Over the past 12 seasons the Los Angeles Dodgers have become one of the most dreaded and respected organizations in baseball. They built themselves up to where they are now through drafting and development, talent identification, shrewd trades, and opening the checkbook when necessary.
With the way they spent in free agency the past two years, the Dodgers are becoming more reminiscent of the New York Yankees of the late 1990s and into the early 2000s. Those Yankees teams four World Series titles during that span, including three in a row from 1998-2000.
The Yankees are MLB’s last repeat World Series champion, which the Dodgers are hoping to replicate over the course of the next few seasons.
They followed up a $1 billion offseason with another spending spree to add the likes of Blake Snell, Roki Sasaki, Tanner Scott, Michael Conforto and more.
In the eyes of Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, the Dodgers have solidified themselves in the same light as those old Yankees, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today:
“I think you always have your eye on the big team,” said Dave Dombrowski, the Phillies’ president of baseball operations. “In the American League, it was always the Yankees year in and year out. I would think it’s the same way with the Dodgers.”
While the Dodgers have embraced their ability to spend copious amounts of money in free agency, they have also stayed true to who they are at their core and the philosophies that got them to this point.
The Dodgers boast one of the best farm systems in baseball yet again heading into 2025. Five Dodgers prospects made an appearance on Baseball Prospectus’ latest Top 101 prospect list, headlined by Zyhir Hope (No. 8), and followed by Josue De Paula (No. 9), Dalton Rushing (No. 22), Jackson Ferris (No. 52) and Alex Freeland (No. 82).
Dodgers embrace ‘villain’ narrative
Mookie Betts, Blake Snell and Freddie Freeman have been among the players to defend the Dodgers front office aggressively adding to the roster on an annual basis, and manager Dave Roberts wants the team to welcome the criticism.
“I think you’ve got to embrace it. Who wouldn’t want to be the focus and do what our organization is doing for the city and fans? To be quite frank, we draw more than anyone as far as any sports venue in the world. When you’re drawing 4 million fans a year, the way you reciprocate is by investing in players, and that’s what we’ve done,” Roberts said.
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