The money the Dodgers have on the books could fund the government of a small country.
Shortly after news broke that the Dodgers had signed Kyle Tucker to a massive four-year, $240 million contract on Thursday night, Spotrac co-founder and editor Michael Ginnitti revealed that with deferred payments, the Dodgers now have $2.11 billion in guaranteed salary on their books.
To add to the astonishing salary revelations of the Dodgers, the ballclub has eight players signed to contracts worth more than $100 million, which includes Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million deal, Mookie Betts’ $365 million contract and Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s $325 million pact, noted sports journalist Joon Lee.
The Dodgers are now projected to have a tax payroll of $413 million in 2026, according to Spotrac, which puts them $96 million ahead of the Mets, who were in the race to land Tucker.
News of Tucker’s signing came late Thursday night and the $240 million price tag comes with an average annual just shy of $60 million and is the largest in Major League Baseball history.
That excludes Ohtani’s $70 million-per-year deal, which defers 97.21 percent of it to 2034 through 2043.
Tucker’s deal does come with $30 million in deferrals, according to The Post’s Jon Heyman.
The Mets made a final offer to Tucker of $220 million over four years that was more frontloaded than what the Dodgers had offered, per Heyman.
The deal would have broken down to $60 million in years one and two and $50 million in years three and four, and there would be no deferrals.
Tucker was the best position player on the free agent market and now adds to a clearly stacked Dodgers roster.
Los Angeles had already added for Mets All-Star closer Edwin Diaz earlier in the offseason.
The signing continues the offseason tear that the Dodgers have had over the past few years that’s helped them win back-to-back World Series titles.
