SAN JOSE — The Los Angeles Dodgers were having a quiet offseason by their lofty standards. Then, they set the baseball world on fire.
Again.
On Thursday evening, news broke that the Dodgers agreed to a four-year, $240 million pact with four-time All-Star outfielder Kyle Tucker. Even with deferrals, Tucker’s average annual value of $57.1 million becomes the highest in MLB history, shattering the record that Juan Soto ($51 million) set last season.
A three-peat is not inevitable. It’s easy to forget that the Toronto Blue Jays were two outs away from a World Series title. But on paper, this is the most complete Dodgers team over the last decade, a roster without any glaring weaknesses.
“They’re always going to have a target on their back,” top prospect Bryce Eldridge said Saturday before the Giants’ first stop of their FanFest Tour. “Being their rivals, I take pride in wanting to beat them and beat the best. To be the best, you’ve got to beat the best. I know that’s an old saying, but it’s the truth. You got to go up against the best competition, and thankfully, our division is very good and that’s going to make us that much better.”
Added infielder Casey Schmitt: “They got another great player, but we’ve got good players too. I think we just keep the course and just play our game and not worry about who’s in the other dugout.”
Prior to Tucker, the Dodgers’ “only” major move of the offseason was signing three-time All-Star closer Edwin Díaz to a three-year, $69 million deal. The team’s bullpen was a legitimate weakness in the postseason, so they went out and acquired the best high-leverage reliever on the market (and his elite walk-out song).
That addition, to be sure, wasn’t peanuts. At $23 million per season, Díaz set the record for the highest average annual value by a reliever. But Díaz is just that: a reliever. If healthy, he’ll pitch around 65 innings next season.
But Tucker? That’s another stratosphere of move.
The Dodgers’ outfield was projected to be middle-of-the-pack, but their offense wasn’t exactly starved for firepower. Before adding Tucker, Los Angeles was already anchored by a trio of future Hall of Famers in four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani and one-time MVPs Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. That’s nothing to say of Will Smith, Max Muncy and Teoscar Hernández, all of whom have been All-Stars.
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There’s also the larger context of the sport to consider with this move.
Major League Baseball is headed towards a lockout when the collective-bargaining agreement expires on Dec. 1. The Dodgers’ signing of Tucker probably didn’t increase the already high odds of a lockout, but it didn’t exactly quiet the public outcry for a salary cap, the primary issue of the impending labor dispute.
“The Tucker (addition) adds to their lineup,” said new manager Tony Vitello. “By nature, you don’t really have to follow the offseason closely to know that their organization — and a couple others — are going to spend a lot of money. The biggest thing I know … is I’m wearing orange and black. I’m looking at some guys that I’m excited to work with that are wearing orange and black.
“We’ll see who shows up at spring training because there’s a few days between now and then. … But the group that we have, I know the level of excitement will be incredibly high. You could argue dollars and cents, talent and things like that, but I think there’s a fresh air with some of the changes that we need to capitalize on.”
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