So much for the Dodgers being old.
So much for concerns about how their offensive firepower could further diminish.
The Dodgers have agreed to a four-year, $240 million deal with Kyle Tucker, and everything suddenly feels different.
President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman could have started next season pending whether veterans like Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez could continue to produce at the championship level. Instead, Friedman opted to be proactive, taking out his interest-free Shohei Ohtani credit card and acquiring the best hitter on the free-agent market.
This won’t be the last dance for these Dodgers.
This has become a never-ending party that can only be stopped by a lockout and a salary cap.
The Dodgers could very easily have done nothing this winter. They won their second straight World Series in October, earning their players the right to challenge for a third. Their fans wouldn’t have minded either, as Mookie, Freddie and Teo have become citizen heroes on a first-name basis with Los Angeles.
However, an unchanged selection would have entailed risks. The Dodgers were second in the Majors in runs scored last season, but their aging and injury-prone lineup left them susceptible to extended slumps.
The downside of their reliance on veteran players was especially evident in the World Series. They looked gassed after their 18-inning victory in Game 3, but were crushed in each of the next two games.
The line-up would be even older this year.
At the start of the next World Series, Freeman will be 37, Max Muncy 36 and Betts and Hernandez 34.
That doesn’t change.
But the addition of Tucker will improve the team’s roster balance as he will join a group of players in the prime of their careers, including Ohtani (31 years old), Will Smith (30) and Tommy Edman (29).
Tucker celebrates his 29th birthday on Saturday.
The worst-case scenario for the Dodgers is that Tucker will be a vehicle that will help them make the most of Freeman and Betts’ post-prime years. In that case, he’ll play for them for a few seasons, opt out of the remainder of his four-year contract and return to the free agent market.
The more desirable outcome is for Tucker to become part of the lasting bridge that connects Freeman and Betts’ generation of Dodgers to the generation that comes after.
The reported opt-out provisions after the second and third years of the deal make Tucker a potential flight risk if he recovers from two injury-riddled seasons and returns to a player with 30 home runs and 100 RBI. If or when Tucker finds himself in that position, the Dodgers should already know what they have in him, not only as a player, but as a presence in the locker room.
If the Dodgers see him as a worthy long-term investment, who would be the favorite to sign Tucker? The bet here would be the Dodgers.
This winter has underscored how much Ohtani has changed their financial reality.
Ohtani suggested that the Dodgers defer all but $2 million of his $70 million annual salary, saving them money in the short term and creating opportunities for them to generate additional revenue by investing the money owed to him.
The structure of Ohtani’s contract has positioned the Dodgers to take calculated gambles that no other team can make.
Reliever’s performance is notoriously unpredictable, but the Dodgers bet $72 million on Tanner Scott last winter. The left-hander stunk in his first year with them, a development that would have financially crippled any other team. But the Dodgers responded by doubling down and betting another $69 million on Edwin Diaz.
Tucker wasn’t sure either, as injuries have delayed him each of the past two years. The Dodgers did not want Tucker on a long-term contract, but positioned themselves to strike if he was willing to settle for a shorter contract with a higher average annual value. That’s what happened. According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the Mets offered Tucker $220 million. The Dodgers offered him another $20 million.
Teams that rely heavily on free agents are in danger of crumbling inelegantly. As the cores of their rosters age, they are stuck with old and expensive players who are difficult to move, hindering the rebuilding process.
The Dodgers don’t have to worry about that. Ohtani has handed them a stack of blank checks, and they aren’t afraid to use them.
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