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The Dodgers Will Regret The Rich Hill Deal: Yet Another Injury Prone Chucker In The Rotation
The Dodgers have spent over $300 MIL in back to back years, and are the clubhouse leaders in Luxury Tax penalties paid. At a 50% penalty, the Los Angeles forked out $40 MIL in Luxury Taxes in 2016. With an estimated $204 MIL payroll – considering there are several roster holes now created by departing players, the team will need to spend around $235 MIL in 2017 total payroll. With a 50% penalty – and an additional 45% hit for going $40 MIL over the new $195 MIL limit in 2017, I highly expect the organization will be less willing to spend 95 cents extra for every dollar spent beyond that. Because of the Rich Hill signing, it will make it tough to get back Justin Turner and land a Closer – without paying the maximum surcharges for payroll.
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer/Part Owner)
Follow @stokes_Hunter21 @mlbreports
I don’t hide the fact that I have been a Dodgers fan for some time. I have continuously ripped the past and present management for signing players that are injury prone. For the last 4 years the Injury/Dead money the club has doled out has rivaled what some of the lowest payroll clubs on an annual basis.
So what do the brass do? They ink a guy, who is 37, and could barely toe the mound for a handful of starts due to a blister, to a 3 Year Deal worth $16 MIL per year. Didn’t they learn their lesson with the Scott Kazmir contract? How about Chad Billingsley, Josh Beckett, Brandon McCarthy, Hyun-jin Ryu, Brett Anderson or Bronson Arroyo?
This is not even taking into a factor all of the positional players and Relief Guys they have taken a powder on (hit the ground and dust flies up because of being knocked out). The Franchise ate $41 MIL in 2013, $37 MIL in salary for 2014, $86 MIL in 2015, and $71 MIL in 2016.
For those scoring at home, that is a whopping $233 MIL in lost cash since the beginning of 2013, which was the Guggenheim Consortium’s first full year at the helm.
When you factor in some more penalties for exceeding the Luxury Tax Threshold, the organization is well over the $250 MIL mark in 4 seasons. Now 2017 doesn’t look to be much different – with $47 MIL in dead money already on the board.
Carl Crawford ($21.9 MIL), Alex Guerrero ($7.5 MIL), Hector Olivera ($4.7 MIL), Matt Kemp ($3.7 MIL) and Jose Tabata (250K) are not even on the active roster anymore, yet they will see some serious coin paid out by the Dodger Blue.
The Dodgers are also paying guys $10 MIL to play in the Minor Leagues. Read the rest of this entry
The New Luxury Tax Threshold Means The Top 11 Salaried Clubs Will All Be Affected In The Present + Future
The Dodgers have spent over $300 MIL on salary in back to back years, and are the clubhouse leaders in Luxury Tax penalties paid in that time frame. At a 50% penalty currently until falling under the limit for a year, the Los Angeles forked out $40 MIL in Luxury Taxes in 2016. With an estimated $193 MIL payroll already is signed and team controlled players – considering there are several roster holes now created by departing guys, the team will need to spend around $235 MIL in 2017 total payroll in order to be competitive.. With a 50% penalty – and an additional 45% hit for going $40 MIL over the new $195 MIL limit in 2017, I highly expect the organization will be less willing to spend 90 cents extra for every dollar spent beyond that.
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer/Part Owner) Follow @stokes_hunter21
Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
With the new CBA being tentatively signed yesterday through 2021 – the lower payroll teams will finally see some steeper enforcement of higher payroll squads.
With several penalties that range up to a 90% max penalty for spending over the limit, the dollars finally make sense for the MLB to curtail a team going rogue on their payroll spending.
Under the new deal, the format will jump from a team’s AAV (Average Annual Value) limit of $189 MIL to $195 MIL in 2017, $197 MIL in 2018, $206 MIL in 2019, $208 MIL in 2020 and $210 MIL on 2021.
The penalty for a 1st year abuser went from 12.5% to 20%, The 2nd year Still remains at 30%, the 3rd season escalates from 40% previously to 50% already. Each campaign the team is over following 3 years, the team is nailed for 50% of money spent over the limit.
Additionally, the franchise will pay a fee of 12% for spending between $20 MIL to $40 MIL over the Threshold.
If a organization goes $40 MIL over, they are faced with a surcharge of 42%.
3rd time abusers will pay 45% for every dollar doled out past $40 MIL over.
This means a 1st time penalty would still spank a team to the tune of 60% if a club spends more than $40 MIL over the limit. Read the rest of this entry
Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – June 6, 2016
Dustin Bradford/Getty Images North America
The Dodgers DFA’d their one time promising star Alex Guerrero. Could that humiliation help another team?
It is an “everyone deserves a second chance” episode of The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast.
Jason Hammel, Brandon Moss, Josh Tomlin, Elvis Andrus, Cesar Hernandez and Adam Eaton all added to their totals for Who Owns Baseball yesterday.
See the updated listing of WOB on MLB Reports
The Dodgers Make The Right Move To Re-Sign Kendrick
The Dodgers may have overpaid to hold on to Brett Anderson with the Qualifying Offer, however lucked out with Howie Kendrick rejected the QO in November, only to sign for just $4.2 MIL for a 2nd year. The club was able to ink the 31-year-old to a 2 YR/$20 MIL – where the Qualifying Offer would have paid him $15.8 MIL for just 2016. That is luck for the Los Angeles franchise.
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer/Part Owner) Follow @stokes_hunter21
Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
The Dodgers are running pretty good today with the status quo on the offensive side of the ball anyway.
Since it was agreed on that Howie Kendrick would sign a 2 year deal for $20 MIL – this is an economic win.
1st off, the Dodgers avoided the $15.8 MIL Qualifying Offer they extended their 2015 2B, then only had to pad $4.2 MIL to the total for a 2nd season.
This is a loss financially for Kendrick, who must have thought a multi-year offer of 3 – 4 campaigns must have been out there for the same kind of money that Daniel Murphy signed for (3 years at $12 MIL per AAV).
Howie Kendrick was unfortunately in the same market as Daniel Murphy and also lost another club that could have bid for his services, when the New York Mets traded for Neil Walker. Kendrick is a .293 Career Hitter, but doesn’t really have great power for Extra Base Hits. This brought down his value a little. He is till a great professional hitter. I am surprised the Angels didn’t come calling for his services – considering the lower AAV.
Not only did the Dodgers brass finally reel in their Starting Second Baseman, they were able to add Chase Utley as a backup/quality bench hitter for $7 MIL. If you combined Kendrick and Utley salaries, it is just $1.2 MIL over what would have happened had Kendrick accepted the QO.
Love Kendrick as a professional hitter. The man is a .293/.333/.423 career hitter – and his 2015 season closely resembled this at .295/.336/.409 in 2015 for the Dodger Blue.
It shows that the Dodgers management/ownership is also willing to fork out the necessary dollars to keep up their NL West Division prowess.
As the 3 time defending Division Champs, they are in prime position to challenge the Giants for a 4th year in a row in 2016.
This contract vaults the Dodgers up to around $245 MIL in total team salary in 2016, yet it was a necessary move.
Los Angeles is also staring at a 50% penalty for going over the Luxury Tax Threshold for a 4th straight year. They will pay around $28 MIL with cash situated as it is now.
For the fans that wanted the organization to dole up for the bigger Free Agents, it is hard to fathom paying that 50% penalty for years upon years at the present rate.
This approach has had the super management team of Andrew Friedman, Farhan Zaidi, Josh Byrnes and newly appointed Alex Anthopoulos under heavy scrutiny, but may work out better in the long run.
Had the club inked Zack Greinke to his $34.42 MIL AAV, that would have put them so far in committed $ over the Luxury Tax, that they would never be able to get under for a reset.
With the 2016 season concluding without a CBA after, it is also wise not to be so far over the Luxury Tax mark when they don’t know what the new deal between the MLBPA and the owners will look like.
2017 has them over $203 MIL in contracts guaranteed to 12 guys already, but 8 players will become Free Agents after the 2016 season, and after 2017’s end comes the best news for Dodger fans. Andre Ethier and Carl Crawford will finally be off the books!
The Dodgers have a ton of young talent coming into the fold here. Joc Pederson, Yasiel Puig, Corey Seager, Clayton Kershaw and Kenta Maeda are under team control for a long period of time here. You still have Julio Urias just coming up to the Major Leagues for service time as well.
The Infield is definitely going to be clogged up with Utley, Enrique Hernandez and Alex Guerrero on the depth chart. Guerrero is out of options and will need to be kept on the Major League Roster (or be released, waived or DFA’d).
Of course Justin Turner is listed as the Starter at 3B for now. Micah Johnson and Utley may join Hernandez as guys that could spell him at the hot corner.
Guerrero could also play the OF, but I am sure that Dave Roberts would love to use Scott Van Slyke as 1st on the taxi squad.
Los Angeles has also strengthened its bench with this move. The one thing they could still use it Relief help. That may be obtained by signing more Free Agents, or perhaps this may clear the deck for another trade to happen.
The Dodgers were 10th in the NL during 2015 – with a .250 Batting Average, and losing a .293 hitter last year would have been tough for this years lineup.
With Corey Seager for a full year, and a return to prominence for Yasiel Puig, this squad could really put up some runs and improve all facets of the offense.
While the club wasn’t so great at Batting Average, they were 3rd in the Senior Circuit in Slugging Percentage at .413.
One has to also think that Chase Utley will be a lot better in reserve role – compared to his .202/.291/.363 3 Slash Line with the team last year. I would say he could be 80% like his worst year (prior to 2015), where he hit .259/.344/.425 in 2012.
For the record, baseballreference.com has Utley hitting .247/.315/.398 in 2016. I am sure the club would take that.
Whether the implementation of a lot of players on the roster – as opposed to having a limited bench and depth if they would have signed Greinke projects well to the upcoming season is yet to be determined. 4
No doubt they are not as strong in the Rotation at the top. But perhaps the addition of Scott Kazmir, the return of Hyun-jin Ryu, Alex Wood for a full year, and a surprise comeback from Brandon McCarthy could pick up the slack.
Signing Kendrick was the right move all day long. This is one less position with the team having questions for.
The fans are seeing a different management philosophy with the new brass under the tutelage of Andrew Friedman. They are taking a big long term picture look. Even though they wasted $90 MIL in dead money last year with questionable decisions, they are trying to clear the deck for many years in the future, by dropping the heavy amount of committed dollars. With a new CBA forthcoming, who knows what the new Luxury Tax Threshold will be. At least by keeping the new contracts to smaller years and figures, Los Angeles may be able to drop underneath the limit in 2018 – 2020. Right near they are at a 50% penalty for every season they are over the Luxury Tax ($189 MIL) until they get under.
*** The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of mlbreports.com and their other partners.***
A big thanks goes out to our ‘Chief Writer/Part Owner’ Hunter Stokes for preparing today’s featured post.
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Los Angeles Dodgers State Of The Union For 2016
The Dodgers need to start spending money like right now, otherwise they stand to jeopardize themselves winning a 4th straight NL West title in 2016. Both the Giants and D’Backs have signed ace pitchers this year, and added another good Starting Pitcher besides the point. The club does have several young pieces and Depth at Roster to pull off a blockbuster trade forth coming – or they still have enough resources to acquire players for their 2016 run. The clock is officially ticking gentlemen.
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer) Follow @stokes_hunter21
Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
The Dodgers are having the same kind of offseason the Baltimore Orioles had in 2014 – going into 2015.
If everyone remembers that year, they rejected a couple year contract with Grant Balfour, when he failed a physical, and they did the same thing with Grady Sizemore.
That club also traded back to back 50 Saves guy Jim Johnson. By the way, the 2014 O’s won the AL East with a 97 – 65 record.
Key cogs in the wheel were new Closer Zach Britton, and Super Utility man Steve Pearce. A lot of parallels can be made between that squad and the Dodgers.
Late last week, the Dodgers pulled out of a three year deal wish Hisashi Iwakuma because they had concerns with a physical.
For the whole winter they have watched the Giants sign Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija, while the Diamondbacks stole Zack Greinke way from them, while trading a kings ransom for Shelby Miller. Read the rest of this entry
Los Angeles Dodgers Payroll In 2016 + Contracts Going Forward
The Dodgers have not won or appeared in the World Series since 1988. With the spending the ownership will do in the next decade, I would be surprised if the team doesn’t rake in multiple championships. But it will take diligent finagling on the brass – to skate around the Luxury Tax with the pending CBA of 2017 coming in. Yes the ownership is willing to spend boatloads of money, but they have to be smarter than they were in 2015.
Chuck Booth (Owner/Lead Analyst) Follow @chuckbooth3024
Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
This article deals with sensitive material that will self destruct in a few years. Whether the current regime wants to be saddled with blame or not, or put most of it during the Ned Colletti days, last year’s fiscal budget was a dumpster fire.
Not only did the franchise exceed the Luxury Tax Threshold again at (over $189 MIL), they put it to shame – reeling in a lofty mark of $314 MIL in total Cap Spending.
For folks scoring at home, that is $125 MIL over the limit, and with a third year penalty at 40% now, the squad will take down a historic levy hovering around $50 MIL.
We wrote a blog back in April stating the disregard the brass took in approaching this year’s salary structure. The worst part about it was that it didn’t culminate into a World Series Birth. Read the rest of this entry
Dodgers Brass’ Is Brutalizing The 2015 Payroll ($267 MIL) With Dead Money + Injury Plagued Chuckers!
Since Andrew Friedman has taken over, he has shown a blatant disregard for payroll, by cutting pitchers that had guaranteed deals, while doling out cash to often injured chuckers, or players that have limited success on their resume. The LA NL franchise is nearing $267 MIL for 2015 patyroll and are in the 3rd year of the Luxury Tax Penalty (40%). The franchise located at Chavez Ravine, are looking at a $30 MIL stipend to pay the MLB for that very infraction. Next year(9nd every year after till they drop under the Threshold once, they will rise to a 50% penalty/) One certainly has to question their last 5 or 6 moves in accordance with payroll. The Dodgers better hope that the forthcoming CBA doesn’t throw the hammer down on high salary teams over the Luxury Tax – when the new deal with the MLB and MLBPA is put into place before the 2017 season.
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer): Follow @stokes_hunter21
Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
What the hell is Andrew Friedman doing? Lets just eat the contracts on Brian Wilson and maybe Brandon League, while paying the freight on Dan Haren’s 2015 salary ($10 MIL) to play for the Marlins, and also forking out money to Brett Anderson, Brandon Beachy and also coming to a theater near you soon. If that weren’t enough, they have signed perennially injured/malcontent guys in Erik Bedard and Dustin McGowan on Minor League deals.
The club will also digest half (or more) of Andre Ethier‘s remaining deal (3 YRs, $56 MIL) if another franchise will take them off of their hands. Yes that was not the current front office’s deal, however the throwing away of money is still directly tied to their decisions now.
Pretty soon the entire total for the dead money in the Dodgers team salary will rival the contract marks of the Tampa Bay Rays and Oakland A’s if this trend persists.
The Los Angeles payroll was supposed to be reigned in – and not jumping to an ALL – Time record.
Even with losing the albatross contract of Matt Kemp, the Dodgers are sitting at nearly $266 MIL in projected team payroll. Let’s add a 40% penalty for being a 3rd time offender to the mix, and you can kiss another $30 MIL out the door at Chavez Ravine. Maybe the club should hope for a Zack Greinke opt out.
For a Full Player Breakdown off all Salaries in 2015 – and going forward click here .
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Los Angeles Dodgers State Of The Union: 2014 Preview
Clayton Kershaw agreed to a 7 YRs/$215 MIL extension in the offseason – that will run through the years of 2014 – 2020 with the LA Dodgers. The deal is slated for an opt out clause after the 2018 season by Kershaw, when he will be only 30 years old. This is the greatest single Annual Average Salary ALL – Time of $30.7 MIL per annum, and is the 6th biggest contract ever in the history of the MLB. Last year was his most dominant to date, with a 16 – 9 record, an NL Leading 1.83 ERA and 232 SO. The about to be 26 Year Old, also nailed down his 2nd NL Cy Young win in 3 years, and the other year he was the runner up in that time frame. He may be the single most important player to any franchise in the National League. Kershaw is the 3 time reigning NL ERA champ.
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
Follow MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
The Dodgers are beginning year 2 of potentially a half-dozen years of dominance. They have a team filled with ALL – Stars, superior Starting Pitching, and have deep pockets to seal the deal with necessary changes.
The NL West might be stronger this year with more competitive rosters from the D’Backs, Rockies and Giants, yet I still think the Dodger Blue will pulverize the competition, particularly in their own division.
Our Chief Writer Hunter Stokes wrote a great article on the Dodgers taking the 1st few series of the year not as seriously as the rest of the year here.
I fully agree with his stance, yet I don’t think it will make much of a difference.
Injuries aside this team is ready to take down the National League. Read the rest of this entry
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