by Tanner Scott, the top reliever on the MLB free agent market, was paid that way.
According to multiple media reports, the former San Diego Padres southpaw has agreed to a four-year, $72 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Scott now joins an ever-deepening Dodgers bullpen.
Scott, traded from the Miami Marlins to the Padres at last summer’s deadline, posted a 2.73 ERA with 31 strikeouts in 26 1/3 innings in the second half with San Diego.
The deal is among the largest ever given to a reliever, with Edwin Díaz’s five-year, $102 million contract with the New York Mets still the high point.
Yahoo Sports ranked the 30-year-old Scott as the 22nd free agent on the market this offseason and the best among available backup players.
Tanner Scott was unbeatable in last year’s MLB playoffs
Using baseball-reference WAR calculations, over the past two years no reliever has been more valuable than Scott at 7.6, more than one win better than runner-up Tyler Holton. Scott posted a 1.75 ERA between the Padres and Marlins last year and seemed unbeatable in the playoffs, striking out seven in five scoreless innings.
Four of those strikeouts came at the expense of Shohei Ohtani.
Scott has a fastball/slider combination from the left side that almost never allows hitters to hit the ball. He had the lowest hard-hit rate among MLB pitchers last year, pitching at least 70 innings, and also missed a lot of bats, with a 32.7% whiff rate.
The big question for him was always whether he could find the attack zone. Scott struggled greatly early in his career when he walked more than six guys per nine innings. Then he became elite when he reduced that number to poor territory. Judging by this contract, the Dodgers are clearly confident that Scott will continue to keep the walks down.
Scott has worked as a closer and setup man since moving forward and is not tied to either role, which is the type of flexibility teams in his price range typically look for. Every MLB prospect knows they need a reliever to shut down lefties and make it difficult for righties to get at least one late inning in the playoffs, and Scott is as good as it gets at that right now.
Dodgers complete ideal offseason, but at what cost?
The Dodgers certainly didn’t rest on their laurels after winning the 2024 World Series this offseason. They were aggressive from the start, signing free-agent starting pitcher Blake Snell to a five-year, $182 million contract in late November. A few days later, they extended the contract with utility Tommy Edman, giving him a five-year, $74 million deal. The following week, they signed outfielder Michael Conforto to a one-year, $17 million contract.
Los Angeles ended 2024 by re-signing outfielder and home run derby champion Teoscar Hernández to a three-year deal worth $66 million, and a week later they opened 2025 by signing Korean infielder Hyeseong Kim on a three-year contract worth $12.5 million.
Most teams would have been done by this point (or even earlier), but most teams aren’t the Dodgers. Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki announced last week that he would sign with Los Angeles. And on Sunday, the Dodgers put the finishing touches to their flawless offseason by signing Scott.
Now LA seems more unstoppable than last year when the Dodgers won it all, but how much will that cost them? A lot, but not as much as you might think.
Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reported that Scott’s deal, like most deals the Dodgers have made this offseason, includes a deferred-money signing bonus, deferring the cost into the future. This contract structure allows the organization to assemble the most intimidating team possible while keeping costs currently relatively manageable.
According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the Dodgers’ payroll is over $375 million and is expected to be closer to $400 million in 2025. Since they have already exceeded the $241 million luxury tax threshold for three years in a row, they will be taxed 50% on every dollar they spend over the threshold.
That’s a lot of money, both now and in the future, but the Dodgers have it and are willing to spend it because they believe it will lead to more World Series trophies. The fact that their roster features so much talent also makes them a prime target for other free agents. Considering fan reaction to the Dodgers’ continued push to become the absolute best team in MLB, it’s hard to find a downside to this strategy.
