The Los Angeles Dodgers have been willing to spend money under the current ownership. That changed a little bit in the 2015-16 MLB offseason. With the current hot stove season gearing up, MLB rules are forcing Los Angeles to be more conservative again.
“The Dodgers, who have spent more than a billion dollars on player payroll in the first four seasons of Guggenheim Baseball Management, face a mandate to reduce debt in order to conform to Major League Baseball,” Bill Shaikin of The Los Angeles Times reported. “The club is expected to reduce payroll for a second consecutive season, with the goal of cutting from about $300 million in 2015 to closer to $200 million in 2018.”
Los Angeles acknowledges that it will be spending less money.
But, according to Shakin, the club says it’s motivations aren’t related to MLB’s rules.
“The team says the reductions are unrelated to baseball’s rules about debt, which demand clubs be in compliance within five years of an ownership change. Rather, the Dodgers say they spent heavily in the early days of Guggenheim ownership in order to be competitive as they rebuilt the organization’s player development program and infrastructure.”
One thing is clear. Regardless of the motivation, the spending will certainly be reduced.
This doesn’t mean that Los Angeles will become the National League’s version of the Tampa Bay Rays. A $200 million payroll may be a reduction for the Dodgers, but it still dwarfs most teams. Per Spotrac, only Los Angeles, the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers cracked that barrier in 2016.
But heading into the heat of the free agent season, the reduced spending does bring into play some questions.
Is it now less likely that the Dodgers will re-sign stars Justin Turner and Kenley Jansen? If that is the case, are they less likely to bring in comparable (or even better) players to replace them?
If nothing else, when a team like Los Angeles is looking to reduce spending, it brings more teams into the mix during the free agency period.