Inside The Dodgers

Dodgers Hit With Another Luxury Tax Penalty for Last Season

The Dodgers were also hit with another reason to not make any big offseason moves

Ryan Menzie

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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. 

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Ryan Menzie
RYAN MENZIE

Ryan Menzie | Lead Contributor Ryan is an LA Native who has grown up praising the greatest athletes LA has had to offer. A love for sports ranging between basketball, football, volleyball and golf, a future Sports Management Masters graduate, and being engulfed into organized sports since seven years old, the passion and love for sports never ends for Ryan. If the words he writes don't paint the full picture of his true fandom, he will find more ways than one to tell the story and be more than willing to open up a nice LA sports debate with you. Favorite Player: Mookie Betts Favorite Moment: 2020 World Series. The Lakers won the NBA title and the Dodgers secured the World Series only a couple of months later. During such a rough time with COVID-19 and such a bleak look at how sports has tried to overcome the circumstances, it was a relief to see the night sky lit up for many nights and a makeshift parade in LA when it seemed like we needed it the most.

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