The Los Angeles Dodgers moved passively this winter, putting the adjective of ‘big hand of the past’ to shame.
In the offseason, the main character’s spotlight was completely handed over to rivals, the San Diego Padres, and he chose to strengthen his side. Even in the frenzy of large contracts, the Dodgers remained quiet. The Philadelphia Phillies did not recruit a replacement for Trey Turner, their main shortstop. Turner left the Dodgers for 11 years and $300 million to Philadelphia.
It is not that there was no opportunity to recruit a replacement. Along with Turner, big players called “four shortstops” came on the market last winter, such as Carlos Correa (Minnesota Twins), Dansby Swanson (Chicago Cubs), and Xander Bogarts (San Diego Padres), but none of them were recruited.
It was interpreted as an unavoidable choice to reset the luxury tax rate by lowering the payroll from the competitive balance tax (luxury tax) standard. In a situation where the luxury tax was paid for the past two years, if the luxury tax standard is raised until this year, a progressive tax rate will be applied and more money will have to be paid. It was like a declaration of war that he would go ‘all-in’ to recruit Shohei Ohtani (LA Angels), who would soon qualify as a free agent (FA) after resetting this to ease the financial burden. 세븐 토토
However, these plans have been thwarted since last winter. First of all, he tried to lower the payroll by ignoring the recruitment of a large shortstop, but failed. He was jailed for sexual assault and after an appeal, he released Trevor Bauer, whose punishment was reduced, but he was left with a salary of $22.5 million this year. With this $22.5 million salary, the Dodgers are getting closer to impossible to reset the luxury tax.