After signing Hernández and Kim, trading Gavin Lux, and settling all but one salary arbitration case, the Dodgers have 23 players under contract for 2025. Let’s look at where the payroll stands after these latest deals.
Now that Teoscar Hernández has signed back with the Dodgers, on the same day the team also inked Korean infielder Hyeseong Kim, and all but one of the salary arbitration cases are resolved, it’s time to take another look at where the team payroll is at for 2025.
Hernández’s deal totals $66 million and has three guaranteed seasons, plus a club option for 2028. He has a similar structure to the recent Dodgers contracts for pitcher Blake Snell and infielder/outfielder Tommy Edman, featuring both deferred salary and a large signing bonus.
The Dodgers will pay Hernández a $23 million signing bonus, and he has $23.5 million of his salary deferred. The deferrals reduce the average annual value of the contract to roughly $19.4 million for competitive balance tax purposes. Kim’s deal guarantees $12.5 million over three years, with an average annual value of $4,166,667.
In addition to Hernández and Kim in the fold, the Dodgers reached agreement with four of the five remaining players eligible for salary arbitration on January 9. That makes for 23 players under contract for 2025. Since Alex Vesia and the club exchanged salary figures, we’ll use the midpoint of $2.2 million for his spot on the payroll at the moment.
Since we looked at the estimated 2025 payroll after Snell and Edman signed five-year contracts back in December, the Dodgers signed Michael Conforto and Kim, and re-signed Hernández and Blake Treinen.
With a few assumptions built in for players with under three years of service time, injured players, minor leaguers on the 40-man roster, and more, the Dodgers already have an estimated CBT payroll of $350.6 million for 2025.
That Dodgers payroll is already nearing their final 2024 total of $353 million, which was a franchise record and the second-highest CBT payroll in major league history. The Mets have the first- and third-highest single-season payrolls, at $374.68 million in 2023 and $347.65 million in 2024.
The Dodgers in 2024 were charged just over $103 million in competitive balance tax, an MLB record. With the first threshold of $241 million in 2025, and three higher tiers in $20 million increments above, the Dodgers are already estimated to pay $96 million in luxury tax this coming season, and every additional salary they add will be taxed at 110 percent.
Considering the Dodgers are likely not done adding this offseason, plus the eventual return of Clayton Kershaw for an 18th season, another team-record payroll and luxury tax is all but assured for 2025.