Clayton Kershaw. Matt Kemp. Yasiel Puig. Adrian Gonzalez. Zach Greinke. Andre Ethier. Carl Crawford.
These players are the face of the Dodgers organization in 2014. And 2015. And 2016. And 2017. Sure hope you like those guys, because barring a blockbuster trade these players are not going anywhere.
Either is the $150 million total that the Dodgers have committed to their roster of superstars. The commitments even go into 2018, where the only relief the organization will see comes from Crawford's $20 million coming off payroll.
With a luxury tax cap set at $189 million through 2016, that leaves little wiggle-room for the club in the future. Which means hefty fines will be coming in annually on top of the payroll.
In just a few years the Dodgers are looking at their $250 payroll to cost them $375 million. Ouch. Imagine if every dollar you spent came with a 50 percent tax.
Yet, somehow the Dodgers plan on extending Hanley Ramirez, and hope to sign Masahiro Tanaka! Those will both be expensive, long-term contracts, but you can just add it to the tab, no big deal.
The Dodgers' new owners came in with sky-high expectations, and I think it is more than safe to say that they have far exceeded them. In less than three years they have committed to over $750 million in contracts. It's just kind of crazy, and hard to wrap your mind around after living through the McCourt Era.
For now the Dodger roster looks pretty amazing with all of its superstardom and high-dollar deals. But depending on how these players age near the end of their contracts, things could get pretty ugly in Los Angeles.
