‘Maybe you’re in the wrong business.’ Blake Treinen fires back at Dodgers’ critics
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Much has been made of the Dodgers’ exorbitant spending, amplified by two World Series titles for the franchise, as Major League Baseball enters the final year of the current collective bargaining agreement.
The Dodgers open 2026 with a record payroll of $381 million, while benefiting from more than $1 billion in deferrals. As if signing Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernández and Blake Snell and extending Tyler Glasnow and Will Smith weren’t enough, the club opened its wallet once again this winter, spending a combined $309 million on four-time All-Star outfielder Kyle Tucker and three-time reliever of the year Edwin Díaz.
Relief pitcher Blake Treinen, one of the Dodgers’ longest-tenured players heading into his seventh season with the team, didn’t mince his words when asked how outsiders perceive the organization.
“The perception is built from the media and maybe the owners not liking what the Dodgers are doing because they should be doing something similar,” Treinen said earlier this week. “And I say to that, ‘Maybe you’re in the wrong industry.'”
Treinen thinks more teams should spend like the Dodgers do.
“Is it a bad thing that the people who pay our checks and our salaries want a winning product? » said Treinen. “If you’re complaining about a team that’s willing to do what it takes to win, then I think you’re in the wrong business. And, if you win, saying you’re losing money by winning is a far-fetched statement, so I think the perception is more or less if you don’t like what the Dodgers are doing, either look in the mirror or look at the people who aren’t putting product on the field.”
Treinen went on to say that teams don’t necessarily need to spend a lot of money to compete, pointing out how the Milwaukee Brewers posted the best record in baseball a season ago, with the 22nd highest payroll. The Brewers beat the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central by five games, despite having a payroll nearly $100 million lower than their rival, and reached the National League Championship Series.
“You don’t always have to spend money to be great, look at the Brewers,” Treinen said. “But to say that we can’t compete – as they did – is a far-fetched thing, because [they had] the best record in baseball last year. Drafting and development is a big deal, a lot of teams have looked at it. So if you’re investing heavily in one or the other, and the Dodgers have done a great job doing both, that’s why players sign here. If you don’t like it, maybe find a new business model.
The way the Dodgers operate has drawn praise — the Padres’ Manny Machado and the Phillies’ Bryce Harper spoke on the subject early in spring training — but the front office wasn’t really looking for it.
“We’re not looking for outside validation,” Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said earlier this month at Camelback Ranch. “Validation is winning championships and building as good a team as possible every year, and all we try to do is get a little better every season, with the goal of winning championships. [Our] The coaching staff, our players, I think, see it that way. Good, bad or indifferent, external elements are something we cannot worry about.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, speaking at Cactus League media day earlier this month, said the fixation on spending money makes people miss the things they do well.
“It gets lost, the things we do well,” Roberts said. “When it comes to scouting and player development, I think we do as good a job as anyone in baseball…getting superstars to play well every night, to put out a good product every night, I think we do a good job at that.”
“That’s why the bigger conversation should be that rather than the pay issue,” Roberts added. “Why are we good at baseball? Because our players play the game the right way.”
