The Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani to a massive deal, and have now reportedly agreed to a five-year extension with Tyler Glasnow to officially complete a trade with the Rays to get the righty to top their rotation with Walker Buehler now, and pair with Ohtani in 2025 and beyond.
Add in Ohtani as a DH to Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and the rest, and the Dodgers look like a juggernaut with more salary room for Yoshinobu Yamamoto…but just because they’ve built a super-team doesn’t mean they’ll be one.
“Building super-teams, it doesn't work,” Sal Licata said bluntly Friday, although Brandon Tierney thinks the Dodgers might be a special case.
“I think it does if you keep the core of your team and you've got a championship DNA already, which they do,” BT said. “I think if you just try to have one of these reckless off-seasons you’ve seen in other sports – the Mets tried it back in the day with Eddie Murray and guys like that – and it doesn't necessarily work, I don't think that's really the prudent thing to do.
But if you've already got an incredible talent base, adding to the superteam or taking it a level or two higher is, to me brilliant. I wish our teams were doing that.”
The reason All-Star teams usually work best one day a year?
“You know the ego that's involved here with athletes, and now, if you're a Dodger and you're entrenched, like, I'm sure a lot of them are excited to be teammates with Ohtani, but you're also thinking, 'damn, $700 million?'” Sal said. “And now Glasnow comes in, and let's see if they get Yamamoto – when you’re there and your core is developed and you've established something, and then outsiders come in, no matter what, that changes things.”
The biggest examples of superteams not working versus teamwork working? The 2023 Padres versus the 1996 Yankees.
“The Padres are the most recent prime example of this, that it doesn't work when you're bringing in all this ego,” Sal said. “Look at the ‘96 Yankees and the dynasties – I’m not saying there was no ego, but that was a team of gamers. Of course they had some stars, but it was a team of good ball players. What the Dodgers are doing, just like the Padres tried to do, it doesn't work. It's exciting, and I'm jealous of it, but it doesn't mean that they're gonna win.”