Dodgers Dugout: Are the Dodgers ruining baseball?

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell and the staff mathematician is off this week, but I believe the Dodgers payroll next season will be $2 trillion.

Well, the Dodgers made two more big signings since last we spoke. Let’s take a look:

—Dodgers sign Roki Sasaki for a $6.5-million signing bonus.

Because he is under 25 (Sasaki is 23), MLB international signing rules limited him to taking a minor-league contract just like Shohei Ohtani‘s deal with the Angels before he left to sign for the Dodgers.

In four seasons in Japan, Sasaki has a 2.10 earned-run average in 394 2/3 innings, giving up 265 hits and striking out 505 while walking 88. In other words, he has been a dominant force.

If he had waited until he turned 25, he would have been considered a professional, and could have signed for any amount of money, such as Yoshinobu Yamamoto did before last season. But Sasaki has apparently always dreamed of pitching in MLB and didn’t want to wait. He will now be under Dodger control for six seasons and could be paid the major league minimum until he is eligible for arbitration in a couple of years, just like any player coming from the minors.

The downside to Sasaki is, and stop me if you’ve heard this before, durability. He pitched only 111 innings last season and had a torn oblique plus shoulder fatigue near the end of the season. But, as we know, the days of MLB pitchers going nine innings, heck, even seven innings, are well behind us. And with the Dodgers going with a six-man rotation next season, and with a plethora of starters, they don’t need guys to pitch 200 innings a season. Welcome to the new world order.

Let’s take a look at pitchers who should or could get some starts next season:

Tyler Glasnow
Clayton Kershaw (yes, I am assuming they re-sign him)
Landon Knack
Dustin May
Bobby Miller
Shohei Ohtani
Roki Sasaki
Blake Snell
Justin Wrobleski
Yoshinobu Yamamoto

Seems like a lot of starting pitchers, but they had a lot of them last season and needed every one of them because of injuries. And that doesn’t include guys such as Gavin Stone, who will miss next season because of surgery.

And then, just when fans of every other time were beginning to quell their anger of the Dodgers signing Sasaki, this happened:

—Dodgers sign left-handed reliever Tanner Scott for four years, $72 million. Yes, there is deferred money ($21 million).

Scott has been a dominant reliever the past couple of seasons, with a 2.04 ERA in 150 innings, giving up 98 hits and striking out 188 while walking 60. This feels like a slight overpay, until you consider that it means the Dodgers won’t have to face Scott late in the game anymore. Scott pitched for the Padres last season and owned Ohtani in the postseason, striking him out four times while pitching three scoreless innings against them. He also will provide some help to Alex Vesia, who was usually the only prominent left-hander in the bullpen last season.

This makes for a Dodgers bullpen that contains these pitchers:

Anthony Banda
Ryan Brasier
Michael Kopech
Evan Phillips
Tanner Scott
Blake Treinen
Alex Vesia

That’s a pretty good bullpen. They could drop May into the bullpen, or some other person not in the rotation at the moment. They could bring back Joe Kelly, and there are plenty of other candidates on the 40-man roster.

These two signings should pretty much conclude the Dodgers’ offseason moves. Except for the signing of Kershaw, of course. Unless they trade Chris Taylor, I don’t see a spot for Kiké Hernández, but anything can happen.

The reaction

What was a low boil among many baseball fans when the Sasaki signing was announced became full apoplexy when the Scott agreement was announced. The Dodgers are ruining baseball!

When the Dodgers fell behind the Padres, two games to one, in the NLDS last season, some of the same people complaining now were saying the Dodgers are a bunch of choke artists. Now, the Dodgers win a World Series and suddenly they are ruining the sport? The cry is it’s not fair that one team can be so dominant and that it hurts the sport overall. The little guy doesn’t stand a chance! Free agency has ruined everything! A sport can’t survive unless everyone has a chance to win!

Well, the most popular sport in the U.S. is football. Let’s take a look at how many different teams have won the Super Bowl since 2001: 13. That includes the last two by the Kansas City Chiefs, who just clinched their seventh consecutive AFC championship game and could become the first team to win three straight Super Bowls. Yet, the Chiefs draw big TV ratings, and you don’t hear nearly as many NFL fans complain about how unfair it is that the Chiefs are a dominant team.

How many different teams have won the World Series since 2001? 16. More diverse than football.

But I hear some saying “Yeah, but the NFL has a salary cap, while the Dodgers can just spend whatever they want.” And that’s true. The Dodgers also have to pay major financial penalties each year because they are above the payroll threshold. That money gets redistributed to the other teams. And do you know what some of the owners of those small-market teams do with that cash? Pocket it. They don’t use it to invest and make their teams better. The ones that do invest it, such as Tampa Bay, usually find themselves in the postseason often. The Rays were in the 2020 World Series.

Is it easier for the Dodgers to put together a postseason team every year? Without a doubt. And if I grew up in Pittsburgh, perhaps I’d have a different take on this, but I’d like to think I’d also be mad at my team’s ownership for not doing everything possible to make the postseason with the tools they have available. Scouting, drafting, international signings. Smart trades. Smart free agent signings. You know, things the Dodgers also do.

So, get mad at the rules, get mad at the owners who don’t invest in their teams. But you can’t really get mad at the Dodgers for playing within the rules.

I get a lot of emails from people who talk about their favorite era of baseball, and it’s usually when Mickey Mantle patrolled center field for the Yankees, or when Sandy Koufax was on the mound for the Dodgers. Guess what? The Yankees won the World Series or were in it almost every year when Mantle was playing (he played in 18 seasons and played in 12 World Series). And when Koufax became dominant, the Dodgers made the World Series in 1963, 1965 and 1966, winning the first two of those. They also won in 1959 and just missed making it in 1962. The Dodgers and the Yankees played each other in the World Series three times between 1977 and 1981. But no one said how terrible it was that the same two teams are there seemingly every year.

Also, keep in mind, other teams had more international bonus pool money they could offer Sasaki. He turned them down and took less money to sign with the Dodgers. So, the Dodgers didn’t exactly throw money at that problem.

So, is the system perfect? No. And it seems probable that changes will be made when the collective bargaining agreement is up for renewal in a couple of years. And if you’ve followed baseball for any length of time, you know not to save a space at the 2025 Dodgers World Series victory parade. Because while many unhappy people will point to last season and say “See! It’s unfair!,” Dodgers fans can point to 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023 and say, “See what?”

Dodgers Dugout Dodgers Hall of Fame

We are a week into our annual Hall of Fame voting, and right now it appears only one person will be elected this time. But there’s still plenty of time to vote.

The way it works: Below you will see a list of candidates divided into two groups, players and non-players.

In the players’ category, you can vote for up to 12 players. You don’t have to vote for 12, you can vote for any number up to and including 12. Your vote should depend on what the player did on and off the field only as a Dodger. The rest of his career doesn’t count, which is why you won’t see someone such as Frank Robinson listed. And you can consider the entirety of his Dodgers career. For example, Manny Mota was a good player and has spent years as a Dodgers coach and a humanitarian. You can consider all of that when you vote. And remember this is the Dodgers Hall of Fame, so there might be some people considerably worthy of being in a Dodgers Hall of Fame who fall short of the Baseball Hall of Fame in your mind.

In the non-players category, you can vote for up to four.

Whoever is named on at least 75% of the ballots will be elected. The 12 people receiving the fewest votes will be dropped from future ballots for at least the next two years. Active players or active non-players are not eligible.

How do you vote? For the players ballot, click here. For the non-players ballot, click here. Or you can email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. You have until Feb. 1 to vote. Results will be announced soon after that.

I tried to compile a ballot that had players representing each era of Dodgers baseball. I’m sure there’s a player or two you think should have been on the ballot. Send that player’s name along and he might be included in next year’s ballot.

Here is the ballot without comments. The see the ballot with a brief bio of each player, you can read last week’s newsletter by clicking here.

Players (vote for no more than 12)

Dusty Baker
Adrián Beltré
Ron Cey
*Billy Cox
Tommy Davis
Willie Davis
Carl Erskine
Andre Ethier
Carl Furillo
Eric Gagné
Steve Garvey
Kirk Gibson
Jim Gilliam
Pedro Guerrero
Tommy John
Eric Karros
*Cookie Lavagetto
*Jim Lefebvre
Davey Lopes
Manny Mota
Don Newcombe
Mike Piazza
Johnny Podres
John Roseboro
Bill Russell
*Steve Sax
Mike Scioscia
*Casey Stengel
Don Sutton
Dazzy Vance
Zack Wheat
Steve Yeager

Non-players (vote for no more than four)

*Red Adams
Red Barber
*Monty Basgall
Buzzie Bavasi
*Ned Colletti
Helen Dell
Jerry Doggett
Leo Durocher
*Rick Honeycutt
Jaime Jarrín
Peter O’Malley
Ross Porter

*-new to the ballot

How do you vote? For the players, Vote here. For non-players, click here, or you can email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com with your choices, in any order (up to 12 players and up to four non-players). You have until Feb. 1 to vote. Results will be announced soon after that.

Thanks for reading and taking part.

The Carl Erskine problem

Unfortunately, the doofus who put together the ballot (editor’s note: the newsletter author put together the ballot) forgot to include Carl Erskine in the actual ballot. So, we are holding a separate ballot for Erskine. I will rerun the original bio for him that ran last week:

Carl Erskine (1948 to 1959, 122-78, 4.00 ERA): “Oisk” is what he was called, and “Oisk” was known for his big overhand curve. But what I love about Erskine is he became a staunch supporter of Jackie Robinson from the day Erskine joined the team as a rookie in 1948, one year after Robinson broke the color barrier. At one point during the 1948 season, Erskine left the clubhouse after a game to talk to Rachel Robinson and Jackie Robinson Jr. Fans filed by and stared at this white man talking to these two Black people. Some didn’t care. Some were taken aback. Some shook their head. The next day, Jackie came up to Erskine and thanked him for talking to his family in the open, which was quite a thing for a rookie to do in those days. He said, “You know, you stopped out there in front of all those fans and talked with Rachel and little Jack.” Erskine replied, “Hey Jackie, you can congratulate me on a well-pitched game, but not for that.” In 2005, he wrote a book titled “What I Learned From Jackie Robinson.”

Please vote on whether you think Carl Erskine belongs in this Hall of Fame by clicking here. If he gets a yes vote of at least 75%, he will be inducted. Thank you, and I apologize for the error.

Farewell, Jeff Torborg

Just wanted to note the passing of former Dodger catcher Jeff Torborg, who was behind the plate for three no-hitters, the first with Koufax for the perfect game against the Chicago Cubs in 1965. In 1970, Torborg was catching when Bill Singer no-hit Philadelphia. In 1973, Torborg, then with the Angels, caught the first of Nolan Ryan’s record seven no-hitters in a game against Kansas City.

Torborg hit .214 in seven seasons with the Dodgers before his contract was purchased by the Angels just before the 1971 season. He went on the manage for a handful of teams, having his biggest success with the Chicago White Sox.

“RIP Jeff Torborg!” former White Sox slugger and Hall of Famer Frank Thomas said on X. “You were my first big league manager and I enjoyed playing for you. You gave me a chance to shine right away and I’m very thankful. God Bless the Torborg family.”

Fire relief

Several Dodgers have pitched in to help those who were devastated by the recent wildfires in the L.A. area.

Shohei Ohtani donated $500,000 to the relief efforts, with the money going to helping firefighters, people who lost their homes and animals in need of assistance.

Freddie Freeman and his wife, Chelsea, donated $300,000 to relief efforts, with $100,000 each going to the Los Angeles Fire Department, the Pasadena Fire Department and the Salvation Army.

Chris Taylor‘s CT3 Foundation said it would match donations up to $5,000 to help with fire relief efforts.

The Justin Turner Foundation is matching donations to Dream Center LA’s fire relief fundraiser up to $100,000.

In case you missed it

Jeff Torborg, Dodger who caught Sandy Koufax’s perfect game before managerial career, dies at 83

Dodgers agree to terms with left-hander Tanner Scott in another splashy offseason signing

Before Roki Sasaki’s posting, MLB found no evidence of handshake deal with Dodgers

Roki Sasaki signing takeaways: How much will he make? How good could Dodgers rotation be?

Shaikin: Roki Sasaki is a Dodger. Here’s why it’s a great day for baseball

Hernández: By joining Dodgers, Roki Sasaki prioritizes development over being a team’s top star

And finally

Fernando Valenzuela throws a complete game in the 1981 World Series. Watch and listen here.