• Offseason - NEWS/RUMORS

tweet of the year so far…

Dodgers Nation@DodgersNation
Since the Padres took a 2-1 lead over the Dodgers in the 2024 NLDS:

• Came back to win in 5 & win the World Series
• Signed their old ace Blake Snell
• Beat them in the Roki Sasaki race
• Signed their top reliever Tanner Scott

Talk about getting the last laugh…
8:03 AM · Jan 19, 2025 · 31.3K Views

 

“Listen on the Dodgers, people focus on the size of their payroll and the deferments, and stuff like that, but it’s just a great organization that’s kind of running on all the cylinders. They do well in the draft. They do well internationally. They make smart trades. They do a good job finding value on the margins. And they also can go sign major free agents. So, I just think that focusing on the amount of money they spend does a disservice to an organization that’s running at a really high level.’’
— Cubs president Jed Hoyer

 

Jeff Passan@JeffPassan
When Tanner Scott’s deal is made official, the Dodgers’ luxury-tax payroll for 2025 will exceed $375 million. That is about $70 million more than the next-highest team, Philadelphia. The Yankees are the only other team with a CBT payroll projected to be over $300 million.
8:02 AM · Jan 19, 2025 · 1M Views

 

Nope.

But at least the Chargers lost to Houston.
My bitter heart was warmed by that.

 

Noah Camras@noahcamras
Dodgers 2023 offseason:
Shohei Ohtani
Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Tyler Glasnow
Teoscar Hernández

Dodgers 2024 offseason:
Blake Snell
Tanner Scott
Roki Sasaki
Michael Conforto
Hyeseong Kim
Teoscar Hernández

“We’re rewarding our incredibly passionate fans.”
- Andrew Friedman

11:39 AM · Jan 19, 2025 · 26.7K Views

 

If he's including the re-signing of Teoscar on that list, he really needs to include Blake. That was not an inconsequential move.

 

Two crazy stats on Dodgers 2024 pitching:

1. Forty different players took the mound on the season.

2. For a championship winning team, the highest ranking pitcher in WAR was 9th best on the roster (Glasnow - 1.4). Shows the instability of the position and the potency of team hitting that they still were able to win that many games. Pitching came through when it mattered most, though.

 

I went ahead and fixed that for you.

 

Blake Harris@BlakeHHarris
For everyone complaining about the Dodgers spending all this money.... don't worry
They also have a Top 5 farm system in all of baseball with 5+ prospects seen as Top 100 guys
3:39 PM · Jan 19, 2025 · 80.9K Views

 

It's not that the Dodgers are just outbidding everyone. There are multiple examples of players who've passed on larger offers in order to play in LA. Off the top of my head...

Teoscar (said he could have signed for $5-6M more elsewhere)
Kershaw the last couple times he extended (I'm sure Texas would've paid more)
Hyesyeong Kim (was offered 5/$28M from Angels, took 3/$12.5 from Dodgers)
Roki Sasaki (Padres offer included a signing bonus of over $10M)
If you think about it, Ohtani's $700M is worth less than that factoring in the deferrals (present value vs future value of money). I'm almost certain that other teams were offering more in present value terms.
Though not likely to be signed, Flaherty has said he would accept a one-year deal from the Dodgers.
Joe Kelly says if the Dodgers don't have a spot for him, he'll retire rather than sign elsewhere.

I'm sure there are others. My point is, yes the Dodgers have the highest payroll (some team has to), but they also have an organization/system/reputation that attracts players, and it's not just the money.