Manfred: Dodgers spending ‘within the rules’
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Alden Gonzalez
PHOENIX, Ariz. — Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred on Tuesday called payroll disparity a principal concern throughout the industry but would not necessarily commit to a salary cap as a central point of negotiations leading up to the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have stoked concerns about payroll disparity with their spending over the past two offseasons, during which they signed five players to nine-figure contracts: Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Will Smith and Tyler Glasnow, the latter two by virtue of extensions.
Speaking during a spring training media event, Manfred reiterated prior comments while saying the Dodgers have “gone out and done everything possible, always within the rules that currently exist, to put the best possible team on the field, and I think that’s great for the game.” But he acknowledged that fans and owners have expressed concern about their ability to blow other teams away monetarily.
The Dodgers’ competitive balance tax payroll is estimated at about $392 million, well beyond the highest threshold, according to Spotrac. Only the New York Mets, a distant second at roughly $321 million, have even cracked $300 million. While offseason spending has reached roughly $3.3 billion, the Dodgers and Mets have accounted for more than 40% of that total. Nine teams, meanwhile, spent less than $20 million on free agents this winter.
“Disparity should be, it certainly is, at the top of my list of concerns about what’s occurring in the sport,” Manfred said. “When I say I can’t be critical of the Dodgers — they’re doing what the system allows. If I’m going to be critical of somebody, it’s not going to be the Dodgers. It’s going to be the system.”
The current Dodgers often have been compared to the New York Yankees teams of the 2000s that, under late owner George Steinbrenner, were commonly referred to as “The Evil Empire” for their ability to continually sign star players. But Manfred said these Dodgers are “probably more profitable on a percentage basis than the old Yankees teams were, meaning it could be more sustainable, so it is more of a problem.”
On top of residing in a major market and coming off a World Series championship, the Dodgers boast a regional cable deal that pays them about $334 million annually at a time when teams continue to fall out of their local media contracts. The Dodgers also benefit greatly from Ohtani, who deferred $680 million of his $700 million contract and has brought in massive revenue streams from Japan. The Dodgers have responded by investing the additional money back into their roster, making owners of even major-market teams such as the Yankees and Chicago Cubs complain about their inability to keep up.
It has all worked to push MLB’s long-held desire for a salary cap back to the forefront. Given that the MLB Players Association has been adamant it would never agree to one, it also has led to widespread concern about a lockout or work stoppage after the CBA expires in December 2026. The sides are expected to begin negotiations a year in advance, and payroll disparity — tied strongly to the fading traditional cable model and MLB’s hopes of fitting local media into a national umbrella — will undoubtedly become a hot-button issue.
“I’m not going to get into what the answer is,” Manfred said when asked whether he will seek a salary cap in the next round of bargaining. “We’re a year away. I have owners with really strongly held views that I need to coalesce into a position that we’ll ultimately take to the MLBPA. I don’t think starting that debate publicly is a good start. Whatever we settle on, we’re going to present in the collective bargaining process and try to handle it privately in order to get a deal.”
Manfred addressed many other topics in his wide-ranging media availability, which lasted close to half an hour:
• Manfred recently toured Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, California, which will house the Athletics for at least the next three years, and he said the level of excitement within the community for a major league team is “palpable.” He added that the timeline for the A’s new ballpark in Las Vegas has not changed. “I believe we’re going to be on time to go in 2028,” he said.
• Manfred said he believes the Cubs would make a “good host” for the All-Star Game, which has not come to Wrigley Field since 1990. But he did not say whether there has been any progress in talks with city officials about closing down the streets around the ballpark for the event, which MLB and the Cubs consider a prerequisite. The Cubs are pushing to host the All-Star Game as early as 2027, the next available date.
• Manfred reiterated his belief that a separate draft is the best remedy to clean up some of the corruption that occurs on the international market, particularly in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, where pre-deals, performance-enhancing drug use and age fraud have become especially prevalent in recent years. “The transparency of a draft, the inability to make secret deals because you don’t know who’s going to draft whom, is really the best systemic approach,” he said.
• Manfred said the San Diego Padres, who were previously in danger of violating MLB’s debt-service requirement, have “really improved their revenue situation dramatically.” Manfred said John Seidler, who recently was approved as the Padres’ control person amid litigation from the late Peter Seidler’s widow, “is committed to the Padres long term” and “shares the kind of vision” that Peter Seidler, one of his brothers, had for the team.
• Manfred called the loss of local media deals a “temporal” problem that he believes will eventually affect every team, even the big-market clubs with contracts that are currently secure. He added that the issue won’t be addressed significantly until, at the earliest, after the 2028 season, when MLB’s prominent national deals expire.
“I do think baseball needs to alter its approach in advance of those negotiations,” Manfred said. “I think we need more central control over all the rights, whether they’re traditionally regarded as national or local, and we should be making an effort to make our product more national, because those national games are worth a lot more than games that are sold only in the local market.”
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Ryan S. Clark
BOSTON — Other than the game itself, both Canada and the United States were talking about President Donald Trump hours before playing one another in the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off championship game.
Trump was a topic of conversation for both teams Thursday with many Team USA players speaking about the call they shared with the president with Team Canada sharing some of its thoughts about Trump once again stating that Canada would become the “51st state” in the country.
“It was awesome. It was one of the cooler experiences I’ve had,” Team USA’s Vincent Trocheck said of the Trump phone call. “Having the president of the United States call your team about a hockey game just seems kind of crazy but it’s pretty cool.”
Team USA and New York Rangers forward J.T. Miller echoed a similar sentiment.
“Pretty cool. It was so awesome to hear the support,” Miller said. “It’s a pretty big deal for us to take time out of his schedule to talk to us. It’s just another one of those things where we’re pinching ourselves this tournament. It’s been really fun so far to see the support from everybody up to the president is pretty wild.”
Miller said that Trump told the team to enjoy the moment and have fun with it with Team USA defenseman Zach Werenski saying he “kind of blacked out” because of the significance of the moment.
Team USA received a call from the President this morning to wish them luck ahead of tonight’s #4Nations championship game. pic.twitter.com/he1kIgUVGW
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) February 20, 2025
A reporter then asked Miller if Trump mentioned making Canada the 51st state.
“I don’t think he brought that up,” said Werenski, who plays for the Columbus Blue Jackets. “He left that one out.”
Trump wrote on Truth Social earlier Thursday that he planned on calling Team USA while later adding that “on toward victory tonight against Canada … will someday, maybe soon, become our cherished, and very important Fifty First State.”
With political tensions already in place prior to the 4 Nations, those feelings have only amplified with hockey as its latest avenue. It started with fans on both sides booing during each country’s respective national anthems.
It further escalated during the first Canada-U.S. game last Saturday. There were three fights in the first nine seconds of a contest which ultimately ended with the U.S. winning 3-1 in Montreal. The game itself became the talk of the North American sports landscape and only added to the anticipation of a potential rematch, something Canada secured Tuesday with a 5-3 win against Sweden.
Canada coach Jon Cooper was asked if the political discussion regarding the two countries has entered the dressing room.
“Other than the talk of [Canada becoming] the 51st state and then somebody saying, ‘Wow, we’d have one hell of a hockey team,'” said Cooper, who is the head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Cooper then further elaborated on the subject.
“Let’s be honest, you’d never get what’s going to be contested tonight,” Cooper said. “The political side of things, we feel [that] for everybody on our side of things. But for us to come here and to be in that room, it’s going to be more for us to win that game, then sit there and debate what the game means. We have to go out there and represent our country and make them proud. If we accomplish that, then I think we accomplish what we want to, which is to make Canadians proud.”
ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski contributed to this report.
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