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What kind of team would commit $141 million to two closers?

The one that won last year. The one that won this year. The one that plans to win again next year.

“All I have to say to you,” Dodgers owner Mark Walter told fans at the team’s World Series championship celebration last month, “is we’ll be back next year.”

The Dodgers handed Tanner Scott $72 million last winter. It hasn’t worked out. So, on Tuesday, the Dodgers handed Edwin Díaz $69 million.

Read more:Dodgers and Edwin Díaz agree to terms in blockbuster move to shore up bullpen

If the Dodgers are going to be Exhibit A for Walter’s rival owners to cry about how desperately they need a salary cap, bring it on. If Walter’s rival owners demand that players be locked out next winter and not be allowed back until they relent and accept a salary cap, well, bring that on too.

There is a sentence players are taught to utter: “I can’t worry about what I can’t control.” The Díaz signing is basically the Dodgers’ ownership saying the same thing: “We can’t worry about other owners pointing their fingers at us. We’re here to win. If the rules change, then we’ll worry about that.”

Or maybe not.

“Honestly, I think that we have an organization that, whatever rules or regulations or constructs are put in front of us,’’ Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters Monday, “we're going to dominate.”

In what they call their golden age, the Dodgers are chasing history. No team had won back-to-back championships in 25 years. Next up: tying the major league record of 14 consecutive postseason appearances, and becoming the first National League team to win the World Series in three consecutive years.

“What’s better than two?” Roberts hollered at the World Series celebration. “Three! Three-peat! Three-peat! Let’s go!”

It ain’t bragging if you can back it up. For the first time in what will be his third season with the Dodgers — and after winning consecutive most valuable player awards — Shohei Ohtani should be available to pitch and hit for the entire season.

“I’m ready to get another ring next year,” Ohtani said at the celebration.

Mookie Betts, the only active player to win four championships, will come off a Gold Glove-nominated year in his first full season at shortstop and, presumably, will not have to fight off an illness like the one that derailed his strength and hampered his offense at the start of last season.

“I got four,” Betts told the celebration crowd. “Now it’s time to fill the hand all the way up, baby. ‘Three-peat’ ain’t never sounded so sweet. Somebody make that a T-shirt.”

Roberts stirred some conversation last week when he told the Amazon Prime show “Good Sports” that he would support a salary cap.

“You know what? I’m all right with that,” Roberts said. “I think the NBA has done a nice job of revenue sharing with the players and the owners. But if you’re going to suppress spending at the top, I think that you’ve got to raise the floor, to make those bottom-feeders spend money, too.”

The owners of those bottom-feeders ought to be aware of that, because they would have to spend, and they would not be able to point their finger at the Dodgers. The owners, after all, are pitching a salary cap to the public as a cure for competitive balance.

The Dodgers would welcome that challenge. A salary cap would limit salaries, but it would not limit spending on coaching, analytics, biometrics, facilities, nutrition, team planes, and other areas in which the Dodgers’ owners have earned championship rewards for their significant investments.

For now, though, the Dodgers needed a closer. The Dodgers got the best one available in free agency, a guy who has struck out at least one-third of opposing batters in each of his past seven seasons and has limited opponents to a batting average under .200 in each of his past five seasons.

Would the Dodgers like to get younger? Yes. Did they field the oldest group of position players in the majors last year? Yes. Do the Dodgers now have Díaz and Scott for the next three years, and do both turn 32 next year? Also yes.

Read more:Dodgers downplay Teoscar Hernández rumors, continue assessing bullpen options

But, given where both the Dodgers and Major League Baseball are right now, this might be the more pertinent question for the Dodgers: Can Díaz become the first Dodgers reliever to close out a World Series clincher since Steve Howe in 1981? (Orel Hershiser did the honors in 1988, followed by Julio Urias in 2020, Walker Buehler in 2024 and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in 2025.)

If you believed the Dodgers were ruining baseball, then the signing of Díaz will only intensify that. After all, 11 teams did not open last season with a payroll of $141 million — the combined value of the Díaz and Scott contracts.

And, if enough owners believe the Dodgers are ruining baseball, then those owners can find a solution short of a salary cap — or they can set fire to the game, and to the momentum generated by a global superstar leading an internationally popular team, and an internationally popular World Series.

The Dodgers cannot resolve that by themselves. They can act in their best interest, and on Tuesday they did.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

‘We've always wanted him back': Rob Thomson boasts about Kyle Schwarber's return originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

ORLANDO – He’s back. That’s designated hitter Kyle Schwarber.

He’s extended. That’s manager Rob Thomson.

The slugger and the skipper of the Phillies were rewarded early Tuesday morning, Schwarber with a 5-year, $150 million deal and Thomson with an extension through the 2027 season.

Expected to be the first big signing of the MLB Winter Meetings, Schwarber indeed was and now will be with the Phillies through the 3030 season. In his four years in Philadelphia, this year’s National League runner-up has averaged close to 47 home runs and 109 RBI. Schwarber played in all 162 games this past season and posted career-highs with 56 home runs and 132 RBI.

An unquestionable leader in the clubhouse, Schwarber was offered a reported four-year, close to $120 million deal by the Pittsburgh Pirates earlier in the week. The Baltimore Orioles reportedly offered the same deal as the Phillies, but Schwarber decided to stay put. Others that appeared to want the services of the soon-to-be 33-year-old were the New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, and his hometown Cincinnati Reds.

Aside from the home runs and RBI, Schwarber has improved in each of his seasons with the team as an overall hitter. Consider that during his first two campaigns, Schwarber combined for 40 doubles, 241 hits, struck out 415 times and had a .207 batting average. The past two seasons, those numbers have improved to 45 doubles, 287 hits, 394 strikeouts and a .244 average.

“We’ve always wanted him back,” said Thomson. “He’s so different than most of the guys I’ve ever been around because he’s a great player, one, and he knows how to bring the heartbeat of the clubhouse down when things are going rough. Not only the clubhouse but individuals as well. He’s just a huge part of our ball club. (The fans) love him and I really think that he loves playing in Philadelphia. I really do. He does so much in the community, so much in the clubhouse. There’s more to him than there are a lot of guys cause he just brings a lot to a lot of different people.”

 And Schwarber will continue to be until he plays out the last year of this contract at the age of 37. Despite the advanced age, the manager believes that the player who just signed the largest contract for a designated hitter will still be of value.

“I think just his work ethic,” Thomson said. “The body has gotten better over time. He’s in the best shape of his life right now. I don’t think that that’s going to change. He’s so intelligent. He sees the game a little bit different than a lot of other guys. He works at it, watches a lot of film. I think there’s a really good chance that he’s going to maintain this level. This was a really good year for him. I don’t think we can expect this every year. But I still think he’s going to be a high-level performer.”

After a couple of seasons at the leadoff spot, Thomson switched his power-hitter to the two spot, behind leadoff hitter Trea Turner and ahead of Bryce Harper, and it produced the best offensive season for Schwarber. Turner won the National League batting title with a .304 average and 179 hits, while Harper waded through an injury-riddled season posting a .261 average with 27 home runs and 75 RBI.

So, the top third of the lineup is back. Does that mean that Thomson is set on having them in the same spots in the order for the 2026 year? And what if they bring back J.T. Realmuto?

“I’ve got some ideas but I haven’t talked to the players yet, so I don’t want to talk much more about that,” Thomson said. “But I’ve thought long and hard about it.

“There’s going to be some changes even if we sign both those guys back. There’s still going to be some changes. And there might be some change within the lineup as far as the order, which could infuse a little bit of energy. We won 96 games last year, so it’s not like we’re not doing well. We’ve got a good club and no matter what happens we’re still going to have a good club.”

And that is part of the reason Thomson decided to stick around for at least a couple of more seasons. He is only the fourth manager in Major League history to take a team to the playoffs in each of his first four seasons and since taking over in early June of 2022, he has led the team to the second most wins in MLB (346) and second best winning percentage (.580).

“It always comes back, for me, are you having fun, are you enjoying it? Are you getting in somebody’s way? Are you getting in the way of winning? I’m still enjoying it,” said Thomson. “I love the organization. This is the only place I want to go. I don’t want to go anyplace else whenever I’m done because I love the people. And I love the organization from the owner (John Middleton) to Dave (Dombrowski), all our player development people. It’s just a group of people that really come together and want to win baseball games and want to win a championship. And that’s what I love.”

The wheels are still spinning for Dombrowski, Thomson and general manager Preston Mattingly as they not only keep an eye on a potential Realmuto signing, but look for other ways to improve the club. The outfield is of particular interest to the manager.

“I think it can be better, yeah,” said Thomson of the outfield. “We’ve got some ideas and obviously you have to execute those ideas and plans, but I think there’s some good plans in place. Hopefully we can execute it. We can be more productive, but I think the opportunity is there.”

So many plans in place to make sure that somber, tear-filled clubhouse after the season-ending loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Divisional Playoff last season doesn’t return.

“Guys were probably a little bit frustrated that we’ve been there and close and haven’t gotten it done and I think that’s great motivation going into next year,” Thomson said. “I think there’s some frustration there. It was a hard-fought battle. Everybody in that clubhouse felt like last year was the year. So, it was heartbreaking, to tell you the truth.”

Tuesday had to further Thomson a bit from that somber memory with the signing of his foundational player and an extension of his own.

“So far, it’s pretty good. It’s been good,” said Thomson of his Tuesday. “Doing a lot of work in the room up there and trying to figure out where we’re at. It’s one of those things where if you sign this guy, ok, we go this way. If you don’t sign this guy, we’ve got to go that way. As long as you have those plans in place you have to execute it, obviously. But so far, so good.”

NOTES

• Thomson said that he has not spoken to reliever Jose Alvarado, who is back home in Venezuela, but expects the lefty to return to spring training in great shape, as he did last year.
• Thomson said he knows that Harper went through an EBOO procedure to help improve circulation, reduce inflammation, fight infections, support immune function and remove toxins and increase energy, but doesn’t know anything about the procedure.
• Asked about Nick Castellanos, Thomson said: “I haven’t talked to him. I still respect Nick. At the end of the day what he wants to do is play every day and you can’t dog a guy for wanting to play every day.”

Could the Mets be looking to move starter David Peterson?

According to Will Sammon of The Athletic, the left-hander is “generating interest,” and the Mets could look to move him in a “need-for-need” trade, similar to the deal that sent Brandon Nimmo to Texas for Marcus Semien. 

Th 30-year-old Peterson was an All-Star in 2025, but his Mets career has been a story of ups and downs. At his best, Peterson has been a top-of-the-rotation-type pitcher, posting a 2.90 ERA in 2024 while proving to be a strong playoff performer. In five postseason appearances that year, Peterson pitched to a 2.92 ERA while appearing out of the bullpen when needed.

At other times, though, Peterson can lose the strike zone and fail to find consistency on the mound, resulting in a 5.54 ERA in 2021 and a 5.03 ERA in 2023. 

Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns has said that the Mets would like to add starting pitching this offseason, which makes it logical to believe trading Peterson would only happen to fill another need on the roster with proven major league talent. 

The club, of course, also has a crop of young pitching prospects like Nolan McLean, Brandon Sproat, and Jonah Tong, among others, who have already had a taste of big league experience and will be expected to contribute in 2026.

Peterson, who is in his final year of arbitration eligibility, earned $4.6 million last season.