Is the Dodgers’ Spending Killing MLB? Are the Dodgers REALLY BAD for Baseball?

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Are they good for baseball? Are they bad for baseball? As they fleeced. They absolutely friggin' fleec because this is what they do. This is what the Dodgers always do. But they friggin' fleeced the Detroit Tigers. I mean, you got to be kidding me. Grabbing this kid, Tariq School Ball, you know, a the AL Cy Young Award winner, two-time reigning L A L Cy Young Award winner. And this is where we begin on this Tuesday because I know for a fact everyone, everyone, everyone, everyone is going to be sitting there saying they are bad for baseball. They are bad for baseball. And I simply think there's pros and there's cons. So a little rapid fire edition of on Q. Rich Canyon is here, about 25 to 30 on this Tuesday. I wanted to get into a little more of the baseball. Plus, we'll go around the NFL, some news and notes. Get in early often, as always. Connect with us. So here we are, right? You look at the trade deadline, which has come and gone. Uh, and the Dodgers are such a beast. They've won it. They're back-to-back champs. They're defending back-to-back champs. They're looking to make a three-peat. I mean, you make a move like this, and your World Series odds go from plus 190 to plus uh 150. And now to win the National League at plus uh pardon me, minus 110. I mean, this is a franchise. The Yankees used to do this for years. The Yankees used to do this for years. The Dodgers are making a mockery of the NL West. They're making a mockery of the NL. They have done that for the past several years, but I can't sit here and tell you that it's bad for baseball, but I also can't tell you it's good for baseball. Like the pro, the pro is this, right? If you're thinking, okay, what's the pro? You get a dynasty and you get a team you hate. Because that's exactly how the fan base looks at the Los Angeles Dodgers. We saw it in the NBA for years with the Bulls in their dynasty. We saw it in the NFL for years with New England. We saw it in college football with Alabama. And now MLB, I give you and the baseball fan the Dodgers. Which means now you're going to pack up the stadiums. Let's just go by the premise that enjoy the rest of the uh baseball season if there's an impending doom and gloom lockout. But every postseason turns into what? Must watch, right? You got some big boppers, you got superstars. That carries weight. There's value in watching the Dodgers. So that's kind of the pro. Everyone wants a villain. Like the Yankees for years were a villain. Now you start with DeCan, and now we really kind of dive into well, why would you even play 162? If you're a small market club, why are you even hoping? If you're a small market club or the other teams in baseball, why are you even going to spend? Because every winter it seems as though the Dodgers land an all-star. And we know that baseball has financial disparities. But we talk about the optics, what other sports? We talk about perception. In this regard, perception matters. Perceptions matter. So when you've got enough of a fan base believing that the system is basically favoring Boston, New York, Yankees, Mets, Phil's, Dodgers, Dodgers, Dodgers, Dodgers, Dodgers, Dodgers. When you've got fan bases think that there is this favoritism in that regard, then guess what? You know, the fanism, the interest in the sport starts to erode. It starts to erode. You know it, and I know it. What's going on, DB? Fire Boone, Cashman. Uh Dodgers took their shot before the lockout season next year. Yep. Yeah, they did. They decided. We're not even going to wait. Let's go in. Let's try to win it again. We already know there's going to be an impending lockout. We already know there's going to be impending doom and gloom. But I wouldn't say that they're really bad for baseball because the Mets also can open up the checkbook, and they're a team that's 20 and a half games under 500. They're 20 and a half games back of the Atlanta Braves in the NL East. And Steve Cohen is a billionaire. How many times over? We've seen this in the past with the Yankees and Steinbrenner. The Yankees were a team that, you know, the perception, the narrative was that the Yankees for years would what? Buy friggin' players. I mean, that's what the Yankees did. And I'm not even talking about even the obscure ones where they give like a Henry uh, remember what was it, Henry Rodriguez, right? Oh, Henry. They gave him a million bucks for one year. I mean, the Yankees buy um players. The Yankees make a splash for big time players. They've been doing it since the dawn of time. They really have. I mean, I said this years ago. I didn't think there was a need for uh Stanton. I really didn't. I I just really didn't. But the Yankees spend. They've done it for years. If you go and you look right now, they rank third in baseball. They've got a payroll calculated at $336 million. Forget about the luxury tax bill because it's right now, you talk about heavy spending, it's kind of driven it to $76.9 to $79 million. But think about what they're paying base salary. Aaron Judge $40, Cole $36, Stanton 29, Bellinger 42. Right? And the list goes on and on and on. So if you look at the history of their spending, they spend money. They want to always win. That was Steinbrenner. Steinbrenner always wanted to figure out a way how can I have the competitive edge? How can I go out and get right? Get the best players. And he got them for a steal. But the Yankees from CBS for 8.8. Now they're valued at 8.5 billion. And they always had the highest payrolls. Always. Even when you go back to the Techer's, when you go back to the Jeters, when you go back to the Rodriguez. I mean, they it just always, always, always. So I don't think what the Dodgers are doing is bad for baseball, but I can say this. I think what we're seeing right now is that if you look at the situation with the Tigers, you know, you can make a case that the Dodgers, I mean, who did they really give up? Who did they really give up? No one. They wanted to avoid giving up their big-time top prospects, and they did just that. Now, is that more of an indictment on the Tigers? Could be. I mean, if you look at their even their salaries right now, Otani, Tucker, Glasnow, Betts, I mean, their payroll is ridiculous. And you bring in a Cy Young award winner, who's absolutely phenomenal. Tigers president Scott Harris had some interesting things to say about the trade. Nothing rational, but just interesting. Yeah, I mean, he it's almost as though he, I guess he's he was basically defending it, right? Defending the return, right? The return on the investment. I mean, you got prospects, but did you really get the prospects that you wanted? Now, this kid, the outfield prospect, the kid hope, he's got power, he's got speed, right? They love the fact that you can put together some big-time big league at bats. Um, you know, then you got the kid River Ryan, right? Rotation starter. Um Smith, projected starter, right? Kid's got a couple nice pitches. And I think that was the Tigers' approach. I think the Tigers approach a season. They wanted to win the AL Central, but they got hit with a lot of injuries early on. They were horrible in May. They lost the division in May. They were 6-22. They were tied for the worst mark in the majors, then won 28 of their next 46, but it's all about timing and momentum. And they decided it's not worth it. Teams covered prospects over winning now. Some do, some don't. I mean, right now, think about it. The Tigers want the prospects, and the Dodgers were willing to give away prospects, but not the big ones that we anticipated or thought. Back when the core four were there, the Yanks built much better teams. This team has been built as a crappy as I can remember. Yeah, I mean, Halstein, Brenner, Cashman, they haven't done a very good job, but you're talking about homegrown talent with that core four, right? When you think about Jeter, right? Pettit, Posada, you know, Mo, you know, Bernie Williams, right? I mean, those uh that was the core of that squad, right? We can all agree. But the game's changed. The game has really changed, and you know, when you have an opportunity to be dominant, you're gonna be dominant. And right now, they are a flat-out dominant franchise. They are a dominant team. Speaking of the Dodgers, they really are. And by the way, the Yankees had three needs going into the deadline, right? Ready hitter, catcher, righty hitter, outfielder, and they needed someone in the pen. They want one of three. So they turn around, they get Ramos as a righty hitter, outfielder. They couldn't really upgrade anywhere else. Um, I thought the Phillies, you know, their move, I would say C minus, right? Um uh Luis Araz, that's a you know, an element of the offense that they need it because this team strikes out a lot. So again, you know, it might cause a little bit of a headache, right? Because now you have him going to second, Stott to third, uh uh Alec Baum to first, Harper, you know, um to right. And and maybe you can argue that's a downgrade to defensive four positions. But again, um you got to bat, and that's kind of what you need it. And you also added a little bullpen help as well. So uh they didn't get their frontline fifth starter. I think the Phillies are gonna be in trouble. I really do. Um, but you know, they they wanted to appease Bryce Harper after he said what he said. I think a lot of teams, you know, I would say a B and a C when you're talking about the trade deadline. Uh the Mets, no. You know, Washington, no, Texas, no. Seattle, eh. You know, San Diego did an excellent job. St. Louis did an excellent job. Pittsburgh did an excellent job. I mean, they really did. Pittsburgh, I give them a lot of credit, you know, still a young team trying to figure out to win. You know, the Mets, I would probably say C minus B. They wanted to buy, not sell. And this is what happens. Circumstances force franchises to sell. And what, you know, when you're a bad team, you kind of lean into that seller's market, but they're still put together. I mean, Cohen basically sold the fan base on just false promises. Absolutely false promises. And they're not going anywhere. It's right now, it's you got four or five teams in baseball. You know, I'm not going to dismiss the Yankees. They always figure out a way to get to the playoffs. You got Tampa, you know, you got the White Sox, Cleveland. They don't scare me. Houston is even having a down year. They're getting older. They're only a couple games over 500. Atlanta's trying to run away with the NL East. I'm not scared of the Brewers, even though that offense can score. And then you have the Dodgers. And that's really it. And the Dodgers and Milwaukee right now, if you are taking a step back, these two teams are sitting at 69 wins. I mean, they're having phenomenal seasons. But going back to what I said, I don't think what the Dodgers are doing is breaking baseball. I don't. I think it's good when you have um rivalries in sports. I think it's good when you have villains in sports. Uh, did we get tired of watching the Bulls win every year? Did we get tired of watching the Patriots win every year? Did we get tired of watching Alabama win every year? 100%. 100%. But the irony is this you know, the Dodgers might turn around and force, you know, they might end up forcing baseball into a monumental financial change. Because we always talk about the union, we always talk about the salary cap and the owners and the players are preparing for the next round of the CBA. We know how this union is the strongest in baseball. Now, could it could it cause for uh a lockout? Could now this cost fans 2027 season? I mean, labor disputes rather end quickly, right? And this is a league that is aggressively pursuing a salary cap. The player union is the strongest, I believe, in all sports. It's had that land that that long-standing um opposition, right? We know negotiations can become very uh volatile, contentious, right? So again, you know, could we lose part of the 2027 season? I think so. I don't think it's inevitable. I don't, because maybe at the end of the day, could what the Dodgers do ultimately benefit markets like Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Tampa Bay? I don't think they are baseball's problem. I don't I don't I can't and the other thing is this the Dodgers also are what? They're playing by the rules. They're playing by the rules, you know it, and I know it. Now they're bringing up Lombardy. Paul chimes in. Cleveland did great. That's a pretty cool backstory. Miners in 94. Interesting, very, very interesting. Wow. Montreal had an unbelievable team that year, did they not? With that strike shortened season. They were fantastic that year. Wow, that's interesting. Would you play double A, single A, triple A? Curious. 94 strike. I hated the 94 strike. I really did. Actually, the strike I hated the worst was 87 in the NFL. That to me, because I thought the Giants, I thought the Giants had a really good opportunity to get back to the Super Bowl and win in a game. Um, but you had all those scap players. I mean, that was brutal to watch, man. Isn't it funny too? Because when you think about this, 87, right? So 87 uh early on, you had you know scabs, right? And then everyone was thinking about crossing a picket line. Remember, they still played 15 games that year. But a lot of players didn't want to cross over. And I remember the scene was set early on for the Giants that year. Taking a family vacation in Cancun. They played on Monday night football to open up the season on the road, which is ridiculous, against Chicago. On the road, mind you, against Chicago, which was like, I couldn't believe that. It made absolutely no sense. And Chicago was laying a point and a half. Giants actually scored first. Tom Flynn blocked a punt, and they were up 7-0. Um, and then pretty much the uh house came down 34 points later, and then Chicago wins it 34-19. But that to me, it kind of set the tone for their season, right? Because they came out of the gate owned five. Uh, and then you had some players that cross here and there. Not as bad as 82. You know, 82, you only played a handful of games. I mean, it was such a friggin' short season, right? And it is a isn't it kind of remarkable that 82 and 87, the two years that we had the strikes, that's when the Washington then Redskins won the Super Bowl, won their 80s championships. I always found that very interesting. I did. I always found that very interesting. That two of their three, right? Think about it, came during the strikes. 94 in baseball, though, that Expos team, man, they were special. I mean, they were they were a great friggin' team, man. I mean, they had a stacked lineup. Stacked lineup. I mean, they they were a really good baseball team. Grissom, Walker, uh, I think um uh they had Floyd, Wright, uh, Alu. They were they were a stacked team, man. Absolutely stacked. Expos were on West Palm sharing brace facilities. I'm sure I face Vlad Sr. Wow, that's interesting. That's crazy. That's a nice little nugget. Good pull there, Paul. That's a nice little nugget. Wow, 94. Yeah, they came out of the gate, man. Uh, Mike and Ohala chimes in. Q, I'm not gonna say bad for baseball, but I'm not gonna say good. That's fair. I mean, to each his own with that. To each his own. But I can't really say anything because, as you guys know, the Yankees did this for years. So I'm not gonna poo-poo what the Dodgers are doing when I know for a fact the friggin' Yankees did the same crap. Teams buy players, teams have an opportunity to trade players, teams have deformed systems where they're okay with letting players walk, you know, or I should say, trading young players as prospects. The Dodgers were able to get a player, a, you know, um um Cy Young award winner, okay? A Cy Young award winner for I think nothing. No disrespect. You know, if the salary cap finally arrives because of what the Dodgers are doing, then maybe we can sit there and say, maybe, as crazy as it sounds, LA kind of reshaped the economics of the sport. Now, is baseball gonna sacrifice 2027 to get there? I don't know. I just don't know. This kid, he's a phenomenal, phenomenal pitcher. He really is. But I mean, it's like, how about this starting? I mean, you got Otani, you got Yamamoto, you got Tucker, right? You got school bowl. I mean, uh, are you kidding me? They already have one of the best rotations in in baseball. But they're basically saying, hell, if there's gonna be a strike, we're gonna go out and win it again. We're gonna go win it again. You know, some of these players understand the economics and they understand free agency, and they understand about getting moved and getting traded. But this is nothing new in the sport. They're still playing by the rules. That's the thing. They're still playing by the rules. And if you can't catch up, you can't catch up. I mean, think about the Mets and their payroll. The Mets payroll is ridiculous. It's it's ridiculous. $375 million plus CBT payroll. The Dodgers have an MLB uh high 41, uh, 413.5. But the Mets are right there. The Mets are right there. I'm not even breaking down luxury tax thresholds. I'm not, but they have done a horrible, horrible job assembling a roster. And you have to sit there and you got to think to yourself, why the hell does David Stearns still have this position? He's not going anywhere because Cohen backed him. Cohen basically is siding with him. But they were a team that had a lot of expectations, very high expectations, heading in to the season. But I just don't know, like what the hell, you know, Kevin's a Met fan. Uh, I see uh Mikey D is a Met fan. I don't know what they were thinking. You got what, two top prospects into three what? Top 200 prospects for what? Freddie Peralta? Four months of pointless Freddie Peralta? I mean, it made no sense. The Mets trade for Peralta, who, oh, by the way, his ERA is sitting right around five. I think it's 4.96 in over 113 frames, right? So you trade them to the Rays, and in exchange for three prospects, Aiden Smith, right-hander, Gary Gill, right? Uh Gary Um Hill and uh the Kip Petrie. And all of them are ranked in the Rays top 30 prospects uh MLB pipeline. So Smith was considered like Tampa Bay's 15th, 16th. I think Hill was like 26th. Um, and right now, you know, I mean, you so you gave up your Number three and five prospects in the initial trade for Peralta back in January. That made no sense. It just didn't. So David Stearns, if we go back, the GM of the Mets made three major pitching moves since joining the Mets. And these moves, he's either given up significant capital and prospects, or he's basically given out horrible contracts. Minaya, $75 million. Mantas, $35 million. Peralta, two top 10, two top 100 prospects. I mean, how how do you allow this GM to keep making moves going forward? And and Cohen, when he first uh bought the team, what did Stevie Cohen say? He basically told the Met fan, the starving fan base, that had a you know a glimmer of success, right, throughout their franchise. A glimmer of success. Even though it's been a little different over the last several years, the playoffs and a couple of surprising runs, but you're talking World Series, gotta go back 86 prior to 69, 73, they lost, right? But he basically said we're gonna hold these guys accountable. You're not you're not holding them accountable at all. So it's like wow. I mean, they have failed at the highest of high levels. Period. Failed at the highest of high levels. Yeah, I saw that. Uh I was a med underwoman. Whoa, how about that? That is Paul coming out with a little bit of a pull there. Stevie Phillips, right? I think he's on XM right now. Interesting. I think he's an uh analyst right now. I remember the Stevie Mets, uh Stevie Phillips tobacco. I think he's still with XM. Yeah, he's been to Mets. What was that? So that was 98, right? That was the uh the leave of absence, right? Because of the sexual uh harassment. And then of course, you know, he gets hired by ESPN. Go figure. Uh, by the way, real quick, um, I know we got a couple to play with, just wanted to pop on for a few. Uh, got to work uh some overnight broadcast. Uh, I don't know, maybe, maybe we might pop on later tonight. I did want to touch a little bit um on the NFL. Uh, I don't know if you saw the Robinson deal. I'll have Lloyd on. Maybe we'll do that tomorrow. And then the Flowers deal. Robinson got an absolutely monster record contract. Three-year deal worth up to $75 million, um, which is funny because I'm still trying to figure out who the hell is going to be the quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons. But it's a three-year extension, $75 million. He's going to be the highest paid running back in NFL history. We know with the market bears. He's getting $51 million, G, $51 million guaranteed. That's absolutely crazy. Clutch sports. Here we go. So that week, you know, the week-long, what do they call it? The hold in, not the hold out at training camp. So he's going to surpass Barkley. He's going to make $22 million a year, surpassing Barkley at $20.6. Um, now, think about this. That can change soon because now the Lions, Jameer Gibbs is also holding in, not holding out. He's waiting for a contract. But that's crazy money, man. Love, $53 million, Robinson $51 million, Saquon 36, Genty 35.9. The kid's a beast. He's a beast. They just need to figure out who the hell is going to throw in the football. They signed Drake London. They signed Kyle Pitts, right? They signed their left guard. Robinson Young, he's 24. Just got to figure out who's going to be under center. Who's going to be under center? Like the death chart right now. I mean, I think to uh indoors, no conditions with that offense. You fix that offensive line. He might be able to sling it all over the place if he can stay upright. So you got the Robinson's uh the Robinson contract extension. Lloyd and I will go through that as well. And then you got the Flowers deal. Zay Flowers, four years, 140 million. Remember back in the day, running backs and wide receivers weren't getting paid? Wow. 35 million average. Ties in with Justin Jefferson, fourth highest paid wide receiver. He'll be 26 in September. Uh this kid definitely has a very unique skill set. He's flourished over the last several seasons. It helps that yet an MVP caliber, an MVP quarterback in Lamar Jackson, but man, they are busting out the checkbook for some of these players. So we're going to get into that. Like I said, we might fire off later or we might come back on a Friday. Uh we just wanted to uh pop on, kind of go through what was going on with baseball, but I certainly wanted to touch base on what's going on in the NFL. Uh we'll talk a little more NFC East later on in the week. Oh, by the way, Hall of Fame game, Carolina, Arizona. So you get your first fill of football this Thursday. So enjoy that. The Hall of Fame game preseason. Right now, Carolina, yes, is laying one and a half. If you guys were curious uh to know that. So, all right, we're gonna start wrapping up. Like I said, I just wanted to pop on for about 2530. Uh, Steve Garner, we're hoping to get him later on in the week, USA Today. He's a Hall of Fame writer for baseball MLB. Get his thoughts on all these crazy trades going down, you know, what he thinks of what the Dodgers are doing, good, bad, and different. And like I said, I don't think what the Dodgers are doing is bad for baseball. I don't necessarily think it's great for baseball, but I'll say this um they might kind of turn around and literally, you know, um set the stage, set the stage for baseball going forward. Yeah, I told you about a 30-minute today. 30 minute today, we gotta uh we gotta get some rest in. These overnights, we got to get some rest in. We might fire off later today, uh, but we'll go an hour the rest of the week, Wednesday, Thursday, and then we'll fire off a little earlier on Friday, and then obviously be back on the air Saturday. I wanted to kind of break up the monotony from the WMBA TV. So we wanted to go with a little baseball talk today. We will mix in a little NFL talk. We got some videos dropping as well, uh, a little shoulder programming. We'll drop those later on the week. But like I said, I wanted to fire off quick 30, uh, get in a lot more of the baseball talk. We'll look at, you know, the next uh couple weeks in baseball. We are coming down to what I like to call crunch time right now in baseball. As soon as you flip the calendar from July to August, it's pennant races. They're heating up. Uh, we will also dive into a lot more of the NFL. We'll break down some of these contracts with Lloyd Vance, our NFL insider. But as I said, um, depending upon what time we fire off later tonight for the broadcast, we might sneak on for a couple moments with Lloyd. If not, back at it on a Wednesday edition, uh Wusau Wednesday. So we got 30 solid in the books. We're happy with that. Don't forget, get connected. Uh, my coffee drinkers out there, fresh roasted, that fuels us. Uh, check out the promo codes on Q20. Uh, also, as I mentioned too, we got some more of the Warriors League Thailand games that'll be loaded up in the box. Uh, we will start to get into some of these week one NFL lines probably over the next week. Lloyd's gonna join us uh later on this week and also two times next week. We'll start to do some of these player props. We start to really get into the predictions. We want to kind of push it out a little faster, but also wait a little bit for training camp to kind of unfold and to get cooking because you're always gonna get some injuries as well. But as I said, we wanted to get definitely the baseball talk, break up the monotony, trade dunline is coming going in baseball. The Dodgers just absolutely going all in. We don't know. There might be a strike next year. There might not be a strike. You might get a half season, shortened season, but we know one thing. Right now, they are the odds on favor to win it again. That would be back to back to back. Good for baseball, bad for baseball. I'll let you guys ponder that. All right. Uh again, depending upon how the schedule is later on this uh later tonight. We might fire off with a few with Lloyd. If not, back at it on a Wednesday edition of OnQ. Don't forget to subscribe to the YouTube channel. Always be safe, be sound. I'm Rich Kanyonis. Hasta luego Matia.