Unintended consequences, huh?

Opportunity cost is certainly a thing, and all contracts involve risk.

I'm just tired of 120 years of shock and outrage over player salaries:

"The first winner is Bauer, who turned brash self-promotion and two strong seasons into the two highest annual salaries in MLB history. This deal is the validation that baseball’s Mark Zuckerberg has craved all along. It’s a giant middle finger in the faces of all those who questioned his methods, the perfect mic drop for all those who dared to doubt him.

The second is the Padres, the pesky title-less franchise two hours down the coast (without traffic, anyway). Their brilliant moves this offseason baited the rational Dodgers, three months after winning the World Series, into overspending for a starting pitcher they don’t need. Even if the Dodgers are still the better team this season, such a deal could prove restrictive for them and give San Diego the advantage moving forward."

Sure.

Lots of things could happen.

I could use the same logic and say the real winner is the Colorado Rockies because both the Dodgers and the Padres overspent in the offseason.

Even though the Rockies lost Arenado, they got a lot of minor league players in return, and they probably also have a lot of the ever-so-popular "draft capital."

 

"None of this comes as a surprise to the Dodgers. Their willingness to tolerate Bauer will depend on how well he pitches and whether they win, neither of which are guaranteed."

I personally guarantee the Dodgers win the World Series the next ... let's say ... five seasons in a row.

 

"The Dodgers are making a lucrative investment in an iconoclastic 30-year-old with an inconsistent résumé. He better be worth it."

Or what?

They give someone else a lucrative contract and continue to win a lot of baseball games?