Good for baseball? Dodgers ownership doesn't back down from payroll complaints

From the moment the Los Angeles Dodgers officially landed Japanese ace Roki Sasaki in what might wind up being the coup of the offseason — heck, even before it became official, really — L.A. established itself as the sport's new Evil Empire. The gap between the Dodgers and everyone else right now is laughable: According to FanGraphs' Roster Resource, Los Angeles' $369 million payroll projection for 2025 is some $72 million ahead of the second-place New York Mets, who are closer to the Houston Astros in sixth than they are to the top of the leaderboard. And on top of that loaded roster, one that just rolled to a World Series last October, now they've added a potential frontline starter just about to enter his prime for pennies on the dollar.

In the days since, there's been no shortage of fans and media members insisting that the sky is falling. The Dodgers are simply too good; no one else in the league can compete with this level of spending; half of MLB teams may as well not even try. And it's certainly true that L.A. looks to be head and shoulders above their competition entering the 2025 season.

The Dodgers' response to those complaints? That's a you problem, not an us problem, and really, you should be thanking us.

For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop between now and the MLB offseason.

Dodgers ownership makes no apologies about sky-high payroll after Roki Sasaki signing

Sasaki's introductory press conference provided the team's brass with its first opportunity to address the torrent of criticism that has come their way in recent days. And while it's clear that the Dodgers' front office is hearing the noise, it hasn't made them sweat one bit. It's not L.A.'s responsibility to run the rest of the league; their responsibility is to assemble as much talent as possible each year, and they're certainly doing so this winter.

“I think I look at it from the other side,” president Andrew Friedman said, according to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. “The inverse of that hopefully means that our fans are really happy. From our standpoint, that’s our only mission: to do everything we can to be great stewards of this organization and to reward our incredibly passionate fans.”

Stan Kasten, the team's president and CEO, went one step further, arguing that the Dodgers were actually good for baseball.

“It’s really good when there is one team beloved by their fans, who come out in record numbers, leading all of baseball in attendance, while that same team can be hated and lead baseball in road attendance," Kasten said. "This is really good for baseball. I have no question about it.”

Which is guaranteed to send fans of every other team in the league into even more of a tizzy, the big bad Dodgers rubbing their largesse in everyone else's face. But while it might not be the most tactful response, it's also hard to argue that Kasten doesn't have a point. This Dodgers team has generated more discussion around MLB than just about any team in recent memory, and they'll be sure to draw huge crowds both at home and on the road this year as everyone cranes to get a look at Sasaki, Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and more.

Even beyond that, though, L.A.'s spending spree has raised the bar — and now it's up to the rest of the league to match it. While it's understandably frustrating for, say, fans of the Kansas City Royals or Miami Marlins to watch the Dodgers run up payrolls that double or triple their own, it's not Los Angeles' fault that MLB and commissioner Rob Manfred have allowed for unsustainable ownership situations to continue around the league. And plenty of teams, the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs foremost among them, have gotten far too comfortable spending under their means because no one was forcing them to do otherwise.

Now, a fire has been lit under them, and they can either sink or swim. Because the Dodgers, for their part, won't apologize.

“Other teams, markets, cities just don’t have the same kind of opportunity we do,” Kasten said. “We have an opportunity because of our market and because of the support of our fans, who enable us to continue to invest in our team.”