No angst in rival players over Dodgers spending
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred shared some conflicting feelings about the big-spending Los Angeles Dodgers this week, praising the franchise’s competitive spirit in one breath before addressing the financial disparity they have created in the next.
Players elsewhere around the league don’t seem nearly as conflicted.
“Teams spending money is never bad for baseball and never bad for players. Ever. In any situation,” Athletics slugger Brent Rooker said.
If Manfred is looking to find some sympathy from MLB’s rank-and-file regarding his worry over the sport’s financial health, it’s probably not going to come from the guys on the field.
MLB is the only major professional sport in America that doesn’t have a salary cap, though there are luxury tax penalties for passing certain spending thresholds. Last season, the Dodgers had a $353 million luxury tax payroll and had to pay a $103 million tax. The Athletics had the lowest luxury tax payroll at just under $84 million.
Los Angeles’ spending didn’t slow this offseason. The Dodgers signed two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell to a five-year, $182 million deal and made sizable investments in players like Teoscar Hernández, Michael Conforto, Tanner Scott, Kirby Yates and Roki Sasaki.
That came one year after the organization splurged on more than $1 billion in commitments to Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Los Angeles’ spending has dwarfed all but a few franchises. Opposing players might be envious of those fat paychecks, but it’s hard to find them complaining.
Even Manfred — who said he has received emails from fans worried about competitive balance — can’t fault the Dodgers’ approach.
“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 that’s a great thing for the game,” Manfred said Tuesday. “That type of competitive spirit is what people want to see.”
Walker Buehler threw the final pitch of the 2024 season, recording the last out for the Dodgers in their World Series-clinching Game 5 victory. He signed a one-year, $21.05 million with the Boston Red Sox during the winter, but the right-hander isn’t about to talk smack about his former employer.
“Teams spending money is never bad for baseball and never bad for players. Ever. In any situation.”
Athletics slugger Brent Rooker
The 30-year-old knows exactly why players are flocking to Chavez Ravine.
“I don’t think it’s odd,” he said. “It’s a first-class organization and obviously coming off a huge World Series and, I think on top of that, you layer in that on a team right now where there’s probably four or five Hall of Famers, I think it’s an attractive place to play.”
That doesn’t mean there isn’t some awe from players about the formidable roster that the Dodgers have built thanks to their deep pockets.
“I worked out with some guys that ended up signing with the Dodgers and was like, at a certain point, ‘I didn’t know they had room on the 40-man [roster],'” Red Sox pitcher Patrick Sandoval said.
The Arizona Diamondbacks are one of the teams trying to keep pace with the Dodgers in the National League West. They signed ace right-hander Corbin Burnes to a six-year, $210 million in December, but they are still projected to have a payroll that will be roughly half the size of the Dodgers.
“I don’t think it’s unfair at all,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “They’re within the rules. They’re doing what they have to do to get the best players on the field. When I was a kid, it was the Yankees, remember? George Steinbrenner was going crazy with his spending, and it yielded world championships. That’s what we’re all chasing.”
Lovullo makes a good point about the Yankees. Baseball has had a long history of financial disparity, particularly since free agency started in the 1970s.
Even so, there haven’t been many dynasties over the past 40 years. The Dodgers are trying to become the first team to win back-to-back World Series titles since Steinbrenner’s Yankees had a three-peat from 1998 to 2000.
Third baseman Max Muncy is in his eighth season with the Dodgers and says a big payroll certainly helps to build a talented roster, but it doesn’t mean much once the season starts. He points to 2023, when the Diamondbacks swept the Dodgers out of the postseason in the NL Division Series despite having a much smaller payroll.
“This sport is really tough,” Muncy said. “It doesn’t matter what kind of roster that you have. Time after time, teams have shown that you get into the playoffs and anything can happen.”
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Jorge Castillo
TAMPA, Fla. — The New York Yankees‘ facial hair and grooming policy, an infamous edict in place for nearly 50 years, was formally amended for the first time Friday.
In a statement, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said the organization will allow “well-groomed beards” effective immediately, changing a rule his father, George, established in 1976.
“In recent weeks I have spoken to a large number of former and current Yankees — spanning several eras — to elicit their perspectives on our longstanding facial hair and grooming policy, and I appreciate their earnest and varied feedback,” Hal Steinbrenner said in the statement. “These most recent conversations are an extension of ongoing internal dialogue that dates back several years.
“Ultimately the final decision rests with me, and after great consideration, we will be amending our expectations to allow our players and uniformed personnel to have well-groomed beards moving forward. It is the appropriate time to move beyond the familiar comfort of our former policy.”
George Steinbrenner implemented the mandate before the 1976 season, leaving players with a choice of being clean-shaven or wearing a mustache. Hal Steinbrenner kept the policy in place after becoming chairman and controlling owner of the franchise in 2008.
Players overwhelmingly obliged with the order over the next five decades, from spring training through October, often before letting themselves go during the offseason, though a few have pushed the limits.
In the 1990s, for example, star first baseman Don Mattingly was fined and benched by manager Stump Merril for refusing to trim his mullet. Four years later, Mattingly wore a goatee for part of his final season in 1995.
This year, All-Star closer Devin Williams, acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers in December, reported for his spring training physical with a beard before shaving it down to a mustache for the team’s first workout the next day. On the other end, former Yankees Gleyber Torres and Clay Holmes reported to camp with their new teams sporting full beards.
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