Cashed-Up Champion Dodgers Gather Stars as Critics Cry Foul

There aren’t even any pitches being thrown here in the offseason, but the back-to-back World Series-winning Los Angeles Dodgers are still blasting home runs.

The problem is, they’re essentially killing baseball along the way, according to some critics.

When L.A. recently added outfielder Kyle Tucker on a reported four-year $240-million deal, some in the baseball world cried foul. That was in part because the Tucker acquisition came after star closer Edwin Diaz inked a surprise contract to don Dodger Blue.

“I think it sucks!” podcast producer Taylor Schwink of “Baseball Tonight” told The Epoch Times in a blunt direct message about the high-priced group of talent the Dodgers are collecting.

Schwink said even the traditional heavy hitters of the majors are striking out against the Dodgers. And that suddenly has major-market fan bases up in arms.

“It’s been going on forever, but now it’s only a problem that the (New York) Yankees and (Boston) Red Sox can’t compete,” he said.

Former major league and Japan skipper Trey Hillman said via email: “Let’s just say the rich get richer and deeper, and (the Dodgers are) probably on their way to securing another playoff spot, at the least.”

The Dodgers’ projected payroll for the year is expected to be the highest in MLB, and the team might not be finished acquiring talent to fill areas of concern that forced it to struggle through seven games to edge the Toronto Blue Jays in last year’s Fall Classic.

According to ESPN.com, L.A. has a payroll approaching $400 million and its flow of cash is reaching flood level. In fact, the consensus among fans and media pundits is the Dodgers are a swelling tsunami.

The team’s astute and shrewd free agent signings were outshone when a $700 million deal for Japanese two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani went down in 2024. Much of Ohtani’s salary was in deferrals and the team—just like drivers do in the smoggy, car-clogged freeways that outline L.A.—nimbly navigated its way to one of the best players of the past century.

Tucker, largely considered the top free agent hitter available and a player who also owns a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger, opted to join the Dodgers about a month after Diaz signed a three-year deal for $69 million to jump from the New York Mets to L.A.

Diaz, a three-time Relief Man Award winner, fills a hole that appeared in gaping fashion as the season wound down. He is now about to help members of other teams turn up their level of Dodgers hate.

Tucker, whom the Dodgers introduced on Wednesday, will take a slot in a lineup that also features Ohtani, a four-time MVP; one-time MVPs Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts; as well as World Series heroes Will Smith and Max Muncy.

The offense figures to have Ohtani leading off followed by this collection of regular-season standouts and stars from the past two postseasons. And the Dodgers, who were already the top pick to win the championship and complete a three-peat, are now the heavy betting title favorites.

There are opt-outs in Tucker’s contract after the second and third seasons, but that might not be much of a factor for the player or the Dodgers as a lockout looms with the owners set to dig in deep on their demand for a salary cap for the next collective bargaining agreement, which is set to expire in December.

Hillman said he’s certain whatever negotiations take place are going to be just for show, and a work stoppage is on the way.

“Not sure where this lockout is going, but it seems clear with everyone that I talk to in higher places than mine that it is inevitable, and that the owners are not afraid of making the players union not play in 2027,” Hillman wrote.

“I’m not sure if the richer clubs in MLB will have more impact than the smaller market teams—they seem to be well-unified and extremely supportive of the commissioner’s office direction.”

Schwink said: “I hope we get some meaningful changes and not a lockout, but that seems likely.”

The sides figure to point fingers at each other, but one former big league and Japan manager pinned the whole situation on selfishness among the owners and players as CBA negotiations become more important ahead of the deadline.

“There are owners who just want to make money, others who want to win. The conservatives want to break the union,” Bobby Valentine told The Epoch Times in an email.

“They feel the rich players will crack. Same old story. Greed will always be part of this on both sides.”

When told the possibility of a salary cap could benefit players by opening up more paths to a championship from small-market teams, Valentine said, “Players don’t think about that. They only think about how much money they can make,” he said.