Dodgers spending is ‘f–king great for the game.’ Manny Machado, Bryce Harper not complaining

PHOENIX –– Turns out, not everybody in baseball reviles the Los Angeles Dodgers’ record-breaking spending.

On Sunday morning, two of the game’s biggest veterans, Bryce Harper of the Phillies and ex-Dodger Manny Machado now of the San Diego Padres, were asked about trying to compete with the defending two-time World Series champions.

And rather than voicing the typical complaints –– about how the Dodgers are ruining baseball, and disrupting competitive balance with their $400 million-plus payroll –– the two sluggers struck a decidedly different, almost defiant tone.

“I f–king love it,” Machado told reporters at Padres camp. “I love it. I mean, honestly, I think every team should be doing it. They’ve figured out a way to do it, and it’s f–king great for the game.”

“I love what the Dodgers do, honestly,” Harper echoed at Phillies camp. “They pay the money. They spend the money. They’re a great team. They run their team like a business. And they run it the right way.”

In much the same way the Dodgers have downplayed external critiques over their roster construction in recent years, they didn’t indulge in Sunday’s contrasting comments from Harper and Machado, either.

“I don’t really pay any attention to that at all,” Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said later Sunday morning at Camelback Ranch. “We’re not looking externally. The validation is winning championships and putting out as good a team as you can each and every year.”

Still, the points Harper and Machado raised illustrate another perspective about the Dodgers that many in the sport quietly maintain.

Both argued that other teams (and, reading between the lines, ownership groups) have the capabilities to challenge the Dodgers better and replicate their organizational approach.

“I think every team has the ability to do it,” Machado said. “So, I hope all 30 teams can learn from that.” 

“Each team in baseball has an opportunity to do the same thing,” Harper added. “Maybe not at the upper echelon of money. But they can draft, they can develop, they can trade. I don’t know, I think a lot of teams can do that in baseball. And they should.”

Harper further highlighted the Dodgers’ developmental system, calling it something “people don’t look at” when complaining about the club.

“Their draft and their development is unbelievable,” he said. “Then they trade those guys for big-name guys, and they can spend the money. So I don’t know, it bothers me when everybody talks about, ‘The Dodgers are spending money.’ No, they draft, they develop, they do it the right way, they understand what it takes to be the best team in baseball.”

Gomes cited that kind of organizational harmony when reviewing the team’s latest blockbuster winter on Sunday. He said that while the team was “in the fortunate position to be able to acquire guys that fit really well” this winter –– referencing the arrivals of Kyle Tucker and Edwin Díaz –– he also noted “those guys being able to choose here, I think, speaks to (our) culture.”

The Dodgers were a topic elsewhere around the baseball world Sunday, including at Arizona’s spring camp, where Diamondbacks owner Ken kendrick was also asked about trying to compete with them as a National League West division rival.

Kendrick didn’t deny the Dodgers’ current standing atop the sport, calling them the “900-pound gorilla” in MLB’s current hierarchy.

However, he also sidestepped any criticisms over their spending, instead making the case that “the way it works in the jungle, the gorilla doesn’t win every fight.”

That, fittingly, is the same message the Dodgers have been preaching among themselves so far in camp. They know how the rest of the sport views them. They know they are expected to complete a World Series three-peat. But they also know they’re not invincible –– that for however much money they spend, baseball still offers no guarantees.

“I don’t know,” Gomes said when asked if he believes in so-called World Series hangovers. “I mean we did OK last year. I wouldn’t say we played our best baseball all year. But I think a lot of it is coming in, making sure our guys are focused. It’s incumbent upon all of us to continue to mind the little things and make sure that the attention to detail is there so there is no drop-off in intensity.”

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