It’s at all times good when one thing works out completely, immediately. On the commerce deadline, the Dodgers insinuated themselves right into a three-way cope with the White Sox and Cardinals, buying Michael Kopech and Tommy Edman in trade for infielder Miguel Vargas and a smattering of minor leaguers. Edman, who hadn’t performed an inning all 12 months to that time due to a wrist damage, was of little use to the Cardinals and nil use to the White Sox, so Los Angeles was capable of purchase him on a budget.
The wrist healed; the previous Stanford standout debuted in late August, posted a 98 wRC+ in 37 regular-season video games, then performed each inning of the Dodgers’ profitable World Sequence run. He began video games at each middle area and shortstop, hit .328/.354/.508 with 5 stolen bases in 16 appearances, and went dwelling with NLCS MVP honors.
So that you’d perceive why either side would need to run it again. On Friday night time, the Dodgers introduced that they and the 29-year-old Edman had agreed to a contract extension. This five-year, $72 million deal supersedes the ultimate 12 months of Edman’s earlier two-year contract, value $9.5 million. Ought to this partnership proceed to bear fruit by the top of the last decade, the Dodgers have a $13 million membership possibility for 2030 as nicely.
I don’t suppose anybody might argue that Edman is a helpful and precious participant for the Dodgers, however the information of his new contract has generated a little bit of a stir. Edman, a former sixth-round choose who stands all of 5-foot-10, makes his dwelling by shuffling from place to place; he’s began 50 or extra regular-season video games at second base, shortstop, third base, proper area, and middle area in his profession. He’s good all over the place however not otherworldly anyplace.
Offensively, Edman is merely respectable. His profession excessive in dwelling runs is 13. His profession slash line, already modest, is inflated by a bonkers half-season he put up as a rookie; take that away and he’s a profession .257/.312/.394 hitter.
It is a utilityman. A grinder. A grimy-uniform man. As a lot because the Dodgers clearly love Edman, the person was born to be a St. Louis Cardinal, to fill the scuffed and gritty sneakers of David Eckstein and Ryan Theriot and Frankie Frisch.
That man’s getting $72 million? That’s beginning pitcher cash, slugger cash, not utility infielder cash! The Dodgers are uncontrolled, they should be stopped!
Properly, it’s not fairly that straightforward. To start with, this can be a Dodgers contract, so the sticker worth is decrease due to (holds palms out for viewers call-and-response like a preacher or a game-show host)… deferred cash! Our man Jon Becker, whom I belief on these points as a result of he’s snug utilizing phrases like “depreciation charge,” says the real-world worth of Edman’s contract is definitely a hair beneath $13.1 million per 12 months, relatively than the $14.4 million that you just get if you divide 72 by 5.
Then again, the Dodgers already owed Edman $9.5 million for 2024, so that they’re extending their dedication to Edman by 4 years and roughly $56.6 million, factoring in deferrals. So you can consider this as a four-year extension at $14.15 million per.
Admittedly, that’s fairly a little bit of freight for a complementary participant.
Both manner, it’s much less cash per 12 months than the Dodgers gave Chris Taylor in his four-year, $60 million contract that began in 2022. (How’s that understanding for the Dodgers proper now? Don’t fear about it!) Within the 5 years earlier than his extension kicked in, Taylor had posted 14.6 WAR in 623 video games. Over the previous 5 seasons, Edman has produced 12.4 WAR in 541 video games. Taylor was a greater hitter then than Edman is now, however Edman is a greater defender; each produced, to inside a tenth of a win, 3.7 WAR per 162 video games performed.
And if you wish to discuss in regards to the superutilityman archetype, keep in mind that Ben Zobrist signed a four-year, $56 million contract with the Cubs after the 2015 season. Now, Zobrist was twice pretty much as good as Taylor or Edman. When he signed with Chicago, his 8.7 WAR marketing campaign with the Rays was greater than half a decade prior to now, besides, his WAR-per-162 video games determine over the earlier 5 seasons was 5.2, not 3.7.
However he was additionally 35 years previous, not 29, and the costliest contract in baseball historical past was solely 70% as precious as the present file contract; the file AAV has gone up roughly the identical quantity in that point. In 2016, the primary luxurious tax barrier was $189 million, or roughly 78% of the $241 million mark that’ll set off alarms in 2025.
Oh yeah, the posh tax. Or the “Aggressive Steadiness Tax” to you squares and accountants on the market.
I believe quite a lot of the sticker shock over the Edman deal has little to do with the going charge for a utility participant. This would possibly appear to be some huge cash — I imply, let’s be actual, it is some huge cash — nevertheless it’s a good worth for a man who can play a number of premium defensive positions and put up someplace within the neighborhood of three WAR per season.
And I think that if Edman had signed this contract in the course of the Winter Conferences, or in spring coaching, or the day after the World Sequence, no person would’ve cared. But it surely’s the second-biggest contract of the offseason, and the one splashier deal that’s been disbursed up to now was one other Dodgers signing: Blake Snell. And aside from these two offers, the one different factor to speak about has been the Angels filling out the crew for his or her annual voyage of the damned.
So now we’re in a state of affairs the place, if you wish to be sensational, the Dodgers have spent 1 / 4 billion {dollars} in per week on two guys who aren’t even super-duper-mega-stars, whereas the Yankees, Mets, Braves, Phillies, Padres, Rangers, Astros, and… I don’t know what different contenders or large payroll groups you need to add in right here. The Blue Jays? The Cubs? The Diamondbacks? Doesn’t matter. Both manner, whereas the Dodgers are going out and giving buy-Ferraris-for-your-grandkids cash to a utility infielder, all these different groups have mixed for a meager handful of minor league signings and fliers on bullpen arms.
Properly, the Dodgers are nonetheless on monitor to return in beneath their payroll from final season. For that matter, they’re on monitor to return in beneath the Mets’ payroll from final season. It may not keep that manner, particularly if Juan Soto develops a hankering for tacos and climbing, however the Dodgers aren’t presently doing something unprecedented when it comes to spending.
And this can be a good place for them to spend, as a result of Edman fills a place of want. “What place is that?” I hear you asking. Precisely. Regardless of the place, Edman can fill it.
Supervisor Dave Roberts isn’t precisely the inveterate lineup fidgeter he was just a few years in the past, however he does wish to play matchups greater than most. And the Dodgers’ entrance workplace has constructed a roster that allows him to take action. Prioritizing flexibility is what made Taylor so precious to the Dodgers within the first place, and led to a number of rounds of pelvic buddy-bumping with Enrique Hernández. That’s the way you get Mookie Betts at second base, Max Muncy at second base, Trea Turner at second base, Betts at shortstop, Gavin Lux in middle area… the record goes on.
This, though the presence of Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman makes this continuous matchup-seeking and injury-proofing and lineup-reshuffling troublesome. The Dodgers aren’t the one workforce with a full-time DH and a franchise first baseman. You don’t need to look too far down the Nationwide League pecking order to seek out Phillies and Braves groups with the identical subject. However whilst you wouldn’t need to have Kyle Schwarber or Marcell Ozuna within the outfield frequently, I’m moderately assured that each of them personal a mitt and will use it in a sport if want be. I’m much less assured about Ohtani in that respect.
Absent these two positions to park an all-bat, no-glove platoon participant, the Dodgers need to get inventive. Edman provides them the flexibility to separate a platoon throughout positions. He’s a switch-hitter, and whereas he has a big platoon cut up — 124 profession wRC+ towards lefties, 92 wRC+ towards righties — he’s playable towards any kind of pitcher. And since he can hack it at six positions (he’s barely performed left area in his profession, however I assume, based mostly on his capability to play middle and proper area, that he might transfer to the opposite nook with out struggling debilitating vertigo), he might caddy for, theoretically, a left-handed outfielder and a right-handed shortstop.
Once more, that is well-covered floor for Roberts and the Dodgers. Keep in mind the pseudo-platoon of Betts and Jason Heyward? Edman supplies one other alternative to do extra of that.
There’s a way on the market that it’s vulgar or ignoble to be as wealthy because the Dodgers are. That it’s extra honorable someway to play on exhausting mode, with an $80 million payroll, as a result of it forces the GM and the supervisor to be inventive. Poppycock, I say. You may have each. Being wealthy allowed the Dodgers to increase Edman, and protecting Edman permits them to be extra inventive.
