There has been a lot of internet chatter about whether the high-flying Los Angeles Dodgers are good for the game, after they completed another blockbuster financial deal to acquire free-agent slugger Kyle Tucker. This transaction comes after the 2025 World Series champion had previously unloaded the Brinks truck to get Shohei Ohtani, Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki, and others over the past few years.

Of course, if you ask Dodgers fans, they believe what their team is doing in assembling a superstar roster is the best thing that has happened to a franchise since the New York Yankees paid handsomely to acquire Babe Ruth from the Boston Red Sox in 1920.

But what about the rest of the baseball community? What do they think?

The most common theme among other fans and baseball pundits is that “the rich get richer.”  he Dodgers are the “Yankees of the 1970s and 1980s,” when controversial owner George Steinbrenner was practically buying every all-star free agent that came on the market. Rightfully, there is a concern that competitive imbalance is occurring across both leagues.

Furthermore, the Dodgers’ contract with Ohtani and now the Tucker deal highlight a bigger concern for the long-term financial health of baseball.

There is a growing gap in the salaries between the superstars like Ohtani and Tucker and the rest of the players. Major League Baseball Players’ Association is worried that mid-tier veterans are being squeezed out with declining length of contracts and lower AAVs (Average Annual Values). Younger players who excel are often underpaid prior to their being eligible for salary arbitration and free agency.

The owners are concerned that spending is out of control. They are pushing for hard salary caps (whereas the current Competitive Balance Tax is essentially a soft cap), while MLBPA wants a payroll floor and a higher CBT threshold.

The current Collective Bargaining Agreement ends in December 2026. Unless there is some type of meeting of the minds between the owners and MLBPA before then, these current labor tensions could come to a head with an owner work stoppage or a player strike for the 2027 season.

The Dodgers are seen as the “bad guys,” but the reality is they are operating within MLB’s current policies and rules. They are using financial engineering strategies, like signing bonuses and deferred salaries, to lessen the impact of the payroll luxury tax. Yet they still paid over $160M in luxury tax for 2025. That is more than the entire payroll of several of the smaller-market teams. (The Yankees, Phillies, and Mets, also exceed the CBT amount, but not nearly to the same extent as the Dodgers.)

Dodgers president Andrew Friedman was general manager for the Tampa Bay Rays where he built winning teams without a huge salary budget. Baseball analysts used to wonder then, “Just imagine what Friedman could do with a larger budget.” Well, he is showing that with the Dodgers who seemingly have an unlimited bank account. Under Friedman, the Dodgers have won three world championships in the last six years.

The Dodgers are willing to shell out the big bucks to win their third consecutive World Series. They want to capitalize on the existing roster that can win again next year, not two or three years from now. Adding Tucker and top relief pitcher Edwin Diaz helps ensure they get there.