The Los Angeles Dodgers have won back-to-back World Series titles thanks largely to historic spending. A full14 players on the Dodgers’ roster are making eight figures this season, and Tarik Skubal (who is making $32 million overall, but $9.5 million prorated after the Dodgers acquired him) isn’t far behind from making that 15. For reference, the Mets, the team closest to L.A. payroll-wise, ended the year with just eight players making eight figures this season.
Most of those deals are ones the Dodgers would sign off on again. Even guys who have struggled this postseason, like Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Will Smith, have done so much for this team in recent years that it’s hard to say the Dodgers should regret paying them. These three deals, though, are ones that the Dodgers should regret offering, now that their three-peat dreams are officially on life support.
OF Kyle Tucker
This is the obvious one. The Dodgers, even after winning back-to-back World Series titles, elected to give Kyle Tucker a four-year, $240 million deal in free agency. When that deal was signed, most MLB fans practically handed the World Series title to L.A., knowing how good Tucker had been in Houston. Instead, Tucker wound up having the worst year of his career.
He slashed .233/.330/.385 with 17 home runs and 70 RBI. He was better down the stretch and has been arguably their best hitter in the postseason, but he’s just 2-for-8 in the NLCS. That’s not good enough for a player making $60 million a year on average. For reference, Juan Soto’s AAV is at $51 million, and he’s performed at an MVP level. If the Dodgers got to do it again, they almost certainly wouldn’t have made this kind of investment in Tucker.
RHP Edwin Diaz
Tucker wasn’t the only high-end free agent the Dodgers signed. They gave Edwin Diaz a three-year, $69 million deal to be their closer, one year after giving Tanner Scott a four-year, $72 million deal to perform in that same role. Scott’s first year in L.A. was one to forget, and Diaz followed that same path, posting an 8.68 ERA in 21 games and missing much of the season due to injury.
Diaz was better in the postseason, but given how well Scott performed this season and how lackluster this Dodgers lineup proved to be, wouldn’t Andrew Friedman have preferred to give that kind of major money to a big bat? Hindsight is 20/20, but had they known the offense would look this bad in October, they likely would’ve spent their resources on another bat and let Diaz sign elsewhere.
OF Teoscar Hernandez
Teoscar Hernandez had a huge year in 2024, leading to the Dodgers re-signing him on a three-year, $66 million deal that offseason. That contract made some sense, but handing a power-hitting corner outfielder over the age of 30 a hefty multi-year deal has the risk of backfiring — and this one did almost immediately. Hernandez’s 103 OPS+ in 2025 was his worst in a full season in his career, and while he was a bit better overall in 2026, his streakiness and his numbers against righties (.695 OPS) left a lot to be desired.
Those struggles have continued into the playoffs, with Hernandez going 5-for-26 overall and 2-for-10 in the NLCS thus far. Dave Roberts has consistently hit him in the heart of the Dodgers’ order, but Hernandez has not been able to come through. There’re plenty of other players making the $20+ million that Hernandez is who could’ve come through for L.A. offensively. With another guaranteed year on his deal, this contract feels like another one that the Dodgers regret.
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