LOS ANGELES — Stan Kasten has a pitch. The Los Angeles Dodgers president and the face of an ownership group that has transformed the historic franchise into a titan is willing to concede that he has created the sport’s next villain.
But the Dodgers aren’t breaking or ruining baseball, he said.
“This is really good for baseball,” Kasten said. “I have no question about it.”
That won’t stop 29 other franchises and fan bases from saying it: the Dodgers are breaking baseball.
Kasten scoffed at the idea on Wednesday as the Dodgers, for the third time in 13 months, welcomed a Japanese superstar and pressed what agent Joel Wolfe called a “home-field advantage” in the country as they’ve reshaped an annual colossus into something somehow even greater. On Thursday, the Dodgers ran it back with another press conference, introducing reliever Tanner Scott on a four-year, $72 million deal.
Of The Athletic’s Big Board of top 40 free agents, the Dodgers have now signed six. Should they complete their deal with reliever Kirby Yates, that’ll mark seven. Only the New York Mets and Yankees have signed more than one.
Tanner Scott bolsters an already deep Dodgers bullpen, raising the question of who will get the call in save situations. (Richard Vogel / Associated Press)
No reigning champion has spent like this in a quarter century. A year after committing $1.4 billion in one offseason, they’ve guaranteed close to another half-billion dollars in new money. Their total projected payroll, factoring in taxes, is expected to be the largest in baseball history. Given the mass of new revenues brought in a year ago from Shohei Ohtani, a new market engaged in Japan and the game’s strongest television contract in a time of rightsholder uncertainty, it doesn’t feel like the Dodgers are stretching to spend, either.
So … good for baseball?
“There are two elements to answer that question,” Kasten said.
“First is competitively. As all of you know, the way our game is structured, right now we’re 3-to-1 against to win the World Series. That’s 70, 75 percent likely that someone else will win the World Series. So obviously it hasn’t damaged the game competitively.
“On the entertainment side, which is what we are, it’s really good when there’s one beloved team by their fans who come out in record numbers, leading all of baseball in attendance, while that same team can be hated and lead baseball in road attendance. That’s a win-win for baseball.”
The Dodgers have built it and people have come. Players, too.
“You look at the team, you look at what they’ve built, what they’re doing, it’s just something you want to be a part of,” two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell said after signing his five-year, $182 million deal.
“The Dodgers, they’re different,” Teoscar Hernández said after re-upping on a three-year, $66 million deal.
“They keep adding guys,” Scott said Thursday. “It’s awesome to see and I’m glad to be a part of it. … I just want to win.”
Just months ago, Scott was part of a San Diego Padres team that pushed the Dodgers to the brink of elimination early in the postseason.
Now, the Dodgers are spending as if they’d lost that series, rather than won it all. Years ago, the possibility that the Dodgers would give four years to a reliever — even one as dominant as Scott has been the last two seasons — would’ve appeared unthinkable. Outside of re-upping with Kenley Jansen, it’s something they just hadn’t done.
These Dodgers are operating differently. Their aggressiveness has sparked outcry and consternation. Some cried foul at the deferred money, which has allowed the Dodgers to reinvest that set-aside money in hopes of building its value over time while also benefitting in the short term when it comes to cutting the gargantuan tax bills heading their way. Others just simply feel it is not fair that the Dodgers can spend their money so freely, acting like the market was a buffet while every other team waited for players to come to them.
The Dodgers have taken advantage of the market. That they got Roki Sasaki too, at a price point of just $6.5 million, sparked even more private complaints from executives throughout the sport.
Not that the Dodgers care. Happiness in a baseball offseason is a zero-sum game, and the Dodgers keep adding.
“We’re solely focused on, how do we make our team better?” general manager Brandon Gomes said. “And give back to the fans who have done nothing but come out to see us.”
Asked if the baseball world’s charge was true, that his team was overrunning the sport, Gomes shrugged.
“The goal is to win every single year.”
It’s easier to do when you’re producing gobs of money, as the Dodgers seem to do. Business is doing quite well, as president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said earlier this winter. The Ohtani factor is a part of it — “chicken and egg,” as Kasten put it, but irremovable from this latest spree. Hours after Scott put on his new uniform for the first time, the club announced yet another sponsorship deal with a Japanese company.
The Dodgers have won for long enough, and spent for long enough, that it felt unlikely to break through another barrier into the territory they now occupy. But that perceived ceiling to their spending is shattered, and the league’s premier destination spot is Los Angeles. It’s a golden era, with a domino effect that has bled from one big offseason to another.
“It seems like that is the case, where coming off a very successful year of winning the World Series and continuing to add talent, guys are like, ‘I want to be a part of that,’” Gomes said. “It’s a helpful component for sure.”
How Tanner Scott fits
As the Dodgers aim to become the first team in baseball in 25 years to repeat as champions, who will record the final outs? Will it be Blake Treinen, who re-signed this winter after coming back from shoulder surgery to again be one of the preeminent relievers in the sport? Could it be Evan Phillips, who opened last season as the club’s closer and remained one of the more effective relievers in a stacked bullpen? Could it be Brusdar Graterol, who could be back midseason after shoulder surgery? Maybe even Alex Vesia, who closed out Game 2 of the World Series?
It could be any of them, or it could be Scott, who has 54 saves over the past three seasons. Last October, the Padres used Scott variably. After emerging as an All-Star closer with the Miami Marlins, he became a fireman for a San Diego club that proved to be the Dodgers’ toughest test all postseason.
“Obviously our pitching group was incredibly excited when they found out the news about Tanner joining us,” Gomes said. “But I do think what was even more impressive and speaks volumes to Tanner is that I think our hitting group was equally as giddy not having to game plan for him and face him.”
No one (other than manager Dave Roberts) perhaps was more excited than Ohtani, who went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts against Scott in the NLDS and is 1-for-10 against him lifetime in the regular season.
The Dodgers should have no shortage of late-inning options on paper, even before factoring in the club’s potential deal with veteran Yates, which remained unfinalized as of Thursday. That depth means the club, in all likelihood, won’t restrict Scott to just pitching the ninth inning.
“I think Tanner is going to get a ton of opportunities to close games,” Gomes said. “But the biggest thing is how it fits together to handle the back end. I think the main focus will be how best do we put that bullpen together down the stretch for Doc to figure out how he’s going to deploy guys.”
The Dodgers do still have a bullpen question to answer should Yates’ deal be finalized: Who goes out? The seven-man bullpen is set with Scott officially on the books, with only one reliever (Vesia) even having a minor-league option. Los Angeles would have to clear a 40-man spot for Yates, which means the Dodgers could look to move from that relief surplus.
(Top photo of Tanner Scott flanked by Andrew Friedman, right, and Brandon Gomes: Richard Vogel / Associated Press)
