2025-26 Offseason Around the League Thread

[KCBrewerfan34]

Why would a young hitter sign a long term deal now?? If I’m Turang there’s no way I sign a multi year deal when I have a small group of idiot owners paying stupid money.

A cap probably isn’t realistic to get, as a compromise what about taking team control from 6 to 7 or 8 years. 

 

[AKCheesehead]

The Dodgers are like a college power forward dunking on a 7th grader and then flexing about it. 

 

I know how to beat them but it'll obviously never happen.  The way to beat them takes a collective effort.  Everyone Sunday lineup them all year long.  Pitchers, don't hurt yourself trying to win.  Punt the games, all year long, everyone.  Don't let them face true MLB caliber opposition all year long until the playoffs.  Fans, when LAD comes to town, don't buy tickets.  Never happen but it would be hilarious. 

[markedman5]

 

[markedman5]

I have no idea how accurate all this is but ……..seems like I read about it somewhere.

 

[markedman5]

 

[Samurai Bucky]

2 hours ago, nate82 said:

In order for the players to accept this a salary floor would have to be implemented as the owners are not going to share revenue with the players.  A salary floor starting at $100mm in 2028 sounds fair to me and this number would increase based on revenue.  The salary floor couldn't go lower than $100mm and can only increase depending on revenue.  For MLB to lower the floor revenue information would have to be shared to prove the lowering with the players union.  

To add to the argument -- remember that over 50% of all luxury tax (Competitive Balance Tax, or CBT) goes to the players for pensions and benefits.  There is also a $3.5MM off the top for player benefits.  The remaining money goes into the Commission's discretionary pool.  From my friend Copilot:

Under the current MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement:

• A small fixed amount (e.g., the first ~$3.5 million each year) goes to player benefits (e.g., health plans, pensions).

• About 50 % of the remaining CBT revenue goes to player retirement accounts and other benefit plans.

• The other ~50 % of the remaining amount is placed in a Commissioner’s discretionary fund, which is then distributed to non-CBT teams (often small-market/revenue-sharing recipients) based on factors like local revenue growth.

So if you break total CBT receipts down roughly:

1. Player benefits & retirement — a majority of the net proceeds after the fixed first slice.

2. Small-market/under-threshold teams — a share of the remaining CBT via the discretionary fund.

This means players as a whole receive a significant portion of CBT revenue, often more than what small-market clubs receive directly.

There is no way that the players will give up their 3.5M off the top nor the 50% of the luxury tax.  Now, increase the revenue sharing?  Baseball is screwed.

I know two players who were in the minors.  One of them was on track to make it to the majors while the other one needed help.  They both ended up retiring because of heart conditions.  What are they getting from this pool of money?  Zero.  Yes, they never played in the majors, but did participant in the baseball hierarchy.  If a club is going to sign them, I would like to see them get some type of pension package, too.  Since the players have so much money, perhaps they would share a pittance with those who were in the minors?

[markedman5]

I’ve never seen this amount of anger from every fan base that isn’t the Dodgers……not after the Ohtani contract…..or the Soto bidding war that the Mets obviously won…….this is hitting different.

[long ball]

9 minutes ago, markedman5 said:

I’ve never seen this amount of anger from every fan base that isn’t the Dodgers……not after the Ohtani contract…..or the Soto bidding war that the Mets obviously won…….this is hitting different.

The dodgers do feel like a bit of a runaway train 

[tmwiese55]

Of course their TV contract is ridiculous in itself, but they have to be raking in a ton of money from Japan to be able to afford all this and to keep compounding on it more and more.    Great system MLB has in place that no one has any idea on what those numbers are.

Along with what everyone else has said and how an actual cap seems impossible, along with more tax the other move that seems at least feasible is to pool all the TV revenue together and share it. Collectively negotiate it all together then split it, or at least like 50% of it has to go to the pool or something like that. 

[Fear The Chorizo]

One question I have on the deferred money - Do state income taxes on that deferred money depend on where the player lives when it's paid out, or would it be taxed by the state of California irregardless of where the player lives?  

Depending on the answer to that question, I would think the state government of CA would be pretty pissed about how the Dodgers are paying players, too - assuming Ohtani moves to an income tax-free state or back to Japan right after he retires and the $68M annual deferred money starts coming in.  Even if it's ultimately taxed by CA, they're missing out on a pretty large chunk of tax revenue now when, quite frankly, they really need it.

The only solution I can see is MLB taking over all broadcast rights and then sharing it across the league equally.  Big market teams still keep some of their financial advantages, but the funny money gets distributed evenly so mid and small market clubs at least have a prayer of competing on the field.  It's either that, or you put a cap on what local TV revenue can be used to fund player payroll, AND put a tight cap on the percentage of what any player's contract can be deferred.

[Fear The Chorizo]

52 minutes ago, tmwiese55 said:

Of course their TV contract is ridiculous in itself, but they have to be raking in a ton of money from Japan to be able to afford all this and to keep compounding on it more and more.    Great system MLB has in place that no one has any idea on what those numbers are.

Along with what everyone else has said and how an actual cap seems impossible, along with more tax the other move that seems at least feasible is to pool all the TV revenue together and share it. Collectively negotiate it all together then split it, or at least like 50% of it has to go to the pool or something like that. 

They've more or less confirmed that the Dodgers made back the totality of their financial commitment to Ohtani after the 1st season he played with them in overseas marketing revenues.  In terms of individual team revenues that aren't shared, it wouldn't surprise me if the Dodgers bring in more $$ than the bottom 15-20 MLB organizations combined annually - if not more teams. 

[tmwiese55]

13 minutes ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

One question I have on the deferred money - Do state income taxes on that deferred money depend on where the player lives when it's paid out, or would it be taxed by the state of California irregardless of where the player lives?  

Depending on the answer to that question, I would think the state government of CA would be pretty pissed about how the Dodgers are paying players, too - assuming Ohtani moves to an income tax-free state or back to Japan right after he retires and the $68M annual deferred money starts coming in.  Even if it's ultimately taxed by CA, they're missing out on a pretty large chunk of tax revenue now when, quite frankly, they really need it.

The only solution I can see is MLB taking over all broadcast rights and then sharing it across the league equally.  Big market teams still keep some of their financial advantages, but the funny money gets distributed evenly so mid and small market clubs at least have a prayer of competing on the field.  It's either that, or you put a cap on what local TV revenue can be used to fund player payroll, AND put a tight cap on the percentage of what any player's contract can be deferred.

When it happened I think it was stated he would get taxed on where he is when he gets paid. Which will likely be Japan.  Yes, I think state of CA would be getting a bit screwed on it, but Ohtani himself likely wouldn't gain that much if at all because Japan actually taxes their rich people.   Perhaps he could find a way to help himself by setting himself up in TX or something like that, IDK.

[Fear The Chorizo]

 

4 minutes ago, tmwiese55 said:

When it happened I think it was stated he would get taxed on where he is when he gets paid. Which will likely be Japan.  Yes, I think state of CA would be getting a bit screwed on it, but Ohtani himself likely wouldn't gain that much if at all because Japan actually taxes their rich people.   Perhaps he could find a way to help himself by setting himself up in TX or something like that, IDK.

The US taxes their rich people plenty, too....that's a story for another setting though.  I'm guessing Ohtani makes more in endorsements already being taxed in Japan anyways - and it'd be easy for him to find a nice spot in FLA or TX for 10 years before moving back to the motherland if he wanted to.

So yeah, CA is getting screwed on deferred money.

[tmwiese55]

17 minutes ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

 

The US taxes their rich people plenty, too....that's a story for another setting though.  I'm guessing Ohtani makes more in endorsements already being taxed in Japan anyways - and it'd be easy for him to find a nice spot in FLA or TX for 10 years before moving back to the motherland if he wanted to.

So yeah, CA is getting screwed on deferred money.

US generally taxes their rich much less than developed countries was mostly the point. And the ability for rich people to cheat them is much easier in USA, however most of his money being more or less straight income as opposed to investments, stocks, etc hurts his ability to cheat that. And of course getting to a non state income tax state would help that even more. If in CA it probably at least gets it close to the ballpark of Japan. Though he might end up getting a bit screwed and getting taxed in both countries.   The point was just that he wasn't himself cheating or getting out of anything as he likely ends up paying more with less ability to cheat it, and that it would more be CA/USA getting screwed.

[Turning2]

4 hours ago, KCBrewerfan34 said:

A cap probably isn’t realistic to get, as a compromise what about taking team control from 6 to 7 or 8 years. 

 

At first glance, that sounds like a decent solution, especially from the perspective of the pro-salary cap camp. The players would most likely view it as a de-facto salary cap dressed in a different set of clothes. Players entering first time free agency around age 31-32 when some still have a little gas in the tank. Big money teams would still spend crazy $$ for them if that was the only way to buy championships. But it would give the low budget teams more years to try and build a championship team too. If LA, NY, BOS, PHI etc could only load up their rosters with 31-32 year olds who might quickly decline, and had to be more dependent upon trades and farm system development, it might level out the playing field to some degree. 

[tmwiese55]

To get the players to agree you'd have to revamp the arbitration system and pay a heck of a lot.  They're not going to want to move back FA and make it harder to get big paydays.  There's probably is something that could work and it does accomplish some of the goals being discussed here, but they'd have to get paid a lot more in those years of team control than they currently are making in those years.  

Such a scenario probably would also help the more mid range players too as pay skews too much to top level guys now.  That's really the thing I'm surprised the union hasn't tried to address at all recently as money has exploded.  Trying to get more to the mid level guys and even minor leaguers, essentially spreading the wealth a bit rather than consolidated to the few guys who get the mega deals.  You'd think the players would vote for efforts to do so.  

[wallus]

Maybe you have the ability to "Franchise" a player like in the NFL. 

[markedman5]

 

[greenlawler]

Being a Brewers fan during free agency is like being a kid excited for Christmas and getting a really useful belt. Its not flashy or fun, but it keeps the pants up. Problem is that's all it does.

[wibadgers23]

Two years in a row of doing virtually nothing in the offseason.  Of course, it's hard to complain too much because the team has been very good but as a fan, it makes for a very boring period of time.  It's easy to forget too that a lot their moves lately have come in-season (Adames, Priester, Vaughn, etc).

[Thurston Fluff]

21 hours ago, AKCheesehead said:

The Dodgers are like a college power forward dunking on a 7th grader and then flexing about it. 

 

 

That's my feeling on the matter. If I was a Dodger player and won the WS I'd be embarrassed to celebrate. I have no problem with the players going there for the money. It's a job and they have every right to make as much as they can. Just don't act like you did something special when you started out on third base. 

I have a feeling the fans know it too. They won't admit it. They'll rationalize why it's the same as every other team winning it. But deep down they know.

[Fear The Chorizo]

5 hours ago, Thurston Fluff said:

That's my feeling on the matter. If I was a Dodger player and won the WS I'd be embarrassed to celebrate. I have no problem with the players going there for the money. It's a job and they have every right to make as much as they can. Just don't act like you did something special when you started out on third base. 

I have a feeling the fans know it too. They won't admit it. They'll rationalize why it's the same as every other team winning it. But deep down they know.

Exactly - the Dodgers are playing by the set of rules governing the sport...problem is the rules mirror what the warden had set up for the guards against the inmates in The Longest Yard.  They arent fair and need to get changed - and its worth missing as many seasons as it takes to get it right.

[thebruce44]

12 hours ago, Thurston Fluff said:

That's my feeling on the matter. If I was a Dodger player and won the WS I'd be embarrassed to celebrate. I have no problem with the players going there for the money. It's a job and they have every right to make as much as they can. Just don't act like you did something special when you started out on third base. 

I have a feeling the fans know it too. They won't admit it. They'll rationalize why it's the same as every other team winning it. But deep down they know.

I live in LA and they don't look at it this way at all. They aren't competing with the other teams in the 2025 season, they are competing against historically great teams and dynasties. They don't care that it came from financial loop holes as opposed to drafting or however the '27 (do we have to start putting a 19 in front of that soon?) Yankees got so good.

[Turning2]

On 1/16/2026 at 12:59 PM, markedman5 said:

I’ve never seen this amount of anger from every fan base that isn’t the Dodgers……not after the Ohtani contract…..or the Soto bidding war that the Mets obviously won…….this is hitting different.

The Tucker signing may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back, but I doubt it. 

[Thurston Fluff]

11 hours ago, thebruce44 said:

I live in LA and they don't look at it this way at all. They aren't competing with the other teams in the 2025 season, they are competing against historically great teams and dynasties. They don't care that it came from financial loop holes as opposed to drafting or however the '27 (do we have to start putting a 19 in front of that soon?) Yankees got so good.

If they want to be the '27 Yankees fine. They can buy their way to being the Yankees because the Yankees bought their way to being the Yankees. What they can never achieve being historically great like the Big Red Machine because the Big Red Machine didn't buy their way to being the Big Red Machine. All they can accomplish is being this era's evil empire.