OHTANI'S DEAL HURTS FUTURE OF BASEBALL
PLUS: New Mid-March "Breakout Series" Hampers Spring Training
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
Now that the Texas Rangers are world champions for the first time, remaining teams without a title are the Rockies, Brewers, Padres, Mariners, and Rays . . .
In the two previous Fall Classics pairing wild-card teams, the Angels beat the Giants in 2002 and the Giants beat the Royals in 2014 — both times in a full seven games . . .
Former Rangers manager Jeff Banister watched from the Diamondbacks bench as bench coach for the National League champions . . .
Texas pitcher Max Scherzer started his career with Arizona (2008-9) before he was traded to Detroit . . .
The Rangers had a streak of 10,028 games (including postseason play) without a title after starting as the second-edition Washington Senators, a 1961 expansion team . . .
Only the Cleveland Indians, which last won it all in 1948, had a longer drought.
Leading Off
WHY OHTANI’S DEAL IS TERRIBLE FOR BASEBALL
By Dan Schlossberg
Shohei Ohtani’s contract is great for him, good for the Dodgers, and bad for baseball.
The biggest problem is not the money, though it is truly excessive and in gross violation of “the best interests of baseball,” but that it became public knowledge.
Let’s get this straight: no business, including baseball, can operate smoothly if every employee knows every other employee’s salary.
Jealousy is a mean and untamed beast — especially in the workplace — and has destroyed tons of careers and turned decent people into snarling jackals.
Even though the two-time MVP has allowed the Dodgers to defer all but $2 million of his $70 million annual average, the impact of the 10-year, $700 million contract came out of the stratosphere like an unexpected comet.
It was greater than the 2024 payrolls of eight whole teams: the Guardians, Marlins, Pirates, Reds, and Athletics plus three playoff teams — the Royals, Brewers, and Orioles.
It was even greater than the combined payrolls of the five AL Central clubs ($638.8 million).
It was 1.64 times bigger than the contract of ex-Angels teammate Mike Trout, whose $426.5 million deal was the previous MLB record.
It was even 1.4 times greater the combined contracts of All-Star middle infielders Marcus Semien and Corey Seager, free agent signees who turned the Texas Rangers into world champions for the first time in 2023.
The obvious result of a savage bidding war, the Ohtani contract couldn’t even guarantee the Dodgers would be world champions of a 162-game season for the first time since 1988.
Even with Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman batting behind Ohtani, Los Angeles lacks lineup depth and has huge pitching problems — especially with Ohtani unable to join the rotation before 2025 while healing from elbow surgery.
But the biggest problem, as stated at the outset, is jealousy. The price of every future free agent, including this year’s somewhat lackluster class, has just gone through the roof. And where does it leave Bryce Harper, who wants a contract extension from Philadelphia; Juan Soto, who’s virtually certain to become the top free agent this winter; or Max Fried, the great left-handed starter of the Braves whose salary demands priced him right out of Atlanta?
The Dodgers apparently don’t remember Bobby Bonilla, an overrated free-agent slugger who came to the New York Mets on a megabucks deal back-rated with deferred money.
His deal promised annual payments of about $1.2 million for 25 years, from July 1, 2011, until July 1, 2035. As a result, every July 1, facetious Mets fans “celebrate” Bobby Bonilla Day.
Although Mookie, Freddie, and Shohei are far better ballplayers than Bonilla, all three have deferred contracts designed to keep paying off long after they’re old and gray.
So the obvious questions are:
How can the Dodgers afford the other 23 players on their roster?
How can the 29 other clubs stay competitive?
Will the price of Dodger Dogs — not to mention tickets and parking — triple?
The Ohtani salary outrage will not only impact present and future free agents but also players eligible for salary arbitration. And what happens when the other unanimous MVP of 2023 — Ronald Acuña, Jr. of the Atlanta Braves — decides he’s as good as Ohtani even though his annual average salary is a paltry $12,500,000 (part of his eight-year, $100,000,000 deal)?
The Dodgers are lucky that their regional sports network media rights deal is worth more than $8 billion. Few teams are worth that much and no one else rakes in so much revenue from broadcasting — not only in English but also in Spanish and maybe even Japanese now.
While baseball attendance was up in 2023, thanks in part to new rules designed to speed pace of play, post-season play was disappointing in producing the third World Series without a division champion (wild-card winners in 2002, 2014, and 2023). Anything that hurts the integrity of the showcase series hurts the game and anything that keeps the best teams out of the final round certainly qualifies.
Thanks mainly to Ohtani, however, this year’s scenario is different: a World Series that pits both No. 1 seeds (Yankees vs. Dodgers) and both likely MVPs (Ohtani and Aaron Judge). It’s the first matchup of teams with the best records since the virus-shortened 2020 campaign and the first in a full season since 2013.
It’s also the first Yankees-Dodgers World Series since 1981, when the Dodgers won in six games and Yankee fans blamed newly-signed free agent Dave Winfield.
But his contract was considerably less than Ohtani’s.
Much has happened in 43 years — not surprising in a sport where there is no salary cap and nothing to prevent an annual free agent frenzy.
According to Roster Resource, the Dodgers ranked second and the Yankees third among the 30 major-league clubs, at $325 million and $302 million, respectively.
Only the Mets, at $335 million, paid their players more — and very nearly parlayed their No. 6 seed into a National League pennant.
For the moment at least, adding Ohtani might be a wise investment. But it will also drive up the price of Juan Soto, the prize of the latest free-agent market, and every other veteran player seeking greener pastures.
Before jumping from the Angels to the Dodgers, Ohtani had never played for a winning team — the Angels rested below .500 for the entirety of his career. Before Ohtani arrived, the only Dodgers with World Series rings were Betts and Freeman, who both got them elsewhere.
Through 2024, Ohtani’s Dodgers have five MVP awards, 12 Cy Youngs, 28 All-Star selections, 12 Gold Gloves, 12 Silver Sluggers, a Rookie of the Year, and an NLCS MVP.
Whether they can wrest on their laurels or add the elusive rings remains to be seen. And whether the growing list of have-not teams can survive the salary tsunami inspired by the Ohtani contract is an even bigger question. More than a handful might just wave the white flag of surrender.
Former AP sportswriter Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ is weekend editor of Here’s The Pitch and national baseball writer for forbes.com. He’s also the author of 41 baseball books. E.mail him at ballauthor@gmail.com.
Cleaning Up
Spring Training “Prospect Series” Is Just Another Revenue Grabber
By Dan Schlossberg
In its desperate attempt to keep pace with player salaries that have rocketed into the stratosphere, Major League Baseball has come up with another lame-brained idea.
Instead of losing precious preparation time to the World Baseball Classic, as it did last year, now MLB is offering “Spring Breakout,” a four-day series of exhibition games in which top prospects will participate in seven-inning exhibition games against the top minor-league talents of opponents.
It’s bad enough that most teams violate the MLB requirement that at least three established players participate in every road game. Now, the Office of the Commissioner says these minor-league games will attract fans since they are positioned as a showcase of future talent.
Each team will play at least one seven-inning exhibition game as part of the new program, with one Arizona and one Florida organization playing twice over the four days to make the math work.
Twelve of the March match-ups will be paired with regular exhibition games as in-stadium doubleheaders, giving fans a sneak peek at their team’s present and future for the price of a single ticket. But who would sit through 16 innings in the broiling sun?
Scheduled for March 14-17, the “Spring Breakout” games will coincide with the highly-anticipated St. Patrick’s Day games, when camera-toting fans relish the chance to see the Reds wear green, bases painted in a similar hue, and foul lines colored green instead of white.
Now, instead of watching Bryce Harper or Shohei Ohtani wear a once-a-year green uniform, fans can delight in watching recent amateur draft choices show whether their contracts were sound investments.
While the “Spring Breakout” games should give veterans unexpected three-day vacations to play golf, enjoy the beach, or play tourist with their families, they won’t do anything for teams trying to get ready for the season — which begins next year with the Dodgers and Padres tangling in Seoul, South Korea (yet another MLB revenue grab) on the ridiculously early date of March 20.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who is part Asian, was looking forward to the first MLB contests in South Korea. But he is going to like the rookie series about as much as he liked the idea of playing the All-Star Game in Atlanta just months after Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a law he felt restricted minority voting rights in that state.
Complicating the situation further is the fact that virtually all 30 teams will have made substantial squad cuts before the “Spring Breakout” series even starts. Participating players will already be ticketed to start 2024 in the minors.
Despite receiving the blessing of Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred, the new idea should be consigned to the dustbin of history along with such other creations as allowing advertising on uniforms, enlarging the size of the bases, introducing an in-game “Home Run Derby” to decide extra-inning All-Star Games, expanding the playoffs into tournaments that routinely prevent the best teams from reaching the World Series, and of course the atrocious “Manfred Man” that puts a free runner on second base in extra innings during the season but not in the playoffs!
Spring training is tough enough with 15 teams in Florida and 15 in Arizona, forcing a myriad of “split squad” games (also known as “B” games). If MLB really wanted to do something to improve spring training revenue, it would convince one of the teams to move — Florida to Arizona or Arizona to Florida — so that both the Grapefruit League and Cactus League would have an even number of teams. That would make scheduling soooo much easier and eliminate the need for “B” games.
As someone who has covered every spring training since 1971, I hate to see anything interfere with the usual format. Now it seems some committee of 30-somethings thinks it knows better.
It certainly is no Christmas present to the fans who pay the freight.
Former AP sportswriter Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ writes baseball for forbes.com, Memories & Dreams, USA TODAY Sports Weekly, Sports Collectors Digest, and many other outlets. Watch for his Hank Aaron biography next spring. Email Dan at ballauthor@gmail.com.
Timeless Trivia
“Yep. We’ll get ‘em tomorrow.”
— Braves starter Derek Lowe, who posted a 5.05 ERA over 34 starts in 2011, after teammate Eric Hinske asked if he was starting that evening’s game
A 6’6” righthander who weighed 230 pounds, Lowe had lots of highs and “lows” during his 17-year career . . .
En route to a career record of 176-157, coupled with a 4.03 ERA and 86 saves, he led the National League in wins (16 in 2006) and losses (17 five years later) . . .
The two-time All-Star had his peak year with the 2000 Red Sox, going 21-8 to finish third in the voting for the American League’s Cy Young Award . . .
He pitched for seven different teams, including the Dodgers, Braves, Rangers, Mariners, Indians, and Yankees in addition to the Red Sox.
Know Your Editors
HERE’S THE PITCH is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles Monday and Tuesday editions, Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] does Wednesday and Thursday, and Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com] edits the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HTP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.
Dan: The second edition Senators began play as an expansion team (with the Angels) in 1961. The Expos, now the Washington Nationals, began as an expansion team in 1969.