Good morning, all and happy Monday!
Once again the Los Angeles Dodgers have shaken the baseball world to its core with the acquisition of two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal. I may have a problem with how the Dodgers are buying World Series championships, but the truth is they have done nothing wrong, except… I break it down in the commentary.
Some other thoughts on the first Monday in August:
MLB’s trade deadline is tonight at 6:00 ET. Fasten your seatbelt.
The Yankees acquiring slugger Luis Garcia Jr. from the Nationals is a big deal in many ways. He is only 26, the Yankees have control over him for the next two years and they did not pay a heavy price to land him. It also means they will not be getting Rafael Devers from the Giants.
Incidentally, nice move by Yankees catcher Austin Wells, wearing catcher Thurman Munson’s catching gear, remembering the Yankee great on the day he died 47 years ago. Yankee fans demanding Wells be traded might have a change of heart, after watching this clip.
I’m getting some pushback on social media from my comments about the big spending Dodgers and how it is impacting the game, which is fine. Some people are saying the Dodgers dominance will not diminish interest, because people will make them the villain and tune in to root against them. That’s not the point. All sports, be it the NFL, NBA, etc. have villain teams that fuel interest, but they play on a level field because of the salary cap. MLB is playing on an uneven field because there is no salary cap. That’s why the Dodgers are hated, because there are few guard rails. When their luxury tax is higher than most teams’ payroll, then the sport has a problem.
Kudos to Joe Theismann for posting this photo on his X account yesterday:
That is going to do it for today’s newsletter. Thank you for subscribing and have a marvelous Monday!
DAN
