It’s at all times good when one thing works out completely, instantly. On the commerce deadline, the Dodgers insinuated themselves right into a three-way take care of 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 harm, was of little use to the Cardinals and 0 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 Collection run. He began video games at each heart discipline and shortstop, hit .328/.354/.508 with 5 stolen bases in 16 appearances, and went residence with NLCS MVP honors.
So that you’d perceive why either side would need to run it again. On Friday evening, 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, price $9.5 million. Ought to this partnership proceed to bear fruit by way of the top of the last decade, the Dodgers have a $13 million membership possibility for 2030 as nicely.
I don’t suppose anybody may argue that Edman is a helpful and worthwhile 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 discipline, and heart discipline in his profession. He’s good all over the place however not otherworldly wherever.
Offensively, Edman is merely respectable. His profession excessive in residence 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 footwear 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 have to be stopped!
Nicely, it’s not fairly that easy. Initially, this can be a Dodgers contract, so the sticker worth is decrease due to (holds arms 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 fee,” says the real-world worth of Edman’s contract is definitely a hair underneath $13.1 million per 12 months, moderately than the $14.4 million that you simply get once you divide 72 by 5.
Then again, the Dodgers already owed Edman $9.5 million for 2024, in order that they’re extending their dedication to Edman by 4 years and roughly $56.6 million, factoring in deferrals. So you possibly 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 approach, 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 figuring out 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 concerning 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 up 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 worthwhile as the present document contract; the document 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 lots of the sticker shock over the Edman deal has little to do with the going fee for a utility participant. This may appear like some huge cash — I imply, let’s be actual, it is some huge cash — but it surely’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 believe that if Edman had signed this contract throughout the Winter Conferences, or in spring coaching, or the day after the World Collection, no one would’ve cared. However it’s the second-biggest contract of the offseason, and the one splashier deal that’s been disbursed to this point 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 huge payroll groups you need to add in right here. The Blue Jays? The Cubs? The Diamondbacks? Doesn’t matter. Both approach, 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.
Nicely, the Dodgers are nonetheless on monitor to come back in underneath their payroll from final season. For that matter, they’re on monitor to come back in underneath the Mets’ payroll from final season. It won’t keep that approach, particularly if Juan Soto develops a hankering for tacos and mountaineering, however the Dodgers aren’t at present 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 a number of years in the past, however he does wish to play matchups greater than most. And the Dodgers’ entrance workplace has constructed a roster that permits him to take action. Prioritizing flexibility is what made Taylor so worthwhile 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 heart discipline… the record goes on.
This, although 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 crew 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 problem. However when you wouldn’t need to have Kyle Schwarber or Marcell Ozuna within the outfield usually, 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 offers them the power to separate a platoon throughout positions. He’s a switch-hitter, and whereas he has a major platoon break up — 124 profession wRC+ in opposition to lefties, 92 wRC+ in opposition to righties — he’s playable in opposition to any kind of pitcher. And since he can hack it at six positions (he’s barely performed left discipline in his profession, however I assume, based mostly on his skill to play heart and proper discipline, that he may transfer to the opposite nook with out struggling debilitating vertigo), he may 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 arduous mode, with an $80 million payroll, as a result of it forces the GM and the supervisor to be inventive. Poppycock, I say. You possibly can have each. Being wealthy allowed the Dodgers to increase Edman, and preserving Edman permits them to be extra inventive.