Los Angeles Dodgers: Offseason takes that are completely wrong
By Jason Reed
2. The Los Angeles Dodgers will regret not spending big
The biggest storyline of the entire MLB offseason was where Manny Machado and Bryce Harper would sign for an unprecedented amount of money. That narrative slowly changed to a free agent freeze out, where Machado and Harper were not getting the offers that they had wanted.
As of the time of writing this, Machado has netted himself $300 million on a 10-year contract with the San Deigo Padres and it appears Bryce Harper will get something in the $330 million range.
That is a lot of money and it does seem a bit silly to complain that those guys didn’t get $350-400 million.
Regardless, the Dodgers had ties to both guys and the front office made a trade with the Cincinnati Reds that freed up money and led to many expecting the team would strike.
Machado spent half a season in LA and thus was a natural fit on the Dodgers, although everyone pretty much knew that he would be leaving. Harper, on the other hand, was reported to be “within the 20-yard-line” in discussions with the Dodgers. Now the Dodgers are as big of a longshot as the Baltimore Orioles to sign Harper.
Some fans are upset that a team that has a monopoly on the TV market and continues to raise ticket and parking prices didn’t spend big when they had the chance. And while I understand that feeling, the Dodgers didn’t need either of these guys and did not really need to spend that much money.
Harper and Machado are obviously different cases than those before them but every big contract ends up looking terrible in a few years. Just look at Giancarlo Stanton, who signed his extension at the same age as Machado and Harper.
Stanton won an NL MVP and the Miami Marlins still wanted to offload him and his contract now in New York is not the prettiest.
The Dodgers have a lot of money being freed up after this year and could make a run for Nolan Arenado or even save the chips to go all-in on Mike Trout the following offseason.
If they pinch pennies over the next two years then I understand being upset. For now, though, the Dodgers will be just fine without those two.