Gather ‘round, kids. I’m gonna dispense some perspective.
You see, back in the 20th century, the New York Yankees dominated MLB in every decade. The Yankees were the Evil Empire. The money they had at their disposal was almost criminal.
This was before the player draft, so the Yankees built a scouting machine that could comb the bushes for the best players and pay the biggest bonuses so the player would sign with them.
They also created the best minor league system. If another team had a player the Yankees wanted, they had the top prospects to entice a team to trade their star to the Yankees.
In MLB, there has always been one bully on the block. The Big Cheese that all the smaller market team’s fans could despise.
Now, there is a new behemoth in the MLB universe.
The Dodgers signed free agent Kyle Tucker to a four year $240 million contract. That’s $60 million a year for a player that is good, but not a world beater even though he’s getting paid like one. Tucker is even getting a $64 million signing bonus. For that much a small market team could buy an entire bullpen.
Tucker’s contract also includes opt-outs after the second and third years. Why commit to the entire contract if you can renegotiate? And for the luxury tax aficionados, Tucker’s deal will levy the Dodgers with about $120 million worth of penalties in 2026. They’ll pay more in fines than the Pirates pay their starting nine. That tells you all you need about competitive balance like nothing else.
That sets fans of the other teams off.
“Unfair! The Dodgers are buying the championship! Destroying the game I grew up with! Think of the children!”
MLB designed exactly this dystopian future over decades. The union blessed the CBA. Owners all ratified. Everyone signed the permission slip.
They got rid of parity with the elimination of the reserve clause. Luxury tax was invented to dissuade teams from over paying but then the deep pocket owners pretended it wasn’t there. Poorer teams welcome revenue-sharing prizes as though they were Monopoly cash and don’t use it to improve their teams and cry for parity like they think that might work someday. Those owners would rather buy a fourth vacation house and a second yacht with their rewards of losing.
You can’t be mad at the Dodgers.
They are using the system as it has been designed. Mark Walter, owner of the Dodgers, views nine-figure checks as though he is pinching it out of his business’s petty cash.The Los Angeles television broadcast contract spews funds like an open hydrant, and the Dodgers put into the team.
Luxury tax is not a deterrent either. It’s the cover charge to get into the game. The Dodgers pay the 110% overage rate the way most of us pay sales tax, annoyingly, except competitive billionaires don’t blink.
Tucker, meanwhile, turns down longer, shinier offers from the Mets and Jays to take the short, fat, opt-out-loaded bag in L.A.
He joins the murderer’s row that already features Ohtani performing miracles at DH, Betts redefining shortstop like it’s his personal proving grounds, Freeman could hit .300 while half-asleep, Will Smith (not that one) running the pitching staff and bashing clutch homers.
Do not despise Kyle Tucker. Like an offer he couldn’t refuse, the guy is only depositing the check that was lying on the table in front of him.
Do not despise the Dodgers. They are only the ones who examined the fine print, and said, “If you’re not gonna stop us, hell yeah.” Openly despise the agreement that keeps delivering gift cards to the poorer clubs while they scream about financial responsibility.
I’ll be watching as the greatest show in sports rolls on.
The Dodgers run the circus, Tucker’s the new headliner, and the other 29 teams are stuck outside in the parking lot, wondering why the big top never pitches its tent in their zip code. Fire up the three-peat parade. The rest of the league is stuck in traffic following the procession.
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