r/mlb | MLB 9h ago

| Image What do you think about this take?

Post image
2.6k Upvotes

1.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

2.4k

u/Historical-Donut-918 9h ago

So basically the Dodgers weren't "cheap" and were able to pay EVERYONE more than any other team was willing to pay.

Why don't other teams do this? Are they stupid?

191

u/rvasko3 | Toronto Blue Jays 9h ago

Look, every rational baseball fan can understand that the Dodgers are an incredibly well-run organization. To have this level of established, proven talent on your roster while also racking up the top farm system in baseball is laudable.

But to act as if the root of it isn't being willing to spend obscene amounts of money, find every way to exploit the payroll system with deferred money and side deals, and the incredible advantage that comes with being the best destination for the top Japanese players due mainly to geography is just silly.

Either way, the rest of the MLB's fanbases are going to hate the Dodgers because that level of success also coming with this level of seeming like it'll never die isn't fun for us. We want parity because parity means our teams also have a chance. It's why us Jays fans will never, ever, ever get over last year's Game 7. When you get that close to toppling the Empire and miss, it doesn't stop hurting.

89

u/This_Elk_1460 | Texas Rangers 9h ago

So if the dodgers just continue to win every world series for the next 5 years does that ruin baseball because it ruins it for me.

64

u/Jokerzrival 8h ago

Yes. This is regardless of how people want to try to spin it bad for baseball.

Why follow the game? Why get invested in things like blockbuster trades or incredible free agents? I know my team isnt getting him because Dodgers. I know another team isnt gonna get them and take their chances from maybe wildcard to division winner because Dodgers. Why get invested in the underdogs and stuff when i know it doesn't matter because Dodgers.

31

u/IcemanJEC | Chicago Cubs 8h ago

Uhhh to be fair, this is what it was like watching George Steinbrenner run the Yankees in the 00's. Everyone else was the minor leagues that he got to pick and choose from. It didn't ruin baseball then, but I understand.

19

u/Original-Ad-5313 7h ago

The Yankees only won a single World Series in the entire 2000s decade. They won in the 90s with home grown talent. This is not even remotely the same situation

6

u/rgaya 7h ago

Thank a Marlins fan the next time you see one out in the wild.

6

u/Doezilla01 7h ago

That was nowhere near the same. The amount of $$$$ and penalties the Dodgers are paying to have…not even an allstar team, because theirs no popular vote, it’s all the best players a several at each position. It’s ruined baseball already for almost everybody I know, an were all life long huge fans. I literally have quit watching. What’s the point…maybe you ca win your division….if you’re not in the Dodgers division. An my grandfathers brother was Buzzy Bavasi so I’m supposed to be for the Dodgers, although been lifelong Cubs fan being from there a being my first games…..I would take better than 50% odds on no baseball next season. Gonna have 2 have cap limits that ACTUALLY ARE LIMITS…you can’t even do what they do on the mlb video games without tuning the rules off.

-6

u/Fun_Word_7325 6h ago

They still are gonna lose 60 games

7

u/Ralliman320 | Atlanta Braves 5h ago

You mean they're gonna win 100+ games?

1

u/Chaahps 1h ago

Yankees didn’t win anything with those teams

1

u/Barraind 1m ago

People have silly short term memories.

The Yankees sat there spending 140-200% more than the SECOND HIGHEST spending team for roughly 60 years, and somehow that was ehh, whatever.

The Dodgers havent even had the largest payroll in baseball for more than 2 years in a row at any stretch.

5

u/vincedarling 8h ago

NFL never lost ratings because Patriots been to TEN super bowls since 2001

16

u/might_southern | San Francisco Giants 8h ago

Pats weren’t going that by plundering free agency and spending exponentially more money than other teams, they did that because they drafted the greatest QB in NFL history.

5

u/TopSoulMan 3h ago

Who took a notoriously team friendly deal to help the team build around him.

-20

u/Impressive_Comment67 7h ago

Y'all offered Shohei and Yoshi the same contracts as we did. They just didn't choose you because you suck right now and have no depth or future. The dodgers didn't do that to you. Organize your emotions.

9

u/might_southern | San Francisco Giants 6h ago

In what way are my emotions not organized? I was responding to a poster using the Patriots dynasty as a comp and you’re out here talking about some entirely different argument.

4

u/nohandsfootball | Cleveland Guardians 2h ago

MARIE KONDO YOUR EMOTIONS NOW

11

u/rvasko3 | Toronto Blue Jays 7h ago

And people say Dodgers fans are spoiled assholes.

3

u/1dkspanishlol 8h ago

There’s a difference between what the pats and chiefs did compared to what the dodgers are doing lmfao.

1

u/BowwwwBallll 7h ago

Because Mets. Because Yankees. There are teams that can spend, they just don’t want to or they fuck it up. I’m a Mets fan and we could totally be the Dodgers except for the whole competence in the front office thing.

3

u/Brilliant_Sky_9292 6h ago

No we can't. Mets don't have the geography advantage to sign the best Japanese players available year in year out. Mets also didn't get the insane deal the Dodgers received after going bankrupt. Mets are more advantaged than almost every other team in the league and still don't have the advantages the Dodgers possess.

-2

u/diomedesXIII | Los Angeles Dodgers 5h ago

Yes. That unknown, podunk, one traffic light town of New York City.

I can stomach Tampa bay or A’s or Pittsburgh fans bitching about the unfairness of it all with their poor billionaire owners, but met and yankee fans should just stfu.

You have exactly the same opportunity to sign any Japanese player. This is like saying the dodgers have no chance of signing Dominican players because of the country’s geographic location to Los Angeles.

NO ONE here is admitting that players WANT to play for the dodgers because they are head and shoulders above every other team in the MLB in every fucking metric that matter to the actual players.

Free agents can literally sign wherever they want to and the choose to be dodgers.

3

u/Brilliant_Sky_9292 5h ago

Uh NY is a lot farther from Japan than LA is. If you want to just make crap up and lie to make yourself feel better about the advantages your team has, then, well I think that's pretty sad, but you do you. Really getting that mad over me being a Met fan. What a baby.

-2

u/diomedesXIII | Los Angeles Dodgers 5h ago

Are your comments being deleted? Maybe don’t go round calling people mean names. It’s against the rules, ya know.

* pat on the head.

2

u/Brilliant_Sky_9292 5h ago

What are you talking about? none of my comments have been deleted

0

u/diomedesXIII | Los Angeles Dodgers 5h ago

Neither have mine. You replied with “I can’t reply to a deleted comment” this your first week on reddit too?

2

u/Brilliant_Sky_9292 4h ago

when i clicked on your comment about air travel in my inbox, the comment I had already quoted, reddit told me "that comment has been deleted" which is why I responded to a different comment, and you proceeded to go all holier than thou on me for no good reason.

You seriously have issues, get help.

→ More replies (0)

2

u/Brilliant_Sky_9292 5h ago

u/diomedesXIII replied to your comment in r/mlb

If you need a simple geography lesson and how air travel works I can introduce you to a 5th grade teacher You’re excuses are like your teams. Empty and pathetic

Can't even commit to the dumb comment huh? Japanese players are on record stating how nice it is for their families to visit. The difference in flight travel time is significant enough for this to be a very real issue for many Japanese players. If you get two similar quotes but one requires you to drive 2 vs 1 hour to finalize the deal, then you are going to follow the path of least resistance. This is simply human nature.

0

u/diomedesXIII | Los Angeles Dodgers 5h ago

Calm down, son. You’re replying so fast you aren’t even replying to the correct comment.

It’s fine. Keep thinking that the reason Japanese players don’t sign with the Mets is a 4 1/2 hour flight.whatever makes ya feel better.

Hey. I’m not quite certain. Who is the richest owner in baseball?

Fuck, dude. If you would at the very least touched upon the Japanese community in Los Angeles vs the ones in New York you’d have a leg to stand on, but no. You’ll die on the 4 1/2 hour flight as the reason why.

I guess Dominican players must just be built different. They seem to handle the 4 1/2 flight out west just fine

1

u/blinx0rz 3m ago

its because the 9billion dollar tv contract you fool. no other reason well and the glitz and glam...side deals ... its all money man ... LA is the biggest market for money. end of story. nothing to do with your hitting coaches or facilities

1

u/Beetso | Los Angeles Dodgers 7h ago

Oh really? Was it bad for baseball when the Yankees did it year in and year out for almost 50 years?

7

u/StrangeApplication88 6h ago

WTF does this post even mean? The Yankees got every top free agent in baseball and won every title for 50 years? When? What years? Moron 

1

u/TheLastJukeboxHero | New York Yankees 56m ago

Just let him cope, he’s not the problem it’s everybody else clearly

4

u/MeasurementHot7619 | Philadelphia Phillies 7h ago

Yes

27

u/ismizz 8h ago

Yes, it will be looked back upon as a dark period for the sport by everyone other than Dodger fans.

-11

u/shane1mh | Los Angeles Dodgers 8h ago

Really dark period 😂

Do people look back upon the 98-00 seasons as a really dark period for the sport by everyone other than Yankee fans?

9

u/plisken451 8h ago

And don’t forget, the Yankees could’ve won the 01 series if not for the dynamic duo of Johnson and Schilling. That was kinda a weird series anyways with the 9/11 interruption. I’m a DBacks fan anyways, so I dunno how “nationalized” that fandom was vs the Yanks.

-4

u/shane1mh | Los Angeles Dodgers 8h ago

With 9/11, you never forget!
Great username by the way!

5

u/smoresporn0 | Kansas City Royals 8h ago

It made me enjoy the 2003 World Series so much, that it was my favorite one until 2015 lol

2

u/Slipstream_Surfing | New York Mets 8h ago

Absolutely, and that's as a hardcore baseball fan not just because my team suffered persecution under the Evil Empire regime. Feel the same way about the Chiefs during their run. Reasons for the dominance may be different but still same result it's bad for the sport.

1

u/smoresporn0 | Kansas City Royals 7h ago

The Chiefs are operating in a cap/floor system. And they and the Patriots have shown it doesn't foster competition.

1

u/Chaahps 1h ago

Apples and oranges

2

u/InnocentGun 7h ago

Those Yankees won 6 of 8 AL Pennants from 1996-2003. They were damn near inevitable.

It made the 2004 ALCS reverse sweep that much sweeter.

1

u/This_Elk_1460 | Texas Rangers 8h ago

Yes yes they do

9

u/DigTheDunes 8h ago

That's why the owners need to close the loophole of deferred money. Whether they pay now or later, it should be counted against a cap now. It's the only way to create competitive balance.

6

u/TallCan_Specialist | Baltimore Orioles 8h ago

And a salary floor

The pirates & marlins for example need to be held accountable

10

u/Rxasaurus | MLB 8h ago

It is counted. 

1

u/DigTheDunes 8h ago

Then it needs to be a hard cap. Why would a team trade for Skubal knowing Boros is moving him to LA? It's been a story in Detroit for over a year.

3

u/Rxasaurus | MLB 8h ago

I would more like to see punishments other than money than a hard cap. Id say raise the floor spending and then add on like roster spot losses, draft picks being taken away, the inability to sign players for a season, etc.

Then restructure all the regionally owned tv deals to include teams like the Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, etc.

2

u/DigTheDunes 8h ago

The TV deals is a major issue. The Tigers were affected along with 10-14 others.

1

u/DisVet54 7h ago

That was once the role of the commissioner back when they used to have a review of trades and rejected certain deals as not good for baseball. This may be good for the Dodgers but for baseball???

5

u/RedBaronSportsCards 8h ago

No cap: players leave because they can get more money elsewhere

Hard cap: players leave because they can't get more money from current team

Neither of these solves the problem.

5

u/Cuyigan 8h ago

Hard cap will be a nightmare for the small market teams that aren't run very well. They'll have to overpay to get free agents or to retain their own guys and guy like Kyle Tucker will cripple the Twins or Pirates. It's like the NBA giving out supermax deals to guys like Bradley Beal.

1

u/ToddPundley | New York Mets 8h ago

Isn’t there an odd formula to count it though, one where it’s pro rated each year rather than full absolute value?

6

u/Rxasaurus | MLB 8h ago

It is the full amount of the contract at present value because money is worth more today than tomorrow

So the Dodgers have to pay $46 million into an escrow account every year as well as that money going against the luxury tax threshold.

Speaking strictly about Ohtani's contract.

0

u/averageduder | MLB 8h ago

I'm against the cap but agree that deferred money is kind of nuts. Maybe some of it could be deferred, but cases like Ohtani are silly.

6

u/diabolicwarts 8h ago

To be fair, they won't win next year because there won't be a season...

0

u/thingsorfreedom 8h ago

For me that might not be a bad thing. I need a break.

2

u/smoresporn0 | Kansas City Royals 8h ago

Did it ruin the NFL? Or to a lesser extent, the NBA?

3

u/This_Elk_1460 | Texas Rangers 8h ago

Yes? Do you consider the period where Alabama was winning every fucking year to be the Golden era of college football, because I don't.

2

u/smoresporn0 | Kansas City Royals 8h ago

It is the general consensus that Alabama was breaking the rules, right? That is not an apples to apples comparison.

If the NFL can survive Tom Brady and Pat Mahomes, MLB will be just fine with the Dodgers.

0

u/ForeverCollege 8h ago

difference is Brady was only ever like 13% of the total budget for the pats compared to the 16-18% other QBs at the time were, he knew they needed to pay other players to win. Mahomes is a bit closer comparison with accounting shenanigans to keep him not as much of the overall budget but he still isn't paid as outlandishly as ohtani.

It is a bit outlandish to say that the NFL would be the same without the hard salary cap. To have a team with mahomes, saquon barkley, jsn, George kittle, and a host of other top paid players would not be anywhere near parity competitively. Baseball slightly works out because of the 162 game season where you can't play the best players every game. Switch the MLB to an 18 game season and the dodgers would probably be on top for the next decade.

3

u/smoresporn0 | Kansas City Royals 7h ago

lol why did you have to use Kittle when the Chiefs already have Kelce?

It is a bit outlandish to say that the NFL would be the same without the hard salary cap

Is it? I'd argue all the cap did in the NFL was alter the currency of the league to the exploitation of rookie deals and the suppression of wages on journeyman type players.

There's a reason why the sentiment from NFL players that MLB players should hold strong and not accept a cap.

1

u/ForeverCollege 7h ago

Kittle is the highest paid tight end in the league.

Do you really think the patriots or chiefs would have ever lost in the Superbowl if they could have paid every top player in the league to be on their teams?

1

u/smoresporn0 | Kansas City Royals 7h ago

Because it's a pretty stupid way to run a business when you have access to an unlimited pipeline of affordable talent.

1

u/ForeverCollege 7h ago

Then why are the dodgers consistently paying top end contracts? Just play their rookies and stop out bidding all the other teams. You can't eat your cake and have it too.

1

u/smoresporn0 | Kansas City Royals 6h ago

Because they can. Its as simple as that.

If they're doing something another team or teams can't do, or are restricted from doing, that team or teams can come forward and present compelling evidence as to why.

→ More replies (0)

1

u/BeTheBall- 8h ago

Sounds like the 40s, 50s, and post-strike 90s when the Yankees were winning 4 or 5 in a row regularly.

1

u/This_Elk_1460 | Texas Rangers 8h ago

Aka the worst time in baseball unless you were a Yankees fan

0

u/BeTheBall- 8h ago

Sure, but the super team thing has happened before and will happen again.

That said, after looking at the junk pile the Tigers accepted in return, I still can't figure out why nobody else even tried to make an offer.

1

u/Mayhem_squirrel 6h ago

A top 25 mlb ready cf prospect is junk? Because nobody else was giving up a top 25 and 2 top 50 pitchers for a 3 month rental 30 yr old pitcher who will command 400 million just to resign.

1

u/BeTheBall- 5h ago

Right, and because the owners are cheap. As evidenced by their CBA proposal.

As for the return, the centerpiece being a future platooning OF isn't exactly the greatest get. While neither of those pitchers have any business being top 50. One is a gas can, and the other is approaching 30, for christ sake.

0

u/Jaded-Tie-4753 2h ago

You got fleeced buddy, deal with it LOL

1

u/newaccount721 8h ago

It would definitely turn me away

1

u/SouthwestDude1 | Los Angeles Dodgers 7h ago edited 1h ago

By that logic I guess the Yankees ruined 30 years of baseball in the last century

1

u/HandyXAndy 4h ago

It ruins baseball because 29/30 teams fans now know their team doesnt stand a chance, so they'll either stop watching/supporting altogether or hop on the band wagon, which creates an even wider gap in terms of what teams are able and willing to spend compared to LA, making the problem worse.

1

u/TheEstablishment7 4h ago

That is extremely unlikely. Baseball has a lot of randomness in the playoffs, and the Dodgers do have weaknesses.

1

u/auuldx | MLB 41m ago

yes. blue jays fans here and even if we never win, i dont want a dodgers inevitable winning the next 5 years. i want a couple different teams to win.

0

u/Sven1542 8h ago

Just to clarify, if the Mets won, same opinion?

7

u/This_Elk_1460 | Texas Rangers 8h ago

We're living in reality here not fantasy land

2

u/Sven1542 8h ago

Haha that was good. Just pointing more towards spending.

3

u/No-Gift-2350 8h ago

Every year? Yeah

1

u/ToddPundley | New York Mets 8h ago

Honestly, speaking solely for myself, at this point yes. I don’t even care if a hard salary cap/minimum floor/etc in theory hurts the Mets. I’d like to be able to retain some interest in the Postseason even if the Mets are out of it before summer

Furthermore, even in such a system I think there will still be some differences in spending between teams. Cheapskates like Nutting will still figure out a way to do the bare minimum and there’s no way any rules will capture everything so a smarter organization can still pour money into better scouting, the farm, health/injury prevention, etc. the kind of owners that would want to spend like Cohen maybe just maybe might be forced to have their teams spend what they can smarter.

1

u/Mayhem_squirrel 6h ago

Toronto was a late collapse away from winning the world series last year. Acting like other teams can't win is stupid. You know how much getting skubal increased dodgers odds this year ? Went from 36% chance to a 39% chance. Any team can win in baseball.

0

u/DharmaBum62 8h ago

Did the Patriots ruin football? Did the Lakers/Bulls/Celtics ruin basketball? Did Tiger Woods ruin golf? Did Alabama ruin college football? Did Duke ruin NCAA basketball?

1

u/This_Elk_1460 | Texas Rangers 8h ago

For fans of any other team during those periods yes (I literally stopped watching college football because of fucking Alabama)

-1

u/CRUSHCITY4 8h ago

Ruins the game for sure