{"id":830700,"date":"2026-10-16T12:33:40","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T12:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/830700\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T12:33:40","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T12:33:40","slug":"ohtanis-health-salary-cap-mark-walter-loom-large-for-dodgers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/830700\/","title":{"rendered":"Ohtani’s health, salary cap, Mark Walter loom large for Dodgers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What we know: The Dodgers lost. Their season is no more. Their three-peat dream has been dashed<\/a>. Their winter is upon us.<\/p>\n

What we don\u2019t know: What the future holds, in what could be a turbulent winter for the Dodgers<\/a> and for all of Major League Baseball.<\/p>\n

Here are four things we don\u2019t know about the Dodgers, but well worth keeping an eye on:<\/p>\n

Shohei Ohtani \"\" <\/p>\n

Just three short months ago, we wondered whether Ohtani would win his fifth most valuable player award and his first Cy Young Award. Has the time come for the Dodgers to consider curtailing his pitching?<\/a><\/p>\n

As the Dodgers trudged through the playoffs, we endured daily drama over where in the lineup Ohtani would bat (first, second, fourth, fifth or sixth) and what he could produce despite playing through multiple injuries.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll soon get a better understanding of those injuries, and whether rest, rehabilitation and\/or surgery might be recommended for each one. We\u2019ll also get a better sense of what the future might hold for Ohtani as a two-way player, and for his potential to perform at an elite level on both sides of the ball.<\/p>\n

Ohtani said he plans to resume pitching next year. He is 32. He just completed his 14th professional season.<\/p>\n

Ohtani has pitched more than 132 innings once since 2016, when he was 22 and playing for the Nippon Ham Fighters.<\/p>\n

In his three seasons with the Dodgers, this was the first that did not involve rehabilitation from elbow surgery. He started 14 games before a knee injury prevented him from pitching any more this season.<\/p>\n

Payroll \"Dodgers <\/p>\n

Dodgers pitcher Tarik Skubal walks off the field during Game 1 of the NLDS.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Major league owners are poised to shut down the sport this winter, in pursuit of a salary cap designed to restrain the Dodgers, since they won\u2019t restrain themselves.<\/p>\n

The owners\u2019 initial proposal set a salary cap of $245 million next year. The Dodgers already have $347 million committed to 14 players next year, according to Cot\u2019s Baseball Contracts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Under a cap, the owners have promised a transition period to account for existing commitments, and an actual negotiated cap could be higher.<\/p>\n

Even if the players do not agree to a cap \u2014 and they insist they won\u2019t \u2014 whatever economic system that would emerge from collective bargaining would be almost certain to make it painful for the Dodgers to spend so freely.<\/p>\n

Whatever the case, the Dodgers could face the kind of difficult roster choices they often have papered over with money this decade. Two closers for $141 million<\/a>? Good luck with that.<\/p>\n

And would they be able to fit soon-to-be free agent Tarik Skubal<\/a> into their payroll? Skubal might well sign before the lockout is expected to start in December, but there is nothing agent Scott Boras loves more than pitching a marquee free agent to a new owner. The two other Southern California teams \u2014 the Angels<\/a> and San Diego Padres<\/a> \u2014 both have one.<\/p>\n

Age \"Dodgers <\/p>\n

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, left, and general manager Brandon Gomes have decisions to make about their aging roster.<\/p>\n

(Luke Hales \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

When Andrew Friedman<\/a> made his name as the general manager of the Tampa Bay Rays, he did it in large part by taking advantage of one market inefficiency within the American League East: He beat up on the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees because they were stuck with rosters crowded with aging stars on big contracts. The Rays couldn\u2019t have done that even if Friedman had wanted to.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t want to do it too much in Los Angeles, because it compromises roster flexibility. But, after seven National League West titles and no World Series championships, ownership went all in: Mookie Betts (12 years, $365 million), Freddie Freeman (six years, $162 million), Ohtani (10 years, $700 million), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (12 years, $325 million), Tyler Glasnow (five years, $137 million), Blake Snell (five years, $182 million), Will Smith (10 years, $140 million) and Kyle Tucker (four years, $240 million).<\/p>\n

It worked: three rings in six years. Now the bill comes due.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers fielded the oldest group of position players in the major leagues this season. Ohtani and Betts are under contract through their age-39 seasons; Smith will be 38 when his deal\u2019s up, Yamamoto and Max Muncy 37, Snell 36, Glasnow 35. <\/p>\n

Something to watch this winter: Freeman is 37, signed through next year. He would like to play until 40 and finish his career here. That would take a two-year extension. Would the Dodgers say no?<\/p>\n

Ownership<\/p>\n

Mark Walter\u2019s insurance empire is under investigation by federal authorities \u2014 and the subject of discussions with state regulators \u2014 over allegations the businesses he controls failed to properly follow laws designed to protect investors.<\/p>\n

Walter\u2019s company has denied wrongdoing, and neither Walter nor his businesses have been charged with a crime. He is, however, a defendant in multiple civil lawsuits in which insurance policyholders claim he and several of his companies committed fraud and breach of contract.<\/p>\n

Walter may need more than $20 billion to satisfy regulators by recapitalizing insurance companies. He abruptly sold the Lakers in August, in a deal that valued the team \u2014 not just Walter\u2019s controlling interest \u2014 at $12.5 billion. He and fellow Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly also sold a small stake in English soccer club Chelsea FC last month for about $1.27 billion, the Financial Times reported. It is uncertain how Walter would provide the rest of the money for recapitalization.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegarding the Los Angeles Dodgers, to be clear, the team is not being sold,\u201d Walter\u2019s holdings company said in a statement last month.<\/p>\n

It is uncertain whether a resolution with insurance regulators would satisfy the Department of Justice, which reports to President Trump. In July, when the Dodgers visited the White House, Walter presented Trump with an official World Series championship ring with his name engraved on it. He also sold the Lakers to former Disney chief Bob Iger and venture capitalist Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump\u2019s son-in-law.<\/p>\n

Major League Baseball is monitoring the situation and could conduct its own review after the state and federal matters are concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What we know: The Dodgers lost. Their season is no more. Their three-peat dream has been dashed. Their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":830701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2406],"tags":[5,43466,15415,39,1165,4332,4333,774,57,3224,4331,19,24934,4,1526,58258,1258,17273,3181,17263,34437,1479,25923,22127],"class_list":["post-830700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-baseball","tag-baseball-contract","tag-company","tag-dodgers","tag-la","tag-la-dodgers","tag-ladodgers","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-losangeles","tag-losangelesdodgers","tag-major-league-baseball","tag-mark-walter","tag-mlb","tag-mookie-betts","tag-next-year","tag-ohtani","tag-owner","tag-player","tag-president-trump","tag-salary-cap","tag-season","tag-walter","tag-winter"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117450611672742243","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=830700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/830701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=830700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=830700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=830700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}