The Los Angeles Dodgers have attacked free agency with an aggressive approach, signing Blake Snell and reportedly reaching agreements with Michael Conforto and Blake Treinen as well.
The Dodgers also signed Tommy Edman to a contract extension, and are in the thick of the Teoscar Hernández sweepstakes now that Juan Soto has joined the New York Mets.
Deals with Snell, Conforto and Edman all contain deferred money. Snell’s deal includes $66 million in deferred salary, while Edman’s contract includes around one-third of his money spread out, and Conforto’s signing bonus will be paid in full at a later date.
The Dodgers have utilized the method of contract deferrals quite a bit in recent years, doing so with Teoscar Hernández, Will Smith, Mookie Betts, and most notably, Shohei Ohtani. Pushing money down the road avoids the pressure of dealing with the full burden of it for their present-day luxury tax.
During an appearance on“Foul Territory,” free agent Whit Merrifield credited the Dodgers front office for their roster construction and ability to leverage the tool of deferred salary in contracts:
“The Dodgers have just gotten creative. With the way the system is set up, they’ve gotten creative with how they spent that money and how they’ve been able to sign expensive players and still not really get crushed on the tax thresholds.
“It’s not illegal, it’s not cheating. It’s just creative. And frankly, kudos to them. But at the same time, their playbook is now sort of out there for other teams to say, ‘It seems to be working for them. Maybe we should think about doing something like this.’
“So to me, I get that people are frustrated with the Dodgers building that super team, if you want to call it that. Is it frustrating for another fanbase? Yeah. But again, they’re not doing anything sneaky, under the table, or cheating. They just got creative. I would encourage other teams to look at that and be like, ‘Oh, that’s a good idea.'”
All told, the Dodgers now have over $1 billion dollars in deferred money attached to their current roster, and are still in position to continue adding key players. Some around the league have begun to wonder if the method is solely available to teams like the Dodgers, but it has been used across MLB for decades.
Dodgers aren’t first team use deferred money in contracts
One of the most key uses of deferred money isn’t the Dodgers’ use of the tactic, but rather the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001. In their iconic season, the Diamondbacks had 10 players defer money into the future, allowing them to maintain a comfortable spot with their financials.
Partly because of it, the Diamondbacks went on to win a World Series title that same season.
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