Then, on the eve of the Winter Meetings, the Dodgers made a surprise acquisition, signing outfielder Michael Conforto on a one-year, $17 million. That same night, it was reported reliever Blake Treinen was returning to Los Angeles on a two-year, $22 million deal.

Since winning the World Series in 2021, the Braves have struggled to get back to the top of the sport. They've reached the playoffs in the past three seasons but haven't made it past the division series.

Yankees chairman Hal Steinbrenner responded to the Dodgers' run of recent signings, which has pushed them up to a projected 2025 payroll upwards of $375 million, in an interview with YES Network's Meredith Marakovits. His answer was something you'd expect to hear from a small-market team, rather than baseball's financial titan of the past century.