When it comes to top free agents, the Dodgers rarely tip their hand.
At the outset of Tarik Skubal’s free agency this offseason, that remained the case once again.
During an end-of-season press conference on Wednesday, less than a week removed from the team’s sweep at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman carefully sidestepped a question about Skubal, saying a lot of words that offered no substantive indication of the club’s urgency level to potentially re-sign him.
Friedman started by praising the two-time Cy Young Award-winning left-hander, whom the Dodgers acquired in a blockbuster trade deadline deal with the Detroit Tigers in August.
“It’s not easy for a guy to get traded in the middle of a season to come to a new city, new clubhouse,” Friedman said. “You have set routines, and you have to make those adjustments.”
The longtime top executive then complimented the way Skubal acclimated to his new surroundings, and the impact he made even in a year the Dodgers fell short of a World Series three-peat.
“The way he was able to seamlessly transition, not just in terms of on the field, but in the clubhouse, I can’t say enough good things about the impact that he made in such a short period of time,” Friedman said. “We have a tremendous amount of respect for him on and off the field.”
What Friedman didn’t do, however, was say that the Dodgers would be all-in on Skubal this winter, or that they would do whatever it takes to lock him up in a free agency process that is expected to end with the soon-to-be 30-year-old breaking Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s record guarantee of $325 million for a pitcher.
That wasn’t unexpected, of course.
Even in the run-up to this year’s deadline, the Dodgers publicly downplayed how aggressive they would be for the superstar ace.
Still, by playing it coy Wednesday, Friedman allowed a vacuum of speculation to develop about exactly where the Dodgers will stand in the Skubal sweepstakes.
“He’s put himself in this position to go out and be a free agent,” Friedman said, acknowledging only that the club will have conversations with Skubal’s agent, Scott Boras, going into the winter. “He and his family have to make a choice over where they want to spend the next X number of years, and obviously we wish him nothing but the best.”
Granted, it’s still extremely early in the offseason. And as the Dodgers have shown the last couple winters, they can never be counted out for a top free-agent target (remember when they were supposedly not going to break the bank for Kyle Tucker?).
At this point, however, there have been questions from some corners of the industry about the Dodgers’ willingness to give Skubal the lengthy, lucrative contract he will be seeking.
The team already has ample future financial commitments tied up to Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and others. Even without Skubal, they will have one of the majors’ best rotations next year, assuming Justin Wrobleski and Roki Sasaki continue to develop, and Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow can avoid the injury problems that have plagued them the past few years.
Much could depend on the league’s looming CBA negotiations, which might result in a salary cap –– or some other drastic changes to the sport’s economic structure –– following a lockout all but certain to commence on Dec. 1.
It’s unclear if Skubal will try to sign a new contract before then; with the Mets, Cubs, Angels and Yankees all seen as potential suitors, among others.
It’s also unclear how the Dodgers’ approach to long-term payroll might change depending on what the new CBA entails.
That’s why, for now, the club will remain the ultimate wild card in his free-agency process.
They have the resources to swing a record-breaking deal if they want. They have a track record of getting aggressive for players they feel swing their World Series chances. But if they are planning an all-out press to re-sign Skubal, they aren’t tipping their hand yet.
“We’re still wrapping our arms around our off-season plan and strategy and timing of things,” Friedman said.
His cards, once again, were staying glued to his chest.
