SPREE-RUN HOMER
Dodgers’ foes will complain about team’s spending, but it’s simply shrewd business
It was during lunch nearly four weeks ago when a former high-ranking Dodgers executive made the bold, fork-dropping prediction.
The Dodgers were so embarrassed with their postseason failures the last two seasons that they would take their wrath out on all of baseball.
“These guys are going to sign Shohei Ohtani. They’re going to sign Yoshinobu Yamamoto. And they’re going to go for a starter,” he said. “Mark my words. You’ll see.”
Well, a staggering $1.161 billion later, all three are signed, sealed and delivered before Christmas.
The Dodgers signed Ohtani to a record 10year, $700 million deal earlier in December.
They traded for and signed Tyler Glasnow to a five-year, $136.5 million contract.
And late Thursday, they pulled off the trifecta by landing Yamamoto with a 12-year, $325 million contract, the longest and most lucrative guarantee for a pitcher in baseball history, which doesn’t even count the $50.6 million posting fee.
The Dodgers, whose only World Series title in the last 35 years came during the 2020 COVID-shortened season, are letting everyone know that it’s World Series or bust.
Sure, you’ll start hearing teams gripe about baseball’s financial divide. But the harsh reality is that the Dodgers are simply making shrewd business decisions.
Ohtani easily could have accepted $700 million from the Giants or Blue Jays, but he chose the Dodgers for their winning tradition and ingenuity. He’ll get paid the price of a middle reliever with his $2 million a year in actual salary.
Anyone could have traded for Glasnow, the former Rays ace, but only the Dodgers had the farm system and capital to get it done.
Yamamoto could have taken $325 million from the Mets, which the Dodgers matched, or $300 million from the Yankees, but he chose the organization that never stops winning.
They’re the team everyone wants to emulate with its star-studded crowds, its powerful farm system, its filthy rich $8.35 billion TV contract, its gorgeous stadium and all of the money pouring into their bank accounts to afford expenditures like this.
They also happen to be brilliant. They’re going to make about $50 million a year in advertising and marketing revenue off Ohtani alone. They should make a financial killing investing the $680 million in deferrals from his contract. And no team in baseball will have the global appeal of the Dodgers.
Sure, there are huge financial risks. Who knows when Ohtani will pitch again and how effective he’ll be? Glasnow has never pitched more than 120 innings in a season. And Yamamoto, who stands just 5-10, has never thrown a pitch in the majors.
But Yamamoto, 25, will be paid an average of $27 million a year when he’s 37 years old. That’s $9 million less than Cardinals pitcher Sonny Gray will earn when he’s 36 and in the final year of his contract.
Glasnow will earn an average of $27.3 million a year. That’s only $300,000 more than Carlos Rodon will make each season in the final five years of his contract with the Yankees.
Ohtani’s contract pays him $2 million a year in actual salary. That’s $36 million less per year than Anthony Rendon will make with the Angels over the next three years.
We’ll all be watching to see how this turns out. After all, this is Team Hollywood — the envy of baseball.