Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw

[Johnnydollaz89]

Houston Astros team salary for 2013 was $22,062,600! HAHA

Crazy! haha

Good for Kershaw.

 

[Nyfan1980]

Dodgers have a lot of players making over $20+ mil a year.


Clayton Kershaw-$30 mil per year
Zach Grienke-$26 mil per year
Matt Kemp $21 mil per year
Adrien Gonzalez-$21 mil per year
Carl Crawford-$20 mil per year
Hanley Ramirez-$16 mil next season FA after that
Josh Beckett-$15 mil next season, FA after that

Feel like I am forgetting some names???


What is the team payroll for the Dodgers currently, with the Kershaw deal?

 

[$500 Million]

Good news for the Yankees is that now they know where the Dodgers limit is, they won't pay Tanaka more than Kershaw, but the Yankees might.

 

[Moneyman]

I don't blame the Dodgers at all for spending the money and being competitive. I do however blame MLB for not doing anything to fix the spending issue that these big market teams have been doing for years.

Where in Sports do you see such disparity between teams? Do you see the Heat handing out 200 M deals to Lebron/Wade/Bosh? No, because there's a limit to how much a team can offer.

Teams like the Rays, Marlins, Brewers, Astros, Pirates, Twins etc have no chance to be competitive in the FA market, and whenever they do draft prospects and they make it to the ML level they lose them to these big market teams.

It's unbalanced, and it needs to change, otherwise who knows what the league will look like 3-4 years down the line.

I don't blame any big market owner at all though.

 

[BigDDude]

I don't blame the Dodgers at all for spending the money and being competitive. I do however blame MLB for not doing anything to fix the spending issue that these big market teams have been doing for years.

Where in Sports do you see such disparity between teams? Do you see the Heat handing out 200 M deals to Lebron/Wade/Bosh? No, because there's a limit to how much a team can offer.

Teams like the Rays, Marlins, Brewers, Astros, Pirates, Twins etc have no chance to be competitive in the FA market, and whenever they do draft prospects and they make it to the ML level they lose them to these big market teams.

It's unbalanced, and it needs to change, otherwise who knows what the league will look like 3-4 years down the line.

I don't blame any big market owner at all though.

 

[Jims_Doors]

Kershaw can opt out after the 5th year.

 

[Lemon Harang Pie]

What a joke. I love my hometown team, but this type of stuff just makes me hate MLB so much. Small market teams will never ever ever be on an even playing field with the Rockefeller's of the league.

Not in terms of payroll but so what? Payroll is hardly an indicator of success.

I don't know why wealthy teams continue to throw these kinds of contracts at players as they NEVER seem to work out. Dodger fans are going to enjoy a season or two of great pitching but when Kershaw's arm goes south they're going to be bitching about ownership tying up so much money in a player.

 

[BigDDude]

Not in terms of payroll but so what? Payroll is hardly an indicator of success.

I don't know why wealthy teams continue to throw these kinds of contracts at players as they NEVER seem to work out. Dodger fans are going to enjoy a season or two of great pitching but when Kershaw's arm goes south they're going to be bitching about ownership tying up so much money in a player.

You may be right. However, they will still have a ton of $$ to spend regardless, meaning, if they make a bad financial decision, they can always just keep making new deals until one works out.

I also agree with your first point. But, tis better to spend and bring in talent than to trot out a team without any. At least until someone figures out how to buy team chemistry......

 

[redseat]

Dodgers are now the new Yankees... Ruining baseball!

But pretty smart to lock this guy up!

 

[BigDDude]

Dodgers are now the new Yankees... Ruining baseball!

But pretty smart to lock this guy up!

Then change the rules?

 

[redseat]

Then change the rules?

I'm just being a jerk. I don't care what they do, it's there money. IF you HAVE the money... USE IT!

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

That's an absolutely ridiculous contract. I don't care who signed it. I don't blame Kershaw for taking the money one bit, but I thought Baseball salaries were nuts already. This only makes it worse.

 

[BigDDude]

I'm just being a jerk. I don't care what they do, it's there money. IF you HAVE the money... USE IT!

Fair enough. I am just in the odd positon of rooting for a rich team, and wanting a more level playing field at the same time.

 

[redseat]

Fair enough. I am just in the odd positon of rooting for a rich team, and wanting a more level playing field at the same time.

Yes this is true. I mean I don't really like how certainly teams get all the players with money... But if the owners would actually open their wallets they can get people too.

 

[BigDDude]

Yes this is true. I mean I don't really like how certainly teams get all the players with money... But if the owners would actually open their wallets they can get people too.

You are saying more than you know.

IMO, if baseball owners were not so stingy during the first 80 years of this great game, we would not have had such a drastic pendulum swing back the other direction over the last 40.

 

[Jims_Doors]

930K per start.

 

[redseat]

You are saying more than you know.

IMO, if baseball owners were not so stingy during the first 80 years of this great game, we would not have had such a drastic pendulum swing back the other direction over the last 40.

Not to mention how much do teams get in television revenue? Owners are so freaking stingy!!!

 

[True Lakers Fan]

Not only that but the Dodgers are planning to spend more and go for everything - they have deep pockets and are easily going to outspend the Yankees

 

[evolver115]

Not in terms of payroll but so what? Payroll is hardly an indicator of success.

I don't know why wealthy teams continue to throw these kinds of contracts at players as they NEVER seem to work out. Dodger fans are going to enjoy a season or two of great pitching but when Kershaw's arm goes south they're going to be bitching about ownership tying up so much money in a player.

What irritates me is that the top market teams aren't really ever held accountable for their overspending ways. They don't have a cap to contend with, so every FA that comes along from one of the small market clubs is almost guaranteed to bolt for the payday that awaits them that the large spending teams can provide.

Then, when things get too out of control, they can purge their egregious errors to other teams by a trade (Boston to LA in the mini-abortion of two seasons ago), or paying another team to take their mistake (Burnett to PIT).

The big market teams suffer very little for their poor spending habits, and IMO, it really is the only professional sport in N. America where that is true. The playing field is the most uneven in MLB than any other prof. sport.

 

[$500 Million]

What irritates me is that the top market teams aren't really ever held accountable for their overspending ways. They don't have a cap to contend with, so every FA that comes along from one of the small market clubs is almost guaranteed to bolt for the payday that awaits them that the large spending teams can provide.

That was true...12 years ago.

From Wikipedia

Technically called the “Competitive Balance Tax”, the Luxury Tax is the punishment that large market teams get for spending too much money. While MLB does not have a set salary cap, the luxury tax charges teams with high payrolls a considerable amount of money, giving teams ample reason to want to keep their payrolls below that level.

The threshold level for the luxury tax will be $189MM in 2014 (up from $178MM from 2011-2013) and will remain at $189MM through 2016. From 2012 through 2016, teams who exceed the threshold for the first time must pay 17.5% of the amount they are over, 30% for the second consecutive year over, 40% for the third consecutive year over, and 50% for four or more consecutive years over the cap.

It may or may not hinder the Yankees, and it certainly won't hinder the Dodgers for quite a while, but it is the very definition of accountability. You spend this, you pay that.


As for the young FA's bolting for other teams, that's out of date as well. The current trend is teams locking their young stars up with team friendly extentions early in their careers.