--- title: "Friedman and Roberts push back on the idea that the Dodgers are ruining baseball" description: "Andrew Friedman says he 'passionately disagrees.' Dave Roberts says 'there's nothing that we did that no one else couldn't have done.' Both are answering a charge that, in the reporting we can reach, nobody is quoted making by name. That is worth telling you before you read their answer to it." category: "Sports" category_url: https://herald.la/category/sports author: "Julian Mercado" published: 2026-08-03T01:51:16.000Z updated: 2026-08-03T01:51:16.000Z canonical: https://herald.la/article/friedman-and-roberts-push-back-on-the-idea-that-the-dodgers-are-ruining-baseball tags: ["dodgers", "tarik-skubal", "andrew-friedman", "dave-roberts", "mlb"] --- # Friedman and Roberts push back on the idea that the Dodgers are ruining baseball Andrew Friedman says he 'passionately disagrees.' Dave Roberts says 'there's nothing that we did that no one else couldn't have done.' Both are answering a charge that, in the reporting we can reach, nobody is quoted making by name. That is worth telling you before you read their answer to it. We published the Tarik Skubal trade this morning. The argument about it arrived by the evening, and the Dodgers have answered it. Andrew Friedman, the club's president of baseball operations, said he "passionately disagree[s]" with the idea that the Dodgers are ruining baseball, [ESPN reported](https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/49516516/andrew-friedman-dave-roberts-push-back-narrative-dodgers-ruining-baseball-tarik-skubal-trade). He also said: "It's special, and we're not going to be flippant about this moment in time." Dave Roberts, the manager, said: "It just seems like there's always blowback with us. People are passionate." And, on the substance: "There's nothing that we did that no one else couldn't have done." ## The problem with printing this Read Roberts's second sentence again. It is a direct rebuttal, and it is a reasonable one. Three minor leaguers for two months of a pending free agent is a deal any club could have offered. But we cannot show you the argument it rebuts, because nobody is quoted making it. ESPN's account refers to unnamed "rival scouts, executives and players" who privately criticized what Detroit got back, and to fans on social media. No named person makes the case that the Dodgers are ruining baseball. We looked and could not source one either. So what you are reading is one side of a dispute, well quoted, answering an opponent who is not in the room. That is a common shape in sports coverage and it reliably favors whoever agreed to speak. Our readers are mostly Dodgers fans, which makes it easier for us to let that pass. We are not going to. ## The case that is not being made here, stated fairly For the record, the competitive-balance objection to a deal like this does not depend on the Dodgers doing anything improper. It rests on the claim that a club able to absorb roughly $9.5 million of salary without flinching, and to carry the payroll that comes with it, can convert money into the one asset a selling team most wants, and that this narrows the set of realistic bidders before the bidding starts. We are setting that out because a rebuttal is only worth reading next to the thing it rebuts. We are not endorsing it, and we have not found anyone willing to put their name to it. ## Roberts on the prospects Roberts defended the price, pointing at the club's development pipeline: "I just love our front office," he said, and described the Dodgers as having "arguably the top one or two or three farm systems." That is a claim about the future of Zyhir Hope, River Ryan and Brady Smith which cannot be tested for several years, and it is worth remembering that Detroit's return is exactly the part the unnamed scouts are said to have objected to. ## On Skubal He is 29. ESPN gives him a 31-10 record with a 2.30 ERA and 469 strikeouts in 387 1/3 innings across 2024 and 2025, and a 2.79 ERA this season with 116 strikeouts and 14 walks in 96 2/3 innings. Friedman's "I was in awe watching the energy, the dominance he exhibited there" refers to watching Skubal pitch in last year's American League Division Series. He also said of the trade: "I don't think we went into this thing saying this is an acute need." One correction to our own reporting from this morning. We wrote then that no source we could verify gave a date for Skubal's Dodgers debut. ESPN now reports it: Tuesday, against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. ## Sources - [Friedman, Roberts push back on narrative that Dodgers are ruining baseball](https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/49516516/andrew-friedman-dave-roberts-push-back-narrative-dodgers-ruining-baseball-tarik-skubal-trade)