Over the last two years, a narrative that the Dodgers are “ruining baseball” has emerged due to the number of high-priced stars the team has signed.
The narrative gained steam in 2023, when the Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani to a record 10-year, $700 million deal, that will see the majority of the money deferred. That offseason, they also signed Tyler Glasnow on a five-year, $136,5 million contract. This past offseason, the Dodgers signed Cy Young winner Blake Snell to a five-year, $182 million deal, extended Tommy Edman on a five-year, $74 million contract, signed reliever Tanner Scott on a four-year, $72 million deal, and outfielder Teoscar Hernández to a three-years, $66 million contract. The biggest splash was Roki Sasaki, a young Japanese pitching phenom who took the league minimum in base salary to join the Dodgers.
These players joined a roster that already includes former MVPs in Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. Betts has a $365 million deal with Los Angeles and Freeman is on a $162 million contract with the team.
In short, the Dodgers have spent a lot. Their spending has bothered many, especially teams that cannot compete with a large-market team like the Dodgers, but it has not concerned Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper. Ahead of the Phillies’ three-game series against the Dodgers that begins Friday, Harper said “only losers complain” about the Dodgers’ spending.
“I don’t know if people will like this, but I feel like only losers complain about what they’re doing,” Harper said. “I think they’re a great team. They’re a great organization, that’s why guys wanna go there and play.”
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Harper’s opinion shouldn’t be too surprising since he is on a similarly high-spending MLB team. His Phillies ranked fourth in MLB in spending during the 2024 season with a payroll of nearly $250 million, only behind the Dodgers, New York Yankees and New York Mets, per ESPN. Harper himself is on a 13-year, $333 million deal with Philadelphia, and six different Phillies are set to earn at least $20 million in 2025, per Spotrac. Zack Wheeler leads the team with a salary of $42 million.
