The Los Angeles Dodgers' offseason spending spree might not be over, but their future salary commitments have risen to nearly half a billion dollars already.
The Athletic and the Los Angeles Times totaled up the bills from an offseason that's seen the Dodgers sign several of the highest-profile free agents on the market: Tanner Scott, Teoscar Hernández, Blake Treinen, MIchael Conforto, and Blake Snell.
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Tuesday, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported the Dodgers were closing in on a contract with right-handed reliever Kirby Yates.
The Los Angeles Dodgers, who already have folks screaming about their payroll, have reached a tentative agreement with free-agent closer Kirby Yates, pending a physical. The deal comes on the heels of signing Tanner Scott to a 4-year, $72 million contract.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 21, 2025Yates would give the Dodgers six of the Top 50 free agents as ranked by MLB Trade Rumors going into the offsesaon.
According to Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times, that would push the Dodgers' offseason salary commitments past $450 million in total spending. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reported Los Angeles has already guaranteed $445.5 million.
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The breadth of the Dodgers' outlay does not take into account the time value of money — a necessary evil of accounting with a team that routinely defers players' salaries until after their contracts have expired.
Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported Friday on Twitter/X that Scott's contract calls for nearly half ($5.25 million) of his $11 million salary each of the next two seasons to be deferred. Scott will also have $5.25 million deferred from his 2027-28 salaries ($15 million each year).
Tanner Scott
Dodgers
$61,678,119/4 Plus option
Signing Bonus - $20M
$11M, $5.25M deferred - 2025, 2026
$15M, $5.25 deferred - 2027, 2028
Club option 2029 for $5M if player has a qualifying injury and has not been traded.
Plus in 2029: incentives
Plus: $3M if traded (once)
Even though that $445.5 million exists more on paper than in the reality of the recipients' bank accounts, it still dwarfs the Dodgers' peers for the second consecutive offseason.
A year ago, the Dodgers committed more than $1.2 billion in future salaries to free agents — and that was before extending catcher Will Smith's contract for 10 years in March 2024. That accounted for the majority of offseason free agent spending in the baseball industry as a whole through the start of spring training.
Including the extensions for Smith and utility player Tommy Edman, the Dodgers have guaranteed $1.778 billion in new contracts since the end of the 2023 season — nearly half of it ($874 million) deferred — according to ESPN.com.
"We're just trying to add pieces when we can wherever it makes sense," Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten said at the press conference Wednesday to introduce Sasaki. "We just try to be flexible, when there's an opportunity we try to be opportunistic, and so far it has worked out well for us."
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