Kirby Yates injury highlights Dodgers' problem no fan wants to admit

On Saturday night, the LA Dodgers lost their series to the Angels and will look to avoid the three-game sweep on Sunday. Friday night's loss was a result of Dustin May's early struggles, and Saturday's featured a bullpen meltdown courtesy of Kirby Yates, Ben Casparius and Alex Vesia.

But the biggest issue was with Yates, who surrendered a three-run homer to Logan O'Hoppe to give the Angels a 9-7 lead in the top of the seventh. Anaheim would eventually win 11-9. Yates was charged with three earned runs on three hits and a walk in just 1/3 innings. And right after the game it was reported he was likely landing on the injured list with a hamstring issue.

If that ends up being the case, the Dodgers' bullpen will be in an even more troublesome position with all of the injuries currently taking hold. But even before Yates' injury, his production was a bit up and down. Generally, there wouldn't be a problem with that. He's a 38-year-old pitcher in danger of regression at any moment. Plus, he has a sterling 14.9 K/9 rate. You can't really ask for much more.

For this discussion, however, it's all about the money. Yes, we know. Fans were completely supportive of the Dodgers throwing caution to the wind with their offseason spending. After all, they just won a World Series and had the right idea of building an even more sustainable juggernaut.

Unfortunately, Yates, in some way, is representing a wasteful expenditure, much like Michael Conforto, who fans have long been lamenting about because of his terrible offensive output.

Dodgers News: Kirby Yates expected to be placed on injured list

Thankfully, Hyeseong Kim looks freaking awesome, right? At least that'll simmer down some of the possible criticism with the front office's questionable decisions.

The problem is obviously that the Dodgers have the highest payroll in MLB, which means they are subject to the highest luxury taxes. When they signed Yates to a one-year, $13 million deal, it was actually a one-year, $26 million deal based on the taxes they incurred from further going over the "Cohen Tax" threshold at $297 million at the time.

LA didn't incur the same penalty with Conforto because he signed way earlier in the offseason, but had they saved that $17 million on a sunk cost (which many felt was a considerable overpay to begin with), perhaps the current predicament wouldn't appear to be as precarious.

The Dodger Stadium experience has gotten more and more pricey for fans, and wasteful deals for middling or high-risk players such as Conforto and Yates are part of the reason why. This will obviously be a moot point if the Dodgers can climb to the top and win another World Series, but right now, with well over $100 million on the injured list and identifiable areas where they could've invested more shrewdly, there's certainly a reason to express concern in mid-May.