The Dodgers land Trevor Bauer with an extremely interesting contract:

The three-year contract reportedly is worth $102 million, paying Bauer $40 million 2021, $45 million in 2022, with Bauer able to opt out after either season. Bauer’s contract will send the Dodgers 2021 payroll well over the $210-million luxury tax threshold.

LATimes.com

This represents the type of deal more teams should offer. The money is front loaded, so Bauer will be paid for the wins he delivers now. If he decides not to opt out, the Dodgers pay less, since he should be worth less if he’s not opting out. It’s short term with a high annual salary, so it pushes up the annual salary for stars. If Bauer pitches well for two years, he might land an even bigger annual salary contract.

A friend sends along this note:

The #Dodgers rotation will make $110,350,000 in 2021, more than 13 MLB orgs’ entire payroll. Trevor Bauer – $40 mil David Price – $32 mil Clayton Kershaw – $31 mil Walker Buehler – $3.75 mil Julio Urias – $3.6 mil

I see Bauer producing about 11 WAR over the three seasons, so he’s getting paid a bit over $9 million per WAR. That’s certainly at the high end of of the scale this off-season. It was likely driven up by serious competition from the Mets.