The Los Angeles Dodgers are in a world of their own in a financial sense, and the amount they've spent this offseason alone shows just how unafraid they are to put together the best roster they can possibly assemble regardless of cost. On Thursday night, the Dodgers added even further to their already-considerable expenses by signing Yoshinobu Yamamoto to a 12-year, $325 million contract, a deal that set the record for most guaranteed money for a starting pitcher in MLB history.

Just to put the Dodgers' carefree ways in even greater perspective, their total spend on Yamamoto will amount to $375 million, since they will be paying $50 million to the Orix Buffaloes, Yamamoto's team in the NPB.

The Dodgers' spending this season is unprecedented; in fact, the Dodgers have spent a total of $1.2 billion on just three players: Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani, and Tyler Glasnow, their financial might reaching “staggering” levels as per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

“The numbers. They’re staggering,” Rosenthal wrote. “Yamamoto, 25, received the largest guarantee for a pitcher, $1 million more than Gerrit Cole, before ever throwing a pitch in the majors. […] He was in the right place at the right time, thanks to his relative youth and the competition he generated among the game’s biggest spenders. And boy, did he capitalize.”

Yoshinobu Yamamoto did indeed pick the most opportune time to start plying his trade stateside. The Dodgers are a franchise that's fallen short over and over again over the past few postseasons, and they also have a glaring need in their starting rotation, a void that they filled in a big way with the additions of Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow.

Shohei Ohtani isn't expected to pitch in 2024, but come 2025, the Dodgers will have the likes of him, Yamamoto, Glasnow, Walker Buehler, and Bobby Miller in their rotation — a five-man pitching corps that could be as good as any team's.

Some fans aren't pleased with the continued financial disparity in the MLB. But the Dodgers won't care. Some may say that money can't buy you happiness, but in the MLB, money sure can buy you wins. Only time will tell if their financial gambit works out for the best.