Looming Payroll Concerns?

Let's do the math nobody wants to do.

The Dodgers carry an effective CBT payroll above $325M this year. We have deferred roughly $1.05B in future obligations to current and recent stars (Ohtani, Betts, Freeman, Snell, Yamamoto). That's not a typo. One. Billion. Dollars. Deferred.

None of that is illegal. None of it violates the CBT structure. And the present-value discount makes the deals look reasonable on paper. But the obligation is real, and the years it has to be paid back are the years we will also have to extend Will Smith, decide on a Buehler reunion, and replace an aging rotation.

I love that this front office is willing to push the envelope. I also think we are one bad year — one Ohtani injury, one TV deal renegotiation — away from the kind of squeeze that took a decade to climb out of last time. The room to maneuver is smaller than it looks.

Just something to watch.