LOS ANGELES — What does a $270 million payroll buy? The Los Angeles Dodgers used their baseball-record salary budget to get Brandon McCarthy.
In baseball, that big bankroll separates the haves and have-nots, not in superstar talent, but difference-making depth. McCarthy, a journeyman right-hander from Cheyenne Mountain High in Colorado Springs, is pitching for his seventh team. He's the Dodgers' No. 4 starter.
McCarthy would have fit well with the Rockies. But the Dodgers offered a little more than every other team could spend and landed him for $48 million and a $6 million signing bonus. The Rockies' No.