Last winter, the Dodgers were a prosperous behemoth in hibernation. They committed just approximately $4 million to two free agents and the motivation behind the only major trade they completed – acquiring Matt Kemp from the Atlanta Braves for Adrian Gonzalez, Charlie Culberson, Scott Kazmir and Brandon McCarthy – was salary relief.
The prevailing theory for their restraint was the following: Los Angeles wanted to slide far enough under the tax threshold to have the space to absorb in-season acquisitions without facing a tax penalty. That way they could reset their tax rate before investing heavily in this winter’s free-agent class.