Manfred: Dodgers doing what the system allows
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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 currently 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. And while offseason spending has reached $4.6 billion, the Dodgers and Mets have accounted for nearly a quarter of that total. Eight teams, meanwhile, spent $50 million or less 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 the 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 a work stoppage after the current 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 topics in his wide-ranging media availability, which lasted close to half an hour:
• Manfred recently toured Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, California, that 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.”
LAS COLINAS, Texas — Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork told leaders of the College Football Playoff on Tuesday that the sport’s calendar needs to change, and it’s a critical component as they consider the playoff’s future format.
Bjork, just months removed from watching his Buckeyes win the national title, attended a portion of the annual CFP spring meetings to provide feedback with the three other athletic directors who participated in semifinals and hosted first-round games: Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte, Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua, who is part of the CFP’s management committee along with the 10 FBS commissioners.
Bjork said CFP executive director Rich Clark asked if he had one major point he wanted to make before leaving.
“We’ve had so many disruptions over the last five-plus years that I think the time is now to not be reactive, be proactive,” Bjork told ESPN. “When we had this setting here with the commissioners, our job was to provide feedback on what was it like to go through the 12-team playoff … but it all gets impacted by the calendar. I felt it was important to lay that out with everyone in the room to say, separate from the CFP process, if we don’t fix our calendar as an industry, then we’re going to continue to have unintended consequences.”
Bjork shared with the commissioners the perspective of a school trying to win a national title while classes had begun Jan. 6. Ohio State’s academic advisers traveled with the team to the semifinal and national title game, he said, but some athletes missed class and the school had to apply for waivers around the countable athletically related activities, which limits schools to 20 hours of practice time while classes are in session.
“When you don’t have class, there is no limit to CARA hours,” he said, noting that Texas started classes later. “It created some disadvantages. It all goes back to what’s countable CARA hours, NCAA structure. The portal is the next big conversation after the House case and truly what kind of rules can we set? Will we have the authority around transfer rules to set some parameters?”
Bjork said the transfer portal needs to move to a 10-day period in May for fall sports because if the NCAA House settlement is approved, most of the players are going to be signing revenue share agreements with the schools from July 1 to June 30.
“May makes the most sense” to align player contracts with the portal, Bjork said.
Bjork, who said he’s on the implementation committee for the House settlement, said “if everyone follows the structure, it’s going to be a great structure.”
“And everyone has to follow the rules,” he said, “and agree that this is the structure, which we have to. If we don’t do that, then what good is the settlement?”
CLEVELAND — Guardians center fielder Lane Thomas was placed on the 10-day injured list Tuesday with a bruised right wrist sustained when he got hit by a pitch two weeks ago.
The move is retroactive to April 20.
Thomas, who was a postseason star for Cleveland in 2024, was struck on the wrist in the home opener against the Chicago White Sox on April 8. He has played in five games since, including Sunday at Pittsburgh.
Thomas said his wrist initially responded to treatment, but it began troubling him after he played over the weekend.
“I got that first jam shot base hit when I played that first day and it just kind of swelled up after that,” Thomas said. “I kind of lost some range of motion, so they just thought the best option was to try and get all that out of there and not go through that same cycle again.”
Manager Stephen Vogt hopes putting Thomas on the IL will give him time to let the injury heal correctly.
“Let’s take eight to 10 days, knock this thing out so that it’s behind us for the rest of the year,” Vogt said. “Out of fairness for him to be able to be himself and not wonder how’s it going to feel today when I wake up. We decided that with Lane, that this was the best course of action.”
Thomas has twice broken the same wrist after being hit by pitches. He went 2 for 15 with five strikeouts in five games after getting hit.
The Guardians acquired Thomas, 29, in a July trade with Washington. He struggled for much of the regular season before having his biggest moments with Cleveland in October.
Thomas hit two homers in the AL Division Series against Detroit, connecting for a grand slam in Game 5 off Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal to help the Guardians advance.
To replace Thomas, the club selected the contract of infielder Will Wilson from Triple-A Columbus. The Guardians also transferred right-hander Trevor Stephan, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery, to the 60-day injured list.
Wilson was batting .324 for the Columbus Clippers with six homers and 18 RBIs in 18 games. He homered in three of his past four games.
This is the 26-year-old’s first promotion to the majors. He’s a former first-round pick of the Los Angeles Angels, who traded him to San Francisco in 2019. Cleveland acquired Wilson in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft this past offseason.
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