Dodgers Slammed By Rival NL West Owner in Wild Rant

Oct 20, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman (left) and chief executive officer Stan Kasten (right) celebrate on the podium after the win against the New York Mets in game six of the NLCS to advance to the World Series in the 2024 MLB playoffs at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Dodgers' aggressive pursuit of talent this offseason left many baseball fans groaning and grumbling — the defending champions' success apparently had the same effect on some baseball owners.

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Colorado Rockies owner Dick Monfort slammed the Dodgers for ruining baseball, and making the game unfair. It's important to note the Rockies have never won the NL West and have one of the lowest payrolls in Major League Baseball.

“The Dodgers are the greatest poster children we could've had for how something has to change,” said Monfort.

“Sports are supposed to have some sort of fairness, right? There’s got to be some purity.”

Monfort slammed MLB for being unregulated and called for a salary cap and floor.

“Something’s got to happen. The competitive imbalance in baseball has gotten to the point of ludicrosity now. It’s an unregulated industry,” Monfort told The Denver Gazette.

“The only way to fix baseball is to do a salary cap and a floor. With a cap, comes a floor. For a lot of teams, the question is: How do they get to the floor? And that includes us, probably. But on some sort of revenue-split deal, I would be all-in.”

Earlier this offseason, former Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly explained why a salary cap in MLB isn't such a great idea on the Baseball Isn't Boring podcast.

“Let’s say Shohei Ohtani could only make $10,” Kelly said, via the Baseball Isn't Boring podcast. “The whole entire league could pay Shohei Ohtani $10. He is coming from Japan. Growing up, watching movies – and if you just do a quick Google search, ‘best places to visit when you’re going to America’ – Minnesota is not popping up, Pittsburgh is not popping up, Milwaukee is not popping up.

“Why the f--- would he be like, ‘oh, I’m going to make $10 in Milwaukee.’ That’s the problem with the (salary) floor and the (salary) cap that people don’t understand,” Kelly continued. “Even if every team could pay him $10, he’s going to go to the team, number 1, which is a great destination to be at. Number 2, you have to show him what separates (your team) at that point.”

Monfort's efforts appear to be misplaced. Rather than critique the Dodgers for their efforts to improve, he should ponder whether his same old ways are what's best for the Rockies organization, especially since the team is in baseball's best division.

The San Diego Padres, for example, are a small-market team but have managed to stay competitive in recent years. The discourse should be reverted to the owners of struggling teams, because the narrative that the Dodgers are ruining baseball is a tired one.

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