The Evil Empire 2.0?
Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes wasn’t buying the narrative around his team turning into a baseball superteam and that it was bad for the sport during an appearance on “The Show: A NY Post baseball podcast with Joel Sherman & Jon Heyman.”
After winning a World Series title last season, the Dodgers continued to bolster their roster, adding a number of high-priced free agents with partially deferred salaries as the organization searches for another championship.
It’s given off vibes of the early-1990s Yankees, who paid top dollar for free agents and won World Series in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000 en route to late Red Sox executive Larry Lucchino labeling the rival franchise the “Evil Empire” in 2002.
But Gomes pushed back on the idea that what the team is doing is bad and made the case that even with all the investment this offseason, the Dodgers aren’t guaranteed to win anything.
“We are focused on and tasked with making sure our team is as good as possible,” Gomes said. “If that is creating ire elsewhere, that’s fine, because I think that means our fans are very happy, which is what the goal is. I think the nature of our sport, the nature of the playoff format, you can be technically the best team and it doesn’t guarantee you anything.
“All we’re doing is making sure that we have as talented a team as possible.”
Gomes has added to an already impressive roster that features one of the game’s biggest stars, Shohei Ohtani, along with Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.
The Dodgers added top starting pitchers Blake Snell ($182 million) and Roki Sasaki (international free agent) and the top reliever on the free agent market in Tanner Scott ($72 million) — just to name a few — this offseason.
This is after Ohtani got a $700 million deal last offseason, which features $680 million in deferrals, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto got $325 million.
Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes joins “The Show” with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman.
Gomes contended the Dodgers are having such a freewheeling offseason so that they can avoid having to be too active during the trade deadline in the middle of the season.
“If we have to, we will,” Gomes said. “But the goal is to be like, ‘Hey, this team is good enough as is to go out and make a deep run into the playoffs.’ ”
He also told Sherman and Heyman that he hadn’t had other people from the league come up to him to express concern over what Los Angeles was doing.
Brandon Gomes hands a baseball cap to Blake Snell with Andrew Friedman during a press conference introducing Snell as a Los Angeles Dodger at Dodger Stadium on December 03, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Getty Images
L-R; Los Angeles Dodgers President & CEO Stan Kasten, General Manager Brandon Gomes, President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman, pitcher Roki Sasaki (11) during a press conference at Dodger Stadium. Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn ImagesThe conversation surrounding the Dodgers’ big offseason isn’t likely to subside with LA being one of the World Series favorites going into next season.
Baseball’s offseason is beginning to wind down and pitchers and catchers reporting is merely a matter of weeks away.
