Dodgers continue spending, reach $140M, 10-year deal with C Smith
Catcher Will Smith and the Los Angeles Dodgers agreed to a $140 million, 10-year contract Wednesday, raising the team’s spending to nearly $1.4 billion for five key players since December.
Smith’s deal supersedes an $8.85 million, one-year agreement reached in January.
He opened the last week by going 5 for 10 with two RBIs as the Dodgers split a two-game series against San Diego at Seoul, South Korea. The 28-year-old was a first-time All-Star last year, when he hit .261 with 19 homers and 76 RBIs.
Smith has a .263 average with 91 homers and 308 RBIs in six seasons with the Dodgers. He would have been eligible for free agency after the 2025 season.
Los Angeles has committed $1,365,687,500 to two-way star Shohei Ohtani ($700 million for 10 years), right-handers Yoshinobu Yamamoto ($325 million for 12 years) and Tyler Glasnow ($136,562,500 for five years), outfielder Teoscar Hernández ($23.5 million for one year) and Smith.
THREE-TEAM TRADE: Jon Berti could be at third base for the bangedup Yankees in their opener against Houston today after New York acquired the infielder as part of a threeteam trade with Miami and Tampa Bay.
New York sent catcher Ben Rortvedt to the Tampa Bay Rays and minor league outfielder Juan Cruz to the Marlins, while outfielder Shane Sasaki moved from the Rays to Miami.
The 34-year-old Berti could fill in at third base while DJ LeMahieu is on the injured list because of a bone bruise in his right foot. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he wanted to wait until Berti arrived in Houston to determine whether he starts against the Astros.
Berti hit .294 with seven homers, 33 RBIs and 16 stolen bases last year, down from a major league-high 41 steals in 2022.
Acquired from Minnesota in a March 2022 trade along with third baseman Josh Donaldson, Rortvedt missed much of 2022 because a strained right oblique muscle and was limited to 48 minor league games that season. He had surgery during spring training last year to repair an aneurysm of the posterior artery near his left shoulder, delaying his minor league season debut until April 21. Rortvedt joined the Yankees on May 20 and hit .118 with two homers and four RBIs in 32 games.
Cruz, 18, hit .294 with 10 homers, 47 RBIs, nine steals and a .907 OPS last year for the Florida Complex League Yankees.
Sasaki, a 23-year-old Iolani School alum, was taken by Tampa Bay in the third round of the 2019 amateur draft with the 99th pick. He hit .299 with seven homers, 39 RBIs and 16 stolen bases last year for Class A Bowling Green and the Florida Complex League Rays.
REDS: Cincinnati Reds second baseman Matt McLain had surgery on his left shoulder and will be sidelined for an extended period.
Reds president of baseball operations Nick Krall said the operation took place Tuesday to address cartilage damage and repair the labrum.
“An exact timeline is still TBD as it has a wide range of possibilities. We hope to have Matt back this season,” Krall said in a statement Wednesday.
The 24-year-old McLain last played in a spring training game on March 17 and was hurt the following day while diving for a ball during a workout. Reds manager David Bell revealed the injury on March 20, the day Cincinnati acquired infielder Santiago Espinal from Toronto.
McLain hit. 290 with 16 homers, 50 RBIs and 14 stolen bases last year, finishing fifth in NL Rookie of the Year voting.
ORIOLES: David Rubenstein’s purchase of the Baltimore Orioles was approved Wednesday by Major League Baseball owners, clearing the way for the Angelos family to finalize the sale after over three decades running the team.
Approval of 75 percent of all owners was required, and MLB said the vote was unanimous. It came the day before the team is scheduled to open the season at home against the Los Angeles Angels. Rubenstein and his investor group were expected to close the purchase later Wednesday.
“To own the Orioles is a great civic duty,” Rubenstein, a Carlyle Group Inc. co-founder, said in a statement. “On behalf of my fellow owners, I want the Baltimore community and Orioles fans everywhere to know that we will work our hardest to deliver for you with professionalism, integrity, excellence, and a fierce desire to win games.”
The Angelos family took control of the Orioles in 1993, when Peter Angelos purchased the team for $173 million. Angelos’ health took a turn for the worse in recent years — he died Saturday at age 94 — and his son John has been the team’s chairman, CEO and control person since 2019.