all the money we as fans spend on the team and stuck it in their own pockets instead of putting it on the field. Lots of owners do, so maybe you should be griping about them instead. In fact Dodger fans know all about that problem as the two previous team owners did exactly that.
Blackpink in the area
So you think your team spending more than anyone else is good for baseball?
Do you have kids?
It’s not the Dodgers fault it’s MLB for allowing this nonsense.
BlueSkies_LA
I think it would be good for baseball if the revenue from the sport was divided equally 30 ways and the teams rewarded for success instead of failure. But this will never happen because even the small market teams are guaranteed to be profitable under a system where they are paid off by the larger market teams to field mostly noncompetitive rosters.
What you think this has to do with my having kids or not is a puzzlement.
Salad Daze 22-27
Why pick on just the Dodgers for this? Why not the Rangers for the Seger and Simian Contracts? The yankees for Judge’s contract? The mets for Lindor’s contract? The padres for Bogaerts and Machado’s Contracts etc.
You clearly have issues with the Dodgers. Why not just admit it instead of acting like they are an exception to the rule?
Blackpink in the area
The Rangers had never won a championship in their existence. The Padres still haven’t. I look at those teams differently because of that. And last time I checked the Dodgers are still outstanding both those teams plus everyone else. The Dodgers signed the 2 biggest free agents last offseason.
I have never been a fan of a team who tried to buy a championship. Seems like it would be kind of lame.
BlueSkies_LA
Oh man, is that ever a straight line. I will try to resist.
kdub53
I’d hate to agree but look at the A’s and Angels.
Salad Daze 22-27
See what you did there, you just admitted the Rangers bought their championship, but it was ok because it was their first, although I recall Seeger, Degrom and Semien being among that season’s biggest contracts?? Hypocrite much? So what are your rules of who to and who not to root for then? Obviously I’m a fake fan, so tell me how phony I am.
Tigers3232
Oh so Blackpink/Joel now you want to exempt teams who went out and spent in an attempt to walk back your original statement….
At least you are consistently ridiculous and/or wrong when giving opinions.
fox471 Dave
“How the Braves sat on their hands and watched the playoffs on television .”
underdog
Did you even read this article? I’m guessing not because it’s pretty clear they built the roster in multiple ways including developing farm and using some prospects for the big trades, plus key waiver pickups for guys they took fliers on and developed. A ton of ways aside from yes also spending a lot of money. I know reading is hard for some tho.
braveshomer
it’s what is called a joke LA Tax Dodgers fans calm down. So sensitive lol…I wish the Braves would spend like drunken sailors every once in awhile
philharmonica
LOL
balk7
Wait, I thought you can’t buy Championships and the Dodgers always choke…
BlueSkies_LA
You don’t understand. If they win, it proves you can buy a championship. If they lose, it proves you can’t buy a championship. Both ends of that bet are always covered.
wreckage
Did the Yankees not also buy their championship if they win by that logic? So one team has bought their championship according to fans of another fan base besides those 2.
Fever Pitch Guy
Balk – And don’t forget the moronic “Postseason is always a total crapshoot, talent/experience and clutchness in big moments have nothing to do with it”.
jsklfc
As a fan of a team that is completely hopeless myself and as someone who is jealous of Dodger fans, this is a bit of an ignorant take. There are so many smart moves made by this front office before you even get to the huge expenditures. If my team made even half as many good moves we’d be 20-30 wins better off (my team is bad), so respect to them.
Blackpink in the area
Your team could have made half those moves and it still would have no shot against the Dodgers or Yankees.
letitbelowenstein
Skirted around the luxury tax and left it to Manfred Mann to clear Ohtani.
Fever Pitch Guy
Let – Dodgers are getting hit with $46M annually for Ohtani, full NPV of his contract.
If the interpreter took the fall for Ohtani, not much anyone can do about it. I’m sure other players use runners for wagering.
BlueSkies_LA
So many people are both bad at math, and reality.
Kc smoke
This is a funny article that should have a $ as the answer.
Blackpink in the area
Cole, Stanton, Judge, Betts, Ohtani, Yamamoto. These are some of the biggest contracts in all of baseball. Soto is about to get one of the biggest deals of all time. Freeman and Glasnow have giant contracts.
That moron fan in the stands lol.
paddyo furnichuh
If you mean the guy who interfered, the fans’ reactions on either side of him was pretty amusing.
sugoi51
Watched this replay and aftermath over and over and laughed each time. The reactions of the dude sitting next to him (“What did you do?!?) and the Asian guy who looked like he was trying to catch flies were priceless. The look on the faces of the other fans in this Yahoo story showed the guy getting a “You poor sucker” look from a woman and a “I can’t believe you got us kicked out” from what seemed like poor Bart Maier’s kid. sports.yahoo.com/world-series-fan-interference-rul…
tc55
Who the frick cares!!!!!!!
Braves Butt-Head
Lots of $$$$$$
And of course good old Satan
BlueSkies_LA
By name and by nature.
mlb fan
Dodgers walk it off!!!
MLB Top 100 Commenter
Freddie Freeman’s home run will be remembered for generations.
BlueSkies_LA
Take that, Kirk Gibson!
MLB Top 100 Commenter
“Oops… I did it again!”
Freddie Freeman for MVP!
whyhayzee
Yyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeessssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!
mlb fan
He’s still Freddy Freeman. You don’t walk ANYBODY to get to him.
Blackpink in the area
What’s crazy is a freaking single would have probably given the Dodgers the win there. Betts is a stud but even without hindsight that was dumb.
MLB Top 100 Commenter
Walking Betts wasn’t what killed them, it was walking Lux to start the inning.
fred-3
Bringing in Cortes was their mistake
BlueSkies_LA
Everybody knows the future after it happens.
NashvilleJeff
Pretty standard strategy to walk a rh hitter w/a base open to get to a lefty hitter w/your lefty pitcher. As a Braves fan, I’ve seen Freeman hit lefties countless times, but walking Betts was still the right move by the Yankees. Tim Hill probably would have given Freeman a tougher time. Freeman will chase a slider off the plate from a lefty and Cortes fb was meat to him.
Blackpink in the area
Walking Betts crested a situation where a single gives the Dodgers the lead. You NEVER do that. It was dumb.
NashvilleJeff
A Betts single would have given the Dodgers the lead too. As usual, you have no defensible point. Betts run meant nothing. Same situation w/men on 2B and 3rd w/2 out. A lh pitcher walking a rh batter w/a base open to face a lefty is standard strategy. Has happened thousands of times in baseball history. “NEVER”???? Lol.
Yankee Clipper
Hey, congratulations to the Dodgers and their fans on this game 1 win. That was the Yankees game to lose and Boone obliged with two terrible decisions. Edman saved that game for the Dodgers and was awesome on those two defensive plays that saved runs.
Lots of baseball left, but imho the Yankees absolutely needed to close that game to win this WS. The ripple effect of this loss will result in the Dodgers’ WS championship, imo.
Hopefully, the series remains this exciting, because it was an awesome ending from a baseball fan perspective. Also, maybe the umpires could try to be consistent in calling balls and strikes – terrible calls on both sides.
I love Judge and I believe he is the best player in MLB at this time, but he desperately needs to perform. He’s falling flat on his face in the postseason again.
Good luck the rest of the way… Let’s go Yankees!
YaGottaBelieveAgain
I realize Sotos approach is to be disciplined and only swing at a strike and it works for him. But many hitters succeed by doing damage at pitchers kind of waste pirches or bad balls. I think Judge needs to have the courage to swing at some of these balls and disrupt the scouting report against him. I he fails he will get criticized either way.
Yogi was a bad ball hitter – but it takes practice.
Fever Pitch Guy
Ya – I think it depends on the lineup. Having Stanton behind him allows for Judge to be more selective.
Whereas a guy like Alonso needs to swing at balls a foot off the ground because he doesn’t have good hitters behind him.
BlueSkies_LA
Thanks Clip. I don’t much believe in momentum, but the Dodgers have to be oozing confidence after that Hollywood ending of Game 1. Hope it doesn’t turn into overconfidence, and of course we know the playing environment will flip on Monday. But boy howdy — if we wanted an exciting Series we sure got a helluva preview of one last night.
Yankee Clipper
Yeah, man, it could turn out to be one of the most exciting postseasons in history.
BlueSkies_LA
If John Smoltz doesn’t manage to spoil every dramatic moment. I wonder, does he follow fans into the parking lot so he never has to stop talking about pitch selection and spin rate, no matter what is going on?
Yankee Clipper
Hahaha! That’s so true. I was thinking that last night. He was droning on about the specifics of pitching during some dramatic AB. You are so right!
BlueSkies_LA
Because of his incessant blathering I had the sound muted most of the night, so at first I didn’t realize what had happened with Freeman. For a moment I thought it was a foul ball.
MLB Top 100 Commenter
Every time I hear John Smoltz or Orel Hershiser announce a game, I just remind myself how amazing it was that Vin Scully could wax poetry without sounding like a “homer”. Smoltz is ok for an after or before the game analysis or interview, just don’t utilize him while the game is actually playing.
MLB Top 100 Commenter
If Ohtani is out for game 3, I like the Dodgers starting lineup
1. Edmans
2. Betts
3. T. Hernandez
4. Freeman
5. Muncy
6. K. Hernandez
7. W. Smith
8. Lux
9. Rojas/Pages
Lux or Ki-ke as the DH
MLB Top 100 Commenter
Or maybe Freddie gets a day at DH, Muncy shifts to 1B, Ki-ke to 3B and Lux at 2B
TradeAcuna
Good for Freddy. Those boozos in ATL who let him go are idiots.
Informed Sportsball Discussion
Atlanta did pretty well with Matt Olson. Freddie made his choice. I don’t think either side regrets how it turned out.
Fever Pitch Guy
Informed – I don’t think either side wanted him to leave.
Informed Sportsball Discussion
@Fever
Well, he did. Apparently neither side didn’t want it badly enough.
NashvilleJeff
@Trade: Seems like a bozo—you—would at least know how to spell the insult.
Skyrider123
Freddie let himself go by not taking charge of his free agency. He’s making less in LA than he would have in Atlanta. Freddie then fired his agent.
Acoss1331
Wow, what a way to end a very good game. I guess Freddy saw that the Yankees walked Betts and was like, “And I took that personally. ” lol
Nestor got Shohei out on that spectacular Verdugo catch. This game had it all lol
CardsFan57
That was an exciting way to start the WS.
Fever Pitch Guy
Àcoss – On July 19th Red Sox manager Alex Cora had a 1-run lead going into the bottom of the 8th at Dodger Stadium.
With a runner on base he brought in a lefty reliever specifically to pitch to the lefty hitters Ohtani and Freeman.
Ohtani doubled, then Cora intentionally walked righthanded batter Will Smith to load the bases for Freeman … who promptly hit a game winning grand slam that sent the Sox on their usual second half spiral.
Analytics and idiot managers just don’t mix.
iknoweverythingesq
NYY should blame Verdugo. He doesn’t fall into the stands, Taylor and Edman don’t get advanced. Taylor and Edman don’t get advanced, Mookie doesn’t get intentionally walked. And Freddie maybe doesn’t bat? Not saying it’s Verdugo’s fault, just that they are blaming him. LA in 4!
Birdie man
$$$$$$$
rct
A Boone masterclass tonight.
Niekro floater
What a game ! LA showed attitude tonight. Need to go to NY up 2-0. Let’s Go Dodgers !
olmtiant
I tip my hat to the Yankees. They got so many big outs throughout the game…. Except the last…
Yankee Clipper
Yanks performed admirably, overall. But, the WS will go to the team that capitalizes on the few mistakes made by the other team/manager.
If I were Dave Roberts, I would just walk Soto and Stanton until the 7 other guys prove they can make the Dodgers pay.
olmtiant
Clipper… that’s what made all the Yankees teams of yesteryear so damn good.. it was the guys YOU didn’t expect to do the damage that did… Scotty B/ Leyretz/ before them Denny Doyle/ and who can forget Bucky… Bleeping …. Dent… ( of course Reggie the exception) but your the expert.. I sure you can come up with a heck of a lot more!!! I didn’t mind getting beat by Reggie but the 8-9 hitters back through out the years killed me!!!
ibuititnoonecame
Cash and owners who want to win pay attention John Henry
Fever Pitch Guy
Ibuit – Henry is too busy looking at his bank statements.
Jarred Kelenic's Beer Can
Step 1: spend a billion dollars
Step 2: ???
Step 3: win the whole damn thing
olmtiant
To the Dodgers fan who interfered.. Buy FF a steak dinner ( lol) cause Bartman was on line one…..
whyhayzee
The curse of Jeffrey Maier.
Fever Pitch Guy
Hayzee – That was such blatant umpire corruption, clear as day Jeff interfered.
olmtiant
So torn…. Hate the Yankees….But Wasn’t manager Davey Johnson??
olmtiant
FPG… not going to lie… wanted it to end one way or another… Dodgers had….. warming up….
YaGottaBelieveAgain
I never undestand how Bartman got all the blame. When I watched the replay there was a taller man who reached over Bartman (who is shorter) that prevented the hometeam player Moises Alou from making the catch. Both fans interfered and there might have been a third fan to the left side of Bartman
Definitely a lets find a scapegoat Billy Goat curse moment. Painful memory for Cub fans who were finally put out of their misery in 2016 but it took extra innings in the 7th game.
Thankfully there was no stupid Ghost Runner rule.
Plus Theo Epstein helps end 2 long time droughts
olmtiant
You and I could have a beer and enjoy… living in Chicago any one who blamed Bartman and for me Buckner I had nothing to do with!!
PuttPutt⁰³
One word, really, answers the question for both teams……money.
How muçh MORE of it did these teams have to spend on players than the majority of MLB?
Baseball is such a great game, but it’s ruined by an unfair playing field when it comes to MLB and payroll.
I know it won’t but it needs to end.
The Saber-toothed Superfife
Yep. David whined Goliath was just too BIG.
He said, “Oh God, that’s just not fair”.
Yep.
The Saber-toothed Superfife
Cool type of article.
Concise and informative.
Thank you.
Old York
Hard work, dedication, perseverance and love of the game.
Mickey Solis
This is a worthless article because no matter how you slice it and how many guys the Dodgers actually drafted (like, 5) these relentless scumbags want it more and bought their entire team and good for them because stupid teams like the Pirates simply don’t care. Good for them.
differentbears
If they finish this off, it’ll because they had a masterful trade deadline. Flaherty, Edman, and Kopech. Masterclass in picking the right pieces and going out and getting them.
Niekro floater
Plus they didn’t give up much prospect capital to swing all those deadline acquisitions. Best FO in mlb. Trust the process.
tampadelphia
Money, money, money.
AM21
Deferred payment contracts should count against the luxury tax evenly across the length of the contract.
BlueSkies_LA
They do.
AM21
No, they don’t.
BlueSkies_LA
Wrong, because they do. The concept is called AAV (average annual value) and it is used for CBT calculations, not what the player is paid in any one year of the contract. The other part of this calculation that I presume you don’t understand is present value.
AM21
Stop with the rhetoric and bullsh*t. The entire value of the contract should be held against the luxury cap for the duration of the years of the contract and not a moment afterward, no matter how many years the payments are deferred.
BlueSkies_LA
Confirmed, you are clueless.
AM21
Here ya go, stupid:
Ohtani will be paid $2 million a year from now until 2033, and the team will pay Ohtani $68 million a year from 2034 to 2043, bringing down the team’s luxury tax hit from $70 million a year to $46 million a year.
BlueSkies_LA
False. I don’t have to call you stupid because you demonstrated it so completely all by yourself.
But since you are the genius here, I will make you the offer of a lifetime. I will buy your house at its current market value, plus a 10% premium, and will pay for it in full ten years from now. Deal?
AM21
There is nothing wrong about my comment regarding his salary, how he’s being paid, or of the luxury tax impact.
Now please, go back to kid’s table.
kennylcx
$$$$$$$$$