Dodgers posturing:
L.A. moves $47.5 million in players a year ahead of free agent mega-class.
It might have been nothing more than a glorified money wash, but the stunning trade last weekend between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves was much more than swapping lousy, overpriced contracts.
It set the stage for what promises to be the greatest free agent frenzy in Major League Baseball history.
The gold rush will be on in Las Vegas at the 2018 baseball winter meetings when Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Clayton Kershaw, Dallas Keuchel, Josh Donaldson, Charlie Blackmon, Andrew Miller, Craig Kimbrel and perhaps David Price all become free agents.
Guess who will have pockets full of money and no luxury tax to burden them?
The financial kingpins of the game: the New York Yankees, Dodgers and Chicago Cubs.
If you’re a free agent, you just hit the lottery, with the most powerful and wealthiest teams engaged in a bidding war for your services.
Go ahead and put Bryce Harper in the Dodgers’ 2019 starting lineup right now.
Manny Machado will look great in Yankees pinstripes.
Kershaw, Keuchel and Price will find life wonderful in the tranquil Midwest.
Christmas came early for the 2018 free agent class.
You could hear the celebration from Hollywood to Fifth Avenue in New York the moment the Dodgers dumped $47.5 million worth of contracts Saturday on the Braves, with first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, starting pitchers Scott Kazmir and Brandon McCarthy and infielder Charlie Culbertson going to Atlanta. The Dodgers get stuck with outfielder Matt Kemp and the two years, $43 million on his deal. The Dodgers even chipped in $4.5 million to make it an even money dump.
Now, after the Dodgers dropped $244 million on their payroll in 2017, they have not only outfielder Carl Crawford’s $21 million salary off the books but also another $23 million for luxury tax purposes.
This is a franchise that’s had to pay luxury tax penalties for five consecutive years, including about $35 million this year. But just like that, the Dodgers can now be under the $197 million luxury tax in 2018, reducing their penalty from 50% to 20% for every dollar they spend next winter.
It’s no different for the Yankees, dead-set on also being under the soft salary cap, bringing back veteran starter CC Sabathia for only $10 million instead of dropping $150 million on the free agent market for Yu Darvish or Jake Arrieta.
It was a masterful stroke of genius for the Dodgers.
They made it work only by persuading Gonzalez to waive his no-trade clause, telling him if he declined to waive it, he’d be buried on the Los Angeles bench in 2018 with limited atbats.
It wasn’t a threat but a promise.
Gonzalez wasn’t about to spend the final year of his contract and perhaps career cheering on All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman on the bench, so he only agreed, agent John Boggs said, if the Braves agreed to designate him for assignment and make him a free agent. Done. “My final decision was not based on playing time,” Gonzalez said in a statement, “as I had agreed to a limited bench role. It is a way to test the free agent market and see what opportunities are out there for me so I can make the best decision moving forward for me and my family. Lifting the no-trade clause is the hardest decision I have ever made in my career due to the fact that I loved every single second being a Dodger.”
Gonzalez officially was to become a free agent on Dec. 20, when he can sign for the minimum salary and have the Braves pay him for playing elsewhere, perhaps in his hometown of San Diego. The Padres still badly want free agent first baseman Eric Hosmer, but if nothing else, this could give them a little leverage.
Kemp could become a free agent himself since the Dodgers don’t want him either, but since his contract didn’t include a notrade clause, he has no leverage. The Dodgers immediately will try to dump him off for spare parts, willing to eat most of his contract.
And the Braves have two veteran pitchers who can help them if they stay healthy and a solid infielder in Culberson.
If McCarthy and Kazmir can do anything in the first half, the Braves have valuable chips at the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.
What a stroke of genius by Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos, who spent the last two years in the Dodgers front office, and Los Angeles President Andrew Friedman.
The Braves get rid of a guy they didn’t want; the Dodgers stripped themselves of three guys they’ve been trying to dump, and everyone goes home happy.
Oh, and that 2018 free agent class?
They are a year away from becoming the wealthiest players in baseball history, with Harper and Machado each expected to eclipse $400 million contracts. See you in New York, Manny. Enjoy the sunshine in L.A., Bryce.
This was a trade that was all about you.