Dodgers fans now expect the team to get their guy, whoever that “guy” may be at the time.
During this year’s trade deadline, that guy was Tarik Skubal. And the Dodgers got him.
There has been a lot of chatter about the modest prospect package Los Angeles sent to the Tigers for Skubal, who is arguably baseball’s best left-handed pitcher. But the reason LA didn’t need to send a king’s ransom in prospects is because Skubal is a free agent after this season, essentially making him a rental.
Of course, the Dodgers hope to sign Skubal this winter and have a great chance of doing so — largely because of the deferred money they’d surely offer him in a prospective deal.
After all, the Dodgers already owe over $1 billion in deferred money to rostered players, which FanDuel conveyed with an X post Sunday.
The Dodgers’ deferral strategy when paying their best players has drawn the ire of the rest of MLB, as it can feel like a loophole in how it reduces their current luxury-tax hit and frees up immediate cash flow for the team to keep adding more talent.
While it might feel like this, the Dodgers are still playing by the rules — at least under this current Collective Bargaining Agreement.
If the Dodgers sign Skubal this offseason as a free agent, that contract is almost sure to include a huge chunk of deferred money, which would push LA past the already $1.1 billion sum it owes its current crop of players.
Not that Dodgers fans have to worry about that. All they get to do is sit back, relax and watch Skubal lead their team to what feels like another inevitable World Series run.
