Dodgers Hit With Another Luxury Tax Penalty for Last Season
In the olden days of Dodger baseball -- i.e. just last year -- the Dodgers were viewed as pretty free spenders. A far cry from what things are looking like this year as we get closer to the start of spring training. Still, the team spent all that money in 2022 and now they're getting dinged for it.
The final luxury tax numbers came out this week and the Dodgers ended up being hit with a $32.4 million luxury tax charge. 2022 was the second season in a row being hit with such a number. With all the All-Stars on the team and bringing on Freddie Freeman from the Braves, this comes as no surprise last season's team would exceed the threshold.
The Dodgers' plans are to avoid it for a third season in a row, but something to point out is the team got hit with a higher penalty percentage wise due to it happening for multiple years in a row (via ESPN).
The Dodgers, assessed at a higher rate because they exceeded the threshold for the second straight year, owe $32.4 million on a luxury tax payroll of $293.3 million. That was down slightly from their $32.6 million penalty for 2021.
Despite the large amounts of money generated among MLB teams, this high of a luxury tax is not fun for any business. The league wants to try to keep it fair for the smaller market teams but the Dodgers will find a way to put talent on the field.
The only question now is how will the Dodgers get below the luxury tax next season? With the Dodgers being linked to some top potential trade targets prior to the deadline, the pressure is on to see if the team will remain content once more or if they will be willing to go through this whole process again for proven talent.
