Skubal to Dodgers

Smeegs

All-Conference
Nov 19, 2025
1,083
3,109
113
Something is messed up when the team that already has by far the highest payroll can just go out mid-season and add the highest priced pitcher. How are poorer franchises like the Reds supposed to compete with that?

it’s way past time for baseball to adopt a salary cap.
 

KYace83

Freshman
Aug 30, 2025
32
81
17
My only hope is that this is such a bad look for baseball that both sides, really just the mlbpa, realize that this is not a good or sustainable model. Public perception on this gonna be really bad so maybe that will force a deal.
 

Laparkafan

Heisman
Sep 5, 2004
14,750
10,285
93
Something is messed up when the team that already has by far the highest payroll can just go out mid-season and add the highest priced pitcher. How are poorer franchises like the Reds supposed to compete with that?

it’s way past time for baseball to adopt a salary cap.
Yup not to mention skirting additional luxury taxes by doing deferred money.
 

LineSkiCat14

Heisman
Aug 5, 2015
39,507
62,210
113
Something is messed up when the team that already has by far the highest payroll can just go out mid-season and add the highest priced pitcher. How are poorer franchises like the Reds supposed to compete with that?

it’s way past time for baseball to adopt a salary cap.

Problem is, you're gonna have to have a floor as well.

I dont like what the Dodgers are doing, and I understand that teams like the Reds and the A's will never be able to spend what LA does.. but its just a big of an issue that MLB has 10 or so teams that just refuse to spend money.
 
Jun 23, 2026
209
501
63
Problem is, you're gonna have to have a floor as well.

I dont like what the Dodgers are doing, and I understand that teams like the Reds and the A's will never be able to spend what LA does.. but its just a big of an issue that MLB has 10 or so teams that just refuse to spend money.
Could you imagine what the Rays could have looked like if they were forced to spend $130 million a year?

To me that’s the biggest problem, too many owners that don’t care about their own team.
 

Anon794131

Redshirt
Jul 10, 2026
9
4
0
I am surprised that other MLB teams don't make heavy use of deferred salaries. The Dodger's players have bought in what is a smart move for them. California has horrendous state income tax rates. I've read that the Dodgers spend training and office time outside the state for this reason. I would guess that the majority of team does not reside in California. When they retire, my bet is that they move to no tax/low tax states. Great advice by the players' financial advisors.
 

BookofMormon

Senior
Mar 27, 2026
673
864
93
We can only hope. This is dumb. They are just fine paying 300m in luxury taxes like it’s nothing.
The revenues that they generate in Japan alone pays for it.

At some point, baseball should have threatened a multi year strike to get a cap in place with the precedent that no other sport exists without one. Not having one deems the sport completely pointless, when basically the two largest brands can consolidate all the top talent raised by small market teams. Skenes will be a Yankee next.
 

BookofMormon

Senior
Mar 27, 2026
673
864
93
Problem is, you're gonna have to have a floor as well.

I dont like what the Dodgers are doing, and I understand that teams like the Reds and the A's will never be able to spend what LA does.. but its just a big of an issue that MLB has 10 or so teams that just refuse to spend money.
Solution - floor and cap, keep overall spending the same. In what other sport does the top payroll 6x the lowest?
 
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BookofMormon

Senior
Mar 27, 2026
673
864
93
Which is more broken, college basketball or major league baseball?
College hoops. It's anarchy. Every player is a free agent, every year. You have to woo and pay players to stay. There is no transparency on NIL. It's a giant free for all.

Baseball has structure, with this one catastrophic issue. It's getting silly too, because LAD can now basically consume all Japanese talent as it's easily the number one franchise for that talent market.
 
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vhcat1970

All-Conference
Jul 2, 2025
3,500
2,599
113
I am surprised that other MLB teams don't make heavy use of deferred salaries. The Dodger's players have bought in what is a smart move for them. California has horrendous state income tax rates. I've read that the Dodgers spend training and office time outside the state for this reason. I would guess that the majority of team does not reside in California. When they retire, my bet is that they move to no tax/low tax states. Great advice by the players' financial advisors.
Pretty sure you pay state income taxes to the state you earned the money regardless of where you live later.
 

vhcat1970

All-Conference
Jul 2, 2025
3,500
2,599
113
The revenues that they generate in Japan alone pays for it.

At some point, baseball should have threatened a multi year strike to get a cap in place with the precedent that no other sport exists without one. Not having one deems the sport completely pointless, when basically the two largest brands can consolidate all the top talent raised by small market teams. Skenes will be a Yankee next.
I think that's what's happening after this season. Hope they bring in scrubs & scabs.
 

CB3UK

Hall of Famer
Apr 15, 2012
64,552
107,924
78
Baseball needs a hard cap and a hard floor. I hate that the Dodgers are buying up everything in sight and exploiting the current structure, but at least they're going all in on winning. I hate that the Reds aren't spending what they could be to field something resembling a competent baseball team.

The point of competition is for there to be a semblance of parity, and the best man/team win.

Our current structure is a handful of team just pay the luxury tax and give zero fawks, while others just treat their ball club as an investment property generating passive income.

It's absurd.
 

BookofMormon

Senior
Mar 27, 2026
673
864
93
Baseball needs a hard cap and a hard floor. I hate that the Dodgers are buying up everything in sight and exploiting the current structure, but at least they're going all in on winning. I hate that the Reds aren't spending what they could be to field something resembling a competent baseball team.

The point of competition is for there to be a semblance of parity, and the best man/team win.

Our current structure is a handful of team just pay the luxury tax and give zero fawks, while others just treat their ball club as an investment property generating passive income.

It's absurd.
Well said - that is exactly the point of sports. It's why women born as men shouldn't be allowed to compete with women. It's a stretch on an analogy, but also mildly relevant.

LAD pays more in luxury tax that half the league pays in......payroll.

Get the cap/floor in, push owners that don't want to win out of MLB. It's cheating fans and the game. Get your floor in of 180 and cap of 250.
 
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kyjeff1

Heisman
Sep 8, 2012
51,342
72,195
113
Welp, as a Tigers fan, this blows.

Something has to be done, you shouldn't have one franchise that can just buy up all the best players. Nobody else has a shot.
 

LineSkiCat14

Heisman
Aug 5, 2015
39,507
62,210
113
Welp, as a Tigers fan, this blows.

Something has to be done, you shouldn't have one franchise that can just buy up all the best players. Nobody else has a shot.

As others have been saying, this move just pushes the lockout even further. I saw a joke earlier that Detroit did this to help the lock out anyways lol.

The funny thing in all of this, is that Baseball is probably the hardest sport to buy a championship. Essentially this same Dodgers team was on the brink of losing the world series 4-2. They're only at a .622 winning percentage (compare that to every other sports best teams or biggest spenders). If any teams in the NFL had just a 25% pay roll advantage, theyd probanly go undefeated. Same with the NBA.

My point is, teams like the Reds and the A's dont neccesarily have to spend like the Mets to put out a winning team that people want to see. If an owner cant spend some money for its own fans, and leave a lasting image on your city, than sell the damn team.
 

MichaelGray

All-Conference
Jan 13, 2026
1,112
1,681
113
As a lifelong Dodgers fan I love what they're doing lol. Many teams have tried it (spending) & failed, buying high priced players doesn't guarantee anything, they pump a **** ton of money into their farm system which is the best in baseball, they can make trades like this because of development in their farm system. Think about the teams that have owners who sit on all of their money & don't spend. Money is a big part of it yes but so is scouting, coaching & development, the Dodgers do all 3 well.
 

Laparkafan

Heisman
Sep 5, 2004
14,750
10,285
93
As others have been saying, this move just pushes the lockout even further. I saw a joke earlier that Detroit did this to help the lock out anyways lol.

The funny thing in all of this, is that Baseball is probably the hardest sport to buy a championship. Essentially this same Dodgers team was on the brink of losing the world series 4-2. They're only at a .622 winning percentage (compare that to every other sports best teams or biggest spenders). If any teams in the NFL had just a 25% pay roll advantage, theyd probanly go undefeated. Same with the NBA.

My point is, teams like the Reds and the A's dont neccesarily have to spend like the Mets to put out a winning team that people want to see. If an owner cant spend some money for its own fans, and leave a lasting image on your city, than sell the damn team.
Then again you only have to win 57% in the playoffs so for a team that bolstered they have more margin for error and utilize it
 
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BookofMormon

Senior
Mar 27, 2026
673
864
93
As a lifelong Dodgers fan I love what they're doing lol. Many teams have tried it (spending) & failed, buying high priced players doesn't guarantee anything, they pump a **** ton of money into their farm system which is the best in baseball, they can make trades like this because of development in their farm system. Think about the teams that have owners who sit on all of their money & don't spend. Money is a big part of it yes but so is scouting, coaching & development, the Dodgers do all 3 well.
They're doing it smarter, but it's still madly unfair. When you can pretty much buy guys to put them on the IL to save them for the playoffs, something is wrong.

You can still do all those things with.... a salary cap. Anytime a fan of a team in this position argues it, the easy reply is: why does every other league have a cap? MLB is the outlier, and there is really no good reason for it other than player greed.
 
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MichaelGray

All-Conference
Jan 13, 2026
1,112
1,681
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They're doing it smarter, but it's still madly unfair. When you can pretty much buy guys to put them on the IL to save them for the playoffs, something is wrong.

You can still do all those things with.... a salary cap. Anytime a fan of a team in this position argues it, the easy reply is: why does every other league have a cap? MLB is the outlier, and there is really no good reason for it other than player greed.
Other teams can spend more but they choose not to, having money doesn't guarantee anything.
 
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mjj_2K

All-American
Jul 11, 2010
12,584
7,258
113
Other teams can spend more but they choose not to, having money doesn't guarantee anything.
Baseball's financial system has encouraged numerous welfare queen billionaires to buy teams. You buy an asset that is guaranteed to rise in value fairly dramatically over a relative short period of time. You can get a cash flow handed to you that meets or exceeds your operating costs on a yearly basis and only lose money in any given year if you choose to go over budget, which no one is forcing you to do.

But in the Dodgers' case, it does guarantee a lot, and it is a problem for the sport. Baseball is the least "team" of pretty much all team sports. It's hitter vs pitcher and everyone fields their own position. It's an individual contest given a team structure. A team can get hot and win 4 games against a superior team in the playoffs, but the Dodgers have so much room for error they can't fail in the long term and are now the favorite every single season. Mookie Betts falls off a cliff, big signing Kyle Tucker flops, All-Star catcher is hurt all season? Doesn't matter.

Baseball has a current structure on and off the field that is pushing everything to the extreme and they need to find a way to have some balance, or the sport is going to fade in a way that can't be masked by regional TV contracts and streaming deals, On the field, it's "how hard can we throw and with how much spin" which is answered by "how hard can I swing to make sure on the rare occasion I make contact the ball goes a really long way". Off the field it's the Dodgers gaming the system on one end and a group of guys on the other gladly losing to them and taking all that sweet luxury tax cash.

No easy answer, The sport probably needs the major upheaval that appears imminent.
 
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rick64

Heisman
Jan 25, 2007
25,040
34,862
113
Thought I'd read somewhere that the Dodgers were interested in Paul Skenes too.

I believe a lockout is
Avengers Endgame GIF
.
 
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