TBNL: Owners in NY cry poor, SD file suit, and LA make a donation

Add Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner to the growing list of people wrongly complaining about the way the Dodgers are spending money.

Since winning the World Series, Los Angeles has been active. The club has added Blake Snell, Roki Sasaki, Tanner Scott, Hyeseong Kim, Michael Conforto, and Kirby Yates in free agency while re-signing Teoscar Hernández and Blake Treinen.

The Dodgers already-league-leading payroll is now up to almost $291M, according to Spotrac’s latest projections.

Since losing the World Series, New York hasn’t been quite as busy. The club waited while Juan Soto played out his free agency and only moved quickly once he elected to leave for the crosstown Mets. The Yankees responded by signing Max Fried and Paul Goldschmidt, re-signing Jonathan Loáisiga, and trading for Cody Bellinger and Devin Williams.

Spotrac has their payroll up to just over $273M, the third-highest in the majors (Philadelphia is second).

While the Dodgers seemingly have addressed every hole on their roster, the Yankees still have work to do before spring training begins in a few weeks. Multiple reports would seem to suggest the club is limited financially in what they can do. Specifically, the team’s entire offseason is being “held up” by their inability to trade Marcus Stroman and (at least most of) the $18M he is due this season.

Steinbrenner spoke with YES Network’s Meredith Marakovits and in an interview clip released on Tuesday suggested that a large portion of MLB owners are having a hard time keeping up with the way the Dodgers are spending.

Ignoring the “it didn’t work out for them” part of the statement — LA won it all, that seems like “working out” to me — Steinbrenner’s complaint looks hollow. It seems misplaced. It seems especially out of touch from the owner of the club that just lost in the World Series.

It also seems like exceptionally poor timing just days after a report from Forbes shows the league saw a massive increase in revenues this last year.

Digging into things a little deeper, however, there may be some reality to the statements.

LA’s ownership group, known as Guggenheim Baseball Management (GBE), is chaired by Mark Walter, the former president and current CEO of Guggenheim Partners, a Chicago-based investment firm. One of his partners is Lakers legend Magic Johnson. The pair each bring enormous personal wealth and a laundry list of investment successes.

GBE can treat the Dodgers like an asset in their vast investment portfolio. They can cover their risk better (or at least differently) and that seemingly is giving them more flexibility, specifically concerning future payroll commitments and deferred payments. The Dodgers can better afford to bank on their brand continuing to grow.

Most other ownership groups can’t do the same so there’s greater pause in committing long-term to substantial contracts, let alone deferring payments to future years.

This hesitation has become widespread around the league and has only been exacerbated this offseason by questions surrounding the collapse of numerous RSNs.

There is some irony to Steinbrenner’s statements, too.

Much of Steinbrenner’s concern in public statements about the Yankees’ payroll centers around the luxury tax thresholds, which were agreed upon in the latest collective bargaining agreement. The threat of increasing penalties for continuing to exceed these thresholds is of real concern to him.

Some of the initial competitive balance tax concepts found in the CBA originated in the early 2000s. They came about because of the way George Steinbrenner ran the Yankees. His spending often ruffled the feathers of other owners across the game. He did the very things his son is now complaining about the Dodgers doing.

GBE is doing things right. Hal and the rest of MLB’s owners are crying poor. Changing the game isn’t the answer; getting more owners to act like the Dodgers is.

San Diego’s ownership saga grows

Peter Seidler was initially a minority member in the investment group that purchased the Padres in 2012. By 2020, Seidler had been named chairman of the group and was its largest stakeholder.

Under Seidler’s leadership, the Padres had transitioned into one of baseball’s most aggressive spenders.

Everything changed when he passed away in November 2023 at age 63 following a months-long illness.

Peter’s brother, Matt, initially took control of the franchise. Matt’s own health issues led to him stepping down just months later, with another brother, John, taking over. John is expected to be approved by MLB owners as the Padres’ permanent control person next week, according to Jack Baer at Yahoo! Sports.

Of course, things may not be quite so straightforward. Peter’s widow, Sheel, filed a lawsuit challenging for control of the franchise in early January. Her suit includes numerous claims, including the suggestion that the brothers were “plotting to relocate the Padres elsewhere.”

That last allegation, in particular, seems to have struck a nerve with the Seidler brothers. Matt filed a response on Monday that, among other things, accuses Sheel of being “reckless” with the timing of her complaint. Matt’s chief concern is the idea that the threat of the team leaving San Diego hurt their chances to sign Roki Sasaki.

There’s virtually no way to demonstrate that was the deciding factor. Los Angeles had always been the favorite to sign Sasaki, so it’s not like the end result was a surprise to many.

Still, the ongoing battle surrounding the club’s future helps no one within the organization. And the team’s offseason has been a stark reminder of their struggles. Rumors that the team is looking to slash payroll have circled since the World Series ended.

San Diego has only added three players to their 40-man roster this offseason. One, Juan Nuñez, was a Rule 5 pick and a second, Ron Marinaccio, will earn the MLB minimum this year. The third was to re-sign Elias Díaz to a one-year, $3.5M deal to provide depth at catcher.

Dodgers ownership assists efforts to rebuild LA

Internally, the Dodgers must be ecstatic about how things have played out in recent weeks. The club continues to aggressively make moves to set themselves up for another World Series run this season, and those efforts are working.

Public perception has been mixed, with some praising the club for truly going for it and others complaining they’re “ruining the game.”

People have called LA’s ownership greedy, selfish, and worse — for no good reason.

Los Angeles has been devastated by wildfire damage in recent weeks. California Governor Gavin Newsom appeared with part of the Dodgers ownership group (Magic Johnson, Mark Walter, and Casey Wasserman) to introduce a new philanthropic effort to help rebuild the city, called LA Rises.

Walter, the Walter Family Foundation, and the Dodgers Foundation kicked off fundraising efforts with a $100M donation.

Elsewhere, around the league …

• Baltimore and Jorge Mateo reached a deal to avoid arbitration. Mateo will receive $3.55M this season and the club has an option for 2026, valued between $5.5M and $6M. He had been slated to be a free agent next offseason but that could be delayed a year if Baltimore elects to exercise the option.

• Adam Frazier spent the first five years of his career in the Pirates infield before bouncing around the last three-plus seasons (San Diego, Seattle, Baltimore, then Kansas City). Frazier is returning to Pittsburgh, agreeing to a one-year, $1.525M deal, to give the Bucs some veteran depth on their bench.

• Alex Bregman and Houston may still reunite, though not without some interesting maneuvering. Reports suggest if the team can work out a deal with Bregman, they’ll move Isaac Paredes to second base and Jose Altuve will see time in left field (a position he’s never played professionally).