Blake Snell's contract is more proof of MLB's serious problem, but don't blame Dodgers

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Blake Snell recently agreed to a five-year, $182 million contract in MLB free agency. Dodgers fans are obviously excited about the team agreeing to a deal with the two-time Cy Young winning pitcher. Many fans around the MLB world, though, are quite disappointed.

There are two primary sentiments floating around the MLB world. One, of course, is that fans are annoyed with the Dodgers. After all, LA has signed stars such as Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (just to name a few of the Dodgers’ star signings) over the years. Many fans are calling it unfair and some are even mad at Snell for accepting the contract with the Dodgers.

On the other hand, people are pointing to the fact that baseball has plenty of parity. For example, Ben Verlander of Fox Sports called out the critics of the Dodgers-Snell deal.

“Are people really that bothered by the Snell signing? Baseball is BY FAR the sport with the most parity in the US. Haven’t had a repeat winner since 2000. Seems people are upset before they have a reason to be. Don’t be mad at the Dodgers. Be mad at your team for being cheap,” Verlander wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

So who is correct? Should fans be angry at their own teams for not spending enough money, or is their annoyance with the Dodgers justified?

It is not the Dodgers’ fault, but fans still have a right to be upset

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts (left) and president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman react during a press conference at Dodger Stadium. — Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Dodgers are not doing anything wrong. They are taking advantage of the fact that MLB does not have a salary cap. Los Angeles needs to think about the luxury tax, but that isn’t enough to completely contain their spending.

With all of that being said, MLB needs to realize there is a problem brewing. Star players are consistently joining big market ball clubs, something that isn’t always the case in other sports.

Let’s take LeBron James for example. LeBron was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers and bolted for a fairly big market in Miami once he entered free agency. However, LeBron returned to Cleveland, as the NBA features a salary cap, so the small market Cavs were able to re-sign James.

In MLB, that is something that simply would not happen. If the Cleveland Guardians drafted the future best player in the sport, it would almost be a guarantee that he would either leave in free agency, or Cleveland would trade him before he entered free agency. And he’d probably end up signing with the Dodgers, Yankees or another big market ball club. He certainly would not return to the small market team in his prime.

But doesn’t MLB have parity?

Verlander is correct in his assessment that MLB has parity in reference to World Series championships. But there’s more to the argument.

Superstars draw attention. This leads to more interest. It leads to more attendance and viewership. When it comes to growing the game, there are only a few teams in the league who currently can claim to do that.

There is absolutely no parity in MLB when it comes to free agency. Small market fans know that their team is not going to sign the top free agents this year. It makes the MLB offseason feel long and uninteresting. I mean, just listen to any rumor about the top free agents and you are going to hear the same four or five teams mentioned.

Again, it is not the Dodgers’ fault. They happen to play in a stellar location in Southern California and have enough money to spend on star players.

This is a problem MLB needs to find a solution for.

How can MLB fix the problem?

A salary cap would probably be the answer, but it likely will never happen. The MLBPA (Major League Baseball Players Association) wouldn’t go for it. It would lead to a lower cap as to what star players can make.

A salary floor could be interesting, though. No, it would not completely solve the problem but it would force small market teams to spend in free agency. Although they may not have the same financial advantage of franchises like the Dodgers, Yankees and Mets, small market teams can certainly still spend more than they often do.

Implementing a salary floor would make the offseason much more appealing to all MLB fans, rather than just a few teams. It would lead to better players joining teams that would not have even offered a contract before.

Will a salary floor come to fruition? It is possible, but only time will tell. The one thing that is clear is that MLB needs to fix the problem because free agency is becoming far too limited to specific teams.