Once upon a time, when the Yankees routinely flexed their financial advantage by outbidding foes for free agents. When Cuban defector José Contreras chose the Yankees instead of the Red Sox, Boston president and CEO Larry Lucchino threw a fit and famously declared that the Yankees were the Evil Empire.
In light of what the Dodgers are doing now, that seems rather quaint, doesn’t it? After signing Shohei Ohtani prior to the 2024 season, surprising no one, they signed the best pitcher on the market, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, also surprising no one. After winning the World Series that year, they signed Roki Sasaki, the best available pitcher during that off-season, again surprising no one. This past off-season — after winning another World Series — they picked up the best available hitter, Kyle Tucker, and the best available reliever, Edwin Díaz. Again, everyone knew these deals were coming. Everyone. (There were also a slew of other minor signings that would been headline deals for most other teams: Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, and others.)
Given that track record, I’m certain that no one in baseball (executive, manager, coach, player, or fan) was even the tiniest bit surprised when the Dodgers unloaded three prospects yesterday to acquire Tarik Skubal, assuring that no matter what happens in the next 24 hours, the Dodgers have won the trading deadline the way they win everything else.
Yankee fans will howl (have been howling) that George Steinbrenner wouldn’t allow this to happen, or that Brian Cashman needs to get off his hands and Hall Steinbrenner needs to open his wallet. But here’s the thing. Those Yankee fans need only look across town to see how inept an open wallet can be when decisions go wrong.
And things could’ve gone wrong for the Dodgers. They looked ready to lose to the Padres in the divisional series in 2024, and they should’ve lost last year’s World Series to the Blue Jays. But they didn’t, did they?
The Dodgers have an ATM machine that never stops, the best farm system in baseball, and decision makers that don’t miss. This isn’t an evil empire, it’s so much more than that. Like it or not, the Dodgers are untouchable. They may or may not win the World Series this year, and we may or may not have baseball next season, but this is where we are.
Austin Wells is wearing catcher's gear that's a tribute to Thurman Munson, who died on this day in 1979. His retired number is on the back along with what appears to be the back of a baseball card listing his stats. It's pretty much the coolest thing a catcher has ever worn.