Dodgers End Up Spending Lots Of Money Today!

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

It’s July 2nd, which means that the Dodgers just bought a ton of prospects, and prospects are exciting, fun, and interesting! Reports have said that the industry was bracing itself for a Dodgers splash since at least March, and of course we should have expected this, it was the reason that Yoan Moncada isn’t a Dodger (especially considering the fact that he was offered more money to wait until this date to sign as opposed to when he did).
Yadier Alvarez, who might slot in some top 100 prospect lists by the end of the season, was given a massive 16 million dollar bonus to join the club.

He reportedly throws 92-98 miles per hour and maxes out at 99. He popped up at a Hector Olivera workout a couple of months ago and immediately caught the baseball world’s attention. Considering the overage tax, the Dodgers are spending 32 million dollars on his big right arm.

They also spent a pretty penny on Dominican prospects Starling Heredia and Ronny Brito, Heredia costing the team 2.6 million and Brito getting a 2 million dollar bonus. Heredia has been called the best player in the class and a good get for a farm system that

Heredia has been called the best player in this class by some, and is nicknamed “The Pitbull” so i’m sold on this dude, Dustin Nosler is sold on his swing mechanics and looks to be more of an advanced prospect than most of these players, which matters a ton when evaluating and scouting these players

"I might be all-in on this guy. His swing, like his body type, is really advanced for his age. You don’t see many 16-year-olds who have that kind of leg kick, bat speed and power potential. If the Dodgers need to go to $3.5-4 million (or even a little higher), I’m thinking it’d be well worth it (seeing as they’re planning to go really big anyway)."

The bonus figure that he ended up signing for is a lower than was rumored, but the scouting report and tools are there for him to progress through the system, and as for Brito? He’s drawn comparisons to 18 year old J.P. Crawford from some scouts, and has a high floor, defensively.

These 3 are the only players who’ve signed for 7 figure bonuses (combined 20.6 million dollars before taxes are calculated), but the Dodgers also signed Dominican SS, Oneal Cruz for $950,000 along with Dominican OF, Christopher Arias for $500,000.

Needless to say, this is really great news, the infusion of talent in the system is significant, and while some (Yadier Alvarez) are better bets to play in the big leagues than others (everybody else), the money involved in this signing period is absolutely huge. Consider that in prior seasons, the Dodgers would pick one 7 figure prospect out of the bunch, and fill out the rest of their July 2nd class with whatever else they could get with the bonus money (Tirado, Lucas). This would be like signing Brito and a bunch of teenagers for $5,000 just to fill out the Summer league roster. Or it’d be like signing Cruz, Arias, and a few other 6 figure guys and hoping that one of them pan out. Now, by totally blowing the cap off the spending limit ($2,020,300) and incurring penalties,they get Brito AND Heredia AND Cruz AND Arias, and oh by the way, the most hyped pitcher on the market who would have been a first round pick had be been in last month’s first player draft.

Also not for nothing, the Dodgers flexed their financial muscle to buy 2 prospects from the Blue Jays in exchange for international bonus money that they’re clearly not going to use. Chase DeJong has a 3.13 ERA in Low A ball mixed with 86 strikeouts, while it’s only the Midwest League, a 4.28 K/BB isn’t anything to sneeze at. The other acquired player, Timothy Locastro has experienced some success, posting a 149 wRC+ in the Midwest League (a pitchers haven).

They didn’t get Lucius Fox, and they haven’t signed Eddy Martinez quite yet, but this flurry of money taking them way over their bonus pool, along with the fact that they might have the most money in the entire game, along with the fact that big name clubs like the Angels, Yankees, and Red Sox cannot give out 7 figure bonuses places the Dodgers as the favorites for every single player who defects or becomes eligible through the international amateur rules until this time next year.

It’s not everyday that a team pays out 42 million dollars to acquire a bunch of prospects and July 2nd wasn’t normally this big of a deal, but the way things are going, there will be an international draft at some point, and big market teams should take advantage of every potential advantage they have. The odds that the Dodgers increased their farm system are certain, and that is a huge win after passing on Yoan Moncada this past Spring.