Under the ownership of Mark Walker, the Dodgers have been to the playoffs 13 consecutive times and won three World Series. He’s now trying to convey that magic as he takes over the Lakers. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Getty Images
The Los Angeles Dodgers are content with continuing to ruin baseball as their actions thus far in the free-agent market prove.
The defending back-to-back World Series winners already added closer Edwin Diaz at three years for $69 million, and are still in search of another top-line outfielder. The intent is to make a run at Major League Baseball’s first three-peat since the New York Yankees did it from 1998 to 2000.
The Dodgers had by far the highest payroll in MLB this past season at $416.7 million for luxury-tax purposes with an actual tax of $168.7 million, according to Spotrac. To put the latter figure into perspective, their luxury-tax bill was higher than the payroll of the lowest 12 Major League teams.
They’re back at again with a league-leading $328.2 million committed to players, including $48.2 million to Diaz, Tanner Scott and Blake Treinen, their top three relievers. That’s $75.8 million gap between the No. 2 New York Mets at $252.4 million. Now, Roki Sasaki, who finished the postseason as the closer, can return to a stocked starting rotation behind Japanese countrymen Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Undaunted, the Dodgers are not shying away from spending on another marquee free agent.
“I would say we definitely can,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman told writers this week at the just-concluded Winter Meetings in Orlando, Fla. “How likely it is probably another question.”
Big Name Outfielders Are On Dodgers Radar
Kyle Tucker and Cody Bellinger are the top two outfielders left on the market. Tucker batted .266 with 22 homers and 73 RBIs for the Chicago Cubs in 2025 while Bellinger hit .272 with 29 homers and 98 RBIs playing for the Yankees.
If the Dodgers sign Tucker, who started 115 games in right field, that would precipitate the move of the defensively-challenged Teoscar Hernandez to left.
Bellinger, a home-grown Dodgers product who left as a free agent for the Chicago Cubs in 2023, has proven adept at all three outfield positions and first base. He did so at a high level for the Yankees, who are hot on the trail of bringing him back. The Mets are also expected to jump in on Bellinger after losing slugging first baseman Pete Alonoso to the Baltimore Orioles at five years for $155 million earlier this week.
Are the Dodgers ruining baseball? That’s what manager Dave Roberts joked about during the team’s recent World Series run. Their high-level spending, which is all within the rules of MLB’s current Basic Agreement, is one of the top reasons there’s so much chatter about a salary cap and floor internally among the owners and many fans of much lower-spending teams.
Although it should be noted the Dodgers have been in the World Series five times since 2017, winning three, against a different team on each occasion – Houston, Boston, Tampa Bay, the Yankees and Toronto – this suggests there already is some sort of parity in MLB.
The back-to-backs were no easy tasks. The Dodgers trailed the Yankees 5-0 in Game 5 of the 2024 World Series, only to come back to win the game and the series. Likewise, this year they were behind the Blue Jays 4-1 in Game 7 and chipped away until tying it in the ninth inning on Miguel Rojas’ homer before winning in the 11th on the final pitch.
Not every market can sustain this kind of excellence, team president Stan Kasten acknowledged to Sportico in October.
“I understand that and that’s a problem,” he said. “That’s a problem we should address in baseball. But we have a market that does allow that, and while the rules allow us to exploit that and capitalize on that, we do it. We understand that we’re fortunate. To not take advantage of that would be a disservice to all our fans.”
Walter Turned The Dodgers Into A Monolith
Under the ownership of Mark Walter and Guggenheim Baseball, they’ve been very adept at it. Walter bought the franchise from Frank McCourt out of bankruptcy in 2012 for $2.15 billion, and under his leadership and the baseball guidance of Friedman, they won the National League West 12 out of the last 13 seasons and made the playoffs 13 years in a row.
In 2025, the Dodgers surpassed four million in home attendance and $1 billion in local revenue for the first time. According to Forbes own valuations, the Dodgers are now worth $6.8 billion as franchise values have accelerated throughout all pro sports leagues.
That’s second in MLB only to the Yankees, who are worth $8.2 billion. The Yankees haven’t been as successful as the Dodgers recently, last winning the World Series in 2009. Despite this, the Steinbrenner family has remained solid financially thanks to winning seasons every year since 1993.
The Dodgers use the rules successfully. They have $1.01 billion in deferred contracts paid out to eight players, the whopper being the $680 million deferred portion of Ohtani’s $10-year, $700 million deal now going into its third season. They own Dodger Stadium outright and have recently spent $300 million in renovations, all of it exempt from MLB’s revenue-sharing program. The ballpark, opened in 1962, is the third oldest in the Majors behind Fenway Park and Wrigley Field.
While the franchise is run by a $500 billion hedge fund, Walter himself is worth $13.5 billion. In addition, he just purchased the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers for $10 billion. Friedman has been so successful in running the Dodgers, he and assistant Farhan Zaidi were just given advisory roles with the historic basketball team.
Roberts boasts a .621 winning percentage during his 10 seasons managing the club and the highest salary among modern managers at $8.1 million per year through 2029. He’s so confident about his organization’s ability he recently said on a podcast he’d be in favor of a cap and floor coming out of the upcoming 2026 negotiations between the owners and players.
“Honestly, I think we have an organization where whatever rule or regulation constructs are put in front of us, we’re going to dominate,” he said during a media session in Orlando. “And so just give us the rules, let us know the landscape and then I’ll bet on our organization. That’s the way I feel.”
So, word to the wise. Whether the Dodgers are ruining baseball or not, it’s going to be this way for a while.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/barrymbloom/2025/12/12/los-angeles-dodgers-keep-ruining-baseball-with-active-offseason/
