Another year, another sticker shock for the Dodgers, who have leaned into their role as the biggest spenders in the sport, with gusto. Kyle Tucker is their newest prize, picking Los Angeles over the New York Mets and Toronto Blue Jays, his two other reported closest pursuers.<\/p>\n
Tucker signed for a reported $240 million over four years per<\/a> multiple<\/a> reports<\/a>. Jeff Passan at ESPN, who broke news of the signing, has more details on the breakdown of the deal, along with Alden Gonz\u00e1lez<\/a>:<\/p>\n Tucker at $60 million per year would be the second-highest contract in MLB history by nominal average annual value, behind only Shohei Ohtani\u2019s $70 million per year. But with deferrals, the average annual value comes down a bit, to a reported $57.1 million for competitive balance tax purposes. That would be the highest ever, ahead of Juan Soto ($51 million) and Ohtani ($46.1 million).<\/p>\n While Tucker has been a great player, he\u2019s not Ohtani. But he didn\u2019t have to be in this market, with Bo Bichette and Cody Bellinger his main competition among this year\u2019s free agent class. Coupled with a dearth of impact hitters the next couple of offseason, Tucker represented a rare chance to add a true difference-maker to a lineup, hence the premium price tag.<\/p>\n The coupling of large signing bonus ($64 million) and deferrals ($30 million) is similar to what the Dodgers have done with recent deals. Blake Snell received his entire $52 million signing bonus last season<\/a>, for instance. That the Dodgers have over $1 billion in total deferred salaries<\/a> \u2014 to 10 players, to be paid between 2028 and 2047 \u2014 creates another sticker shock, though Ohtani\u2019s whopping $680 million deferred really skews that number<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not as simple as saying paying Ohtani only $2 million per year during his contract (and $68 million annually each year from 2034-43) is funding the Dodgers moving into another stratosphere of spending. By rule, teams must set aside funds to eventually cover any deferred salaries down the road.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just how you account for it. You have to fund a lot of it right now, and having that money go to work for you,\u201d Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said in December 2024<\/a>. \u201cA lot of our ownership group are from financial background, and can have that money going to work right now, and not something that sneaks up on us. We\u2019re not going to wake up in 2035 and say, \u2018Oh my God, that\u2019s right. There\u2019s this money due.\u2019 We\u2019ll plan for it along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n But the financial flexibility does help, as does winning the last two World Series. It allows the Dodgers to strike when they see someone they want. And they haven\u2019t missed on much recently.<\/p>\n Once Tucker is officially on board, the Dodgers will have 22 players under contract for 2026. Filling out the roster, and adding in the usual assumptions for minor league salaries, pre-arbitration bonus pool, and team benefits, their payroll for competitive balance tax purposes will be well over $385 million already.<\/p>\n The first CBT threshold in 2026 \u2014 the final year of the collective bargaining agreement \u2014 is $244 million, and the Dodgers will blow past all four thresholds. Anything they spend over $304 million this year will be taxed at 110 percent, the highest allowable rate as multiple-time repeat tax payers. But this is nothing new, as the Dodgers\u2019 last two luxury tax bills are the two highest in MLB history:<\/p>\n 2024<\/a>: $103 million tax on a $353 million payroll2025<\/a>: $169.4 million tax on a $417.3 million payroll<\/p>\n