NEWSLETTER
While I myself am guilty of, at times, thinking of the Juan Soto free agent races as a two-teamer between the Yankees and Mets, I at least knew enough in my conversations to always throw off a casual, “And hey, you never know about the Dodgers given all their money.”
It has probably been too casual.
‘The Dodgers, arguably baseball’s best offense already — it’s either them or the Yankees — intend to make a play for Soto “if he’s interested,” sources say ….
The Yankees are nearly perennially believed to be baseball’s highest revenue team, and the Mets have baseball’s richest individual owner, Steve Cohen, but the Dodgers’ financial situation, already excellent, was exponentially enhanced upon Shohei Ohtani’s signing. Dodgers baseball people often thank Ohtani for showing the flexibility to sign the $700M deal that is 97 percent deferred, which aids them well beyond his own unprecedented 50-50 productivity by allowing them to sign almost anyone. And truth be told, Dodgers bigs thank their lucky stars every day for the gift that will presumably keep on giving.
Word is that since $68M of Ohtani’s $70M salary is deferred without interest, the real cost to the Dodgers is closer to $30M annually, even lower than the $43.7M players union estimate. But the much larger benefit is the enormous profit the Dodgers are making via sponsorship and marketing opportunities. Two Asian airlines alone sponsor the Dodgers, the LA Times reported. Word is, the club’s profit is actually many times the cost to them of Ohtani’s record contract.’
Cool. Neat.
Thanks to a TV deal that is incomparable in dollars and security, the Dodgers start from a revenue baseline unlike any team in baseball, including the Yankees. And in a world where the monster deal they’ve given to Shohei Ohtani is not actually that monster in real dollars AND generates more in annual revenue than it actually costs, why wouldn’t they go after the next generational star when he becomes available? You view it through that lens, and it would actually be silly for the Dodgers NOT to make a serious bid on Juan Soto. I hate them for what they can do, but it’s not their job to deny reality.
Now, keep in mind that, if you’re Soto and Scott Boras, it definitely helps you to have the Dodgers involved, or even just perceived to be involved. It’s the same conversation we had about Blue Jays rumors on Soto, or any time there’s a stray Cubs mention, but ramped up because the at-issue team has a whollllle lot more money allocated to baseball than the Blue Jays or Cubs. What’s better than a market of two teams? A market of three teams. Or four teams. Or five teams. So on and so forth.
And if two of those teams are massive payroll in-city rivals like the Yankees and Mets? Then it serves certain purposes to make sure everyone involved knows that an even bigger financial juggernaut in Los Angeles is also totally interested.
Which is not to say it’s all cynical, by the way. The Dodgers really might do something like this. Would you say it’s impossible?
