The Los Angeles Dodgers spent an awful lot of money in acquiring Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett from the Boston Red Sox.* Never mind the prospects, who are interesting but not mind-blowing. The money in the deal is the real story. Yes, Boston is paying the remainder of this year's collective wages, but that leaves $262 million suddenly dropped onto the Dodgers' books.
A Mind-Blowing Year In Dodger Spending
*I'm deliberately leaving Nick Punto out on account of him being the sort of guy you only acquire by accident. I bet Ned Coletti just sneezed while on the phone with Ben Cherington and then both parties were too lazy to delete him from the paperwork. Nick Punto!
As many have pointed out, this is nothing new for the Dodgers, who also managed to spend $37 million in acquiring shortstop Hanley Ramirez from the Miami Marlins a month before the Gonzalez trade. The trades were preceded by big-money contracts extensions for star outfielders Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier.
But does anyone know just how much they’ve spent since last November? $400 million? $500 million? Going through Cot’s Baseball Contracts (and prorating the 2012 salaries for mid-season acquisitions) gives us the following:
| Player | Acquired | Total cost |
| Juan Rivera | Free Agent | $5,000,000 |
| Mark Ellis | Free Agent | $9,000,000 |
| Matt Treanor | Free Agent | $1,000,000 |
| Matt Kemp | Extension | $160,000,000 |
| Adam Kennedy | Free Agent | $800,000 |
| Jamey Wright | Free Agent | $900,000 |
| Chris Capuano | Free Agent | $10,000,000 |
| Jerry Hairston Jr. | Free Agent | $6,000,000 |
| Aaron Harang | Free Agent | $12,000,000 |
| James Loney | Trade | $5,000,000 |
| Todd Coffey | Free Agent | $1,000,000 |
| Clayton Kershaw | Re-sign | $19,000,000 |
| Andre Ethier | Extension | $84,000,000 |
| Yasiel Puig | Free Agent | $42,000,000 |
| Hanley Ramirez | Trade | $37,000,000 |
| Randy Choate | Trade | $600,000 |
| Shane Victorino | Trade | $3,000,000 |
| Brandon League | Trade | $2,000,000 |
| Joe Blanton | Trade | $3,000,000 |
| Adrian Gonzalez | Trade | $132,000,000 |
| Carl Crawford | Trade | $107,000,000 |
| Josh Beckett | Trade | $35,000,000 |
| Nick Punto | Trade | $2,000,000 |
| Total | $675,000,000 | |
Six hundred and seventy-five million dollars. Or, if you want a more down-to-earth comparison, that’s enough to feed one Ramen-eating college student for longer than the human race has existed. By a lot.
The cash that was sent over as part of the most recent deal ($12 million) barely makes a dent in that pile. The craziest part of the Dodgers’ incredible spending spree is that acquiring three major contracts -- contracts that the Boston Red Sox could no longer afford -- in one fell swoop didn’t account for even half of their spending since the start of last winter.
The mind really does boggle.
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